“THE QUESTION OF RELIGIOUS DNA” – Part II
Believe it or not, the idea of a God gene is not new. In fact it is very old.
For example, one of the main divisions in the religion of Islam has to do with genetic heritage. The Shite minority claims distinction from the Sunni majority partly on the basis of heredity. Shiites follow after Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad, who they believe, was the most legitimate caliph or leader. Since Ali was genetically closer to Muhammad, he was believed to be a more authentic Muslim. Or as we might say, the God gene was more pronounced in him.
A similar idea developed in Judaism. For example the Jewish priesthood was not open to just anybody. Only the descendants of Aaron or Levi could be priests in the Temple. It was as if they had the appropriate God gene to officiate rituals of God.
But genetic heritage was key to understanding one’s identity not only as a priest, but as an Israelite or Jew. How did you become a Jew? Well, first of all, you were born an Israelite or Jew. It was a matter of having Jewish ancestry, a Jewish God gene, if you will. True, one could convert to Judaism by commitment to Jewish law and traditions, by circumcision and by proselyte baptism. True, one had to confirm his or her faith in the bar mitzvah or bat mitzvah at age 12 or 13 or so. But most of all, one was a Jew because he or she was born a Jew. It was a matter of genetic heritage.
And what was the beginning of the Jewish genetic heritage? Well, it went back even to Shem, one of the three sons of Noah who began the human race all over again after the great flood. Yes, Jews would claim Shem as their primordial ancestor. And from that claim we get the term Semite (or Shemite) which we hear most often in the phrase, anti-Semitic, meaning anti-Jewish.
But genetically speaking other people are Shemites, or Semites – people like the inhabitants of Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Israel, Arabia, much of Turkey, Lebanon and North Africa. Therefore, much of the mid-East conflict today is a conflict of Semite against Semite.
However, the Jewish genetic stream becomes more focused and specialized in Abraham, the ancestral, patriarchal father of the Israelites. Since God chose Abraham to be his special person through whom he would develop a special people in a land he would give them, the Israelites, and subsequently the Jews, were thought of as a “chosen people”.
Therefore, to the popular mind it was thought if one had the right heredity, the right genetic code, he or she was chosen of God. The God gene seemed to be passed along in the blood stream. It was as if a certain group had a claim on the divine with an exclusive franchise on the God-gene.
(to be continued)
