Innate religiousness

Ian McNay says that he bases his claims on “rigorous fieldwork” and “testable evidence” (“Creed and credence”, Letters, 30 March), so I was somewhat surprised that he so easily dismissed religion as a “choice” in comparison with other protected characteristics that, presumably, he thinks are innate. He might want to apprise himself of the evidence from twin studies that indicates that religiousness has a significant genetic component. More importantly, whether or not a particular characteristic is a choice or genetically embedded should not determine whether discrimination towards it is ignored.

Justin Thacker
Academic dean
ForMission College

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