GENETICS AND RELIGION. Science in general, and molecular genetics and the new science of genomics in particular, contest with claims of faith on the same terrain. Genetics is a complex, irreducible set of knowledge about the large molecule DNA, which by its structure and function transmits information about how proteins are made and folded in particular ways. DNA regulates the biochemical properties of all living cells. The unique feature of DNA is that it is the structure for the replication of coded information of the sort that can be transmitted across generations. This information is held in the DNA molecules in the cells of the human gametes—sperm and eggs that recombine to found a fertilized egg do so by recombining pieces of the DNA of each into a newly composed molecule with the codes from each genetic parent.

Introduction

The ability to recombine...