can identical twins have different religious beliefs?

[Confused Ape]

I did a bit of googling and found a number of articles where research indicates that there's a genetic component to religious belief. This is the only one I've found so far which gives an actual exampleof twins having different religious beliefs, though.

What Twins Reveal About The Science Of Faith

Studies show that for twins living at home, there is no clear genetic influence or different from their parents in their practice. However, genes start to play a role, once the twins leave the nest.

Elizabeth and Caroline were identical twins who came from an academic middle-class English family with an atheist father and agnostic mother. The sisters were very similar in appearance and character, both admitted to being stubborn, although Elizabeth was the naughtier of the two. At primary school, they both became interested in Christianity and much to their father's surprise and displeasure they were baptized and prayed regularly. Their parents split up soon after and their father left home. They went through the normal teenage tantrums and slowly lost interest in organized religion and prayer.

After school they went to different universities. Caroline quickly rediscovered her faith; she became an even more committed Christian and joined student societies and church groups. Elizabeth began discussions with an Islamic group, initially arguing against religion, read the Quran to dismiss it and then found herself being drawn to and then converted to Islam. Both married and had two kids--Caroline with an English Anglican husband, and Elizabeth with a Pakistani Muslim (from then on she wore the veil--hijab--in public).

This is only a rule of thumb, though, because it seems there are other factors to take into account between conception and birth.

The third factor: beyond nature and nurture

Two things can make identical twins genetically different. Sometimes, when a fertilised egg splits, mistakes are made. In extreme cases, entire chromosomes can be present in one twin but absent in the other. This turned out to be the case for identical triplets born in 1983. One lost a Y chromosome when the egg split, so the triplets developed into two boys and a girl.

Even when eggs split with no genetic errors, mutations later on can lead to differences. If a mutation occurs early in development, almost all of the cells in one twin may inherit it, while none of the cells in the other twin will have it.

So, in general, identical twins will either share or lack the 'religious belief' genes. 'Religious belief' genes aren't programmed for particular religions, though. 'Religious belief' twins could be separated at birth and raised by different atheist adoptive parents only to turn to religion later in life. Maybe one would convert to Christianity while the other became a Wiccan.