Not everyone believes that humans might possess a "God gene" or "religious gene." But it's a compelling theory, i.e., a gene that predisposes us to believe in a supreme being and that pushes us toward spirituality. If it's valid, then some have it and some don't. And some may have a mutated version.
My own extrapolation of the theory is that a mutated form of the gene compels some people to believe that extraterrestrials are living amongst us and possibly even rule the country or maybe even the whole planet. Everyday religions are just too bourgeois for believers, there has to be something exceptional for them.
Maybe we think those people are just crazy. But as anyone knows who tried, telling them that does not get the desired result.
What brings this up now is possible support for the theory from, of all things, a movie review. The movie is "Arrival," a recent movie about visitors from outer space. See Close encounters with first-contact movies. Here's the pertinent part:
First-contact movies are a philosophical exercise masquerading as an entertainment, and one with profound spiritual implications. They’re a by-product of a culture that has been secularizing with growing speed for over a century, but they touch on every kind of theological idea and heresy, flirting with Gnosticism and imagining the aliens as both devils and gods – or even God. When made with intelligence and skill, you can feel the spiritual yearning in every shot, the desire for an answer even if – absent any actual aliens – we’re really just asking ourselves the question.
To the best of my knowledge there aren't any churches yet for worshiping extraterrestrials, unless it's the movie theater. But that's the beauty of the religion -- it doesn't require worship, penance, tithing, or anything but belief. In fact, apparently it doesn't even require belief, unless it's in your genes.
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