tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3401584991689197404.post1261323134079606860..comments2024-03-02T09:41:35.809-08:00Comments on Donkeylicious - A Blog by Neil Sinhababu and Nicholas Beaudrot: Why Atheists Know More About ReligionNeil Sinhababuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03249327186653397250noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3401584991689197404.post-21287565040307281112010-10-04T10:24:48.917-07:002010-10-04T10:24:48.917-07:00karlG, I think the researchers said the results re...karlG, I think the researchers said the results remain robust even when you control for educational level. That may not correlate to being 'better-read' of course.<br /><br />Yeah, that's exactly the kind of thing I'm talking about, Mary.Neil Sinhababuhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03249327186653397250noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3401584991689197404.post-50755377284113808392010-10-03T04:26:16.462-07:002010-10-03T04:26:16.462-07:00In most Christian denominations there comes a time...In most Christian denominations there comes a time when one is called upon to make a decision whether to continue be that thing, whether that is a confirmation ceremony or a teenage or adult baptism. I think the path of least resistance tends to be to go ahead and be confirmed and accept at some level what you have been taught from birth. Also, it is painful to separate oneself from those beliefs and traditions. Julia Sweeney has an excellent show called <i>Letting Go of God</i> and describes her well-informed, yet emotionally excruciating process of becoming an atheist. Such a decision comes at great emotional and cultural cost because if you are brought up in it, it is such a part of you. You are definitely going to inform yourself very well before you let go of it.Maryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10823325004000574937noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3401584991689197404.post-61754241861579903162010-10-01T19:02:12.079-07:002010-10-01T19:02:12.079-07:00I know that I scored 100% on that quiz because I s...I know that I scored 100% on that quiz because I studied religion college. I did _that_ because being a non-religious person, I'd wanted to know something about the 80% of people I was living around who are religious.Punning Pundithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02199083316397173960noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3401584991689197404.post-13350896201303075152010-10-01T16:32:15.745-07:002010-10-01T16:32:15.745-07:00Neil,
Your explanation surely accounts for some ...Neil, <br /><br />Your explanation surely accounts for some of the difference, but I think there's more to the story. Notice that the atheists/agnostics aren't scoring that much better than Mormons or Jews. My guess is that Mormons and Jews tend to do better than Christians because (a) they know their own culture/texts/history, and (b) it's really hard to live in America without picking up some sense of what Christians believe. Explanation (b) applies to the atheists as well. <br />KarlG may be onto something as well. A neat aspect of social psychology is that most debates between theories A and B dissolve when people realize that A and B are both causally relevant.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17371590833512148101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3401584991689197404.post-78955368227135056802010-10-01T14:04:39.778-07:002010-10-01T14:04:39.778-07:00With only personal experience and anecdotes to gui...With only personal experience and anecdotes to guide me, the reason for this earth-shattering finding may be that atheists et al are simply better-read in general than the at-large Christian population. This leads them to learn a little something here and there about the sort of information that the researchers were testing for -- a likelier explanation, perhaps, than the rash of protective-coloration and specific-interest theories. It's certainly a simpler explanation, at any rate.karlGhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11890070076159645529noreply@blogger.com