It is all over the news, “Scientists discover Liberal Gene!” All my colleagues had the same question, “Does that mean there is a cure?”
This is a serious question, and one that has wide repercussions. If there is a gene for homosexuality, then that means it can’t be cured, right? And groups such as Exodus Intl, which specialize in curing it, are acting contrary to nature, as is the DSM (prior to IV edition) which recommended a cure. Of course, Darwin would be spinning in his grave if someone had told him that sterilization could be an inherited trait. Nevertheless, if by some rationale (which merely demonstrates just how infinitely flexible is the Darwinian faith) we could find a gene for some social characteristic, then of course that characteristic becomes a given, a destiny, a fatalism without remorse. Such as the “belief in God” gene.
But wait! We’ve also been told that there exists gene therapy, the ability to repair poorly inherited genes. Even if it is hard-wired, especially if it is hard-wired, we can repair our mistaken theism, our mistaken homosexuality, even our mistaken liberality! We are masters of our own fate, captains of our soul. So we can actually choose which fate we want, which no doubt is another “choosing” gene…
Passing over the solipsism of blaming behaviors on genes, the curious result about liberal genes was predicted some 2050 years ago by Titus Lucretius Carus.