Re: Is rationality the enemy of religion?
When we compare countries with the highest scores on math and science we also find the greatest number of unbelievers. Looking at test scores in the US we find similar results with less religious...
View ArticleRe: Is rationality the enemy of religion?
This study shows changes in what the subjects (mostly Canadian) say about their religious beliefs, but this is not at all the same thing as showing that it changes their beliefs or "promotes...
View ArticleRe: Is rationality the enemy of religion?
Atheism is an "extreme view"? Since when does a lack of belief in something constitute an extreme belief? Are you implying that any thought against the status quo is extreme? The burden of proof lies...
View ArticleRe: Is rationality the enemy of religion?
I have just been shown this very closely related study:G. Pennycook et al., Cognition 123, 335-346 (2012).It broadly corroborates the conclusions of Gervais and Norenzayan that an analytical style of...
View ArticleRe: Is rationality the enemy of religion?
Well, I don't think it would be an "extreme view" to assert that "religion is the result of bad reasoning" if you haven't seen any other prediction. Certainly the assertion that lack of analytical...
View ArticleRe: Is rationality the enemy of religion?
Mr Ball, I found it both odd and enlightening in my thinking that you listed David Hume as a leading philosopher for Christianity. The man consistently undermined the dogma, doctrines, and arguments of...
View ArticleRe: Is rationality the enemy of religion?
The key ingredient to balancing religious belief and analytical thought is to understand and assert the fundamental assumptions of one's arguments. As noted above, even Dawkins will not state there...
View ArticleRe: Is rationality the enemy of religion?
Why is it that people still oppose religion and science when they should compare spirituality and science?Spirituality is the basic source of religion; religion cannot exist without it, it is its...
View ArticleRe: Is rationality the enemy of religion?
The "venerable" JBS Haldane would have taken issue with the statement "The problem is that it is nearly impossible to devise any investigation of ‘religious belief’...
View ArticleRe: Is rationality the enemy of religion?
There is a "middle ground"; the religion which had considerable influence in the 18thcentury, Deism. This is a belief in having God create the universe and essentiallykeep hands off. This gives...
View ArticleRe: Is rationality the enemy of religion?
I believe that religion, fundamentally, is a socialized response to fear, carried over into lifestyles that generally are eminently capable of disposing of many types of threats to one's emotional...
View ArticleRe: Is rationality the enemy of religion?
I think it's important to carefully distinguish, as Philip Ball does, what this study does and does not imply. The observed outcome is strictly a priming effect, with no evidence of analytical thinking...
View ArticleRe: Is rationality the enemy of religion?
@Brian Buerke: I think you misinterpret the argument that leads one to think these results point to a negative relationship between rationality and religious belief. Yes, this is priming, but it's...
View ArticleRe: Is rationality the enemy of religion?
Ben,Thanks for the response. It's possible I've misinterpreted something but unlikely. The reason you think so, I suspect, is that we are using the word rational differently. You appear to equate...
View ArticleRe: Is rationality the enemy of religion?
I am using "rationality" in the manner of Keith Stanovich, so rational thinking when I say it would be thinking independent of any subjective biases – not just that it's deliberative. There's...
View ArticleRe: Is rationality the enemy of religion?
Ben, I am using the standard definition of rationality from game theory. As Wikipedia has it under rationality, "A rational decision is one that is not just reasoned, but is also optimal for achieving...
View ArticleRe: Is rationality the enemy of religion?
In my evolution of religiosity course at the University of New Mexico, I explore the possibility of a "mystery instinct" or "rationality/irrationality switch." I posit the existence of a discrete...
View ArticleRe: Is rationality the enemy of religion?
RE: My May 5th 2012 comment, above; the obvious upshot is that using a robust adaptationist approach to understanding the coevolution of capacities for critical questioning and rational investigation...
View ArticleRe: Is rationality the enemy of religion?
I think the same as you and it is that one can think deliberatively and try hard to be objective and still make errors. And an error-prone deliberative system could misrepresent what the subject...
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