Analytic Thinking Can Decrease Religious Belief 1258
Freshly Exhumed writes "A new University of British Columbia study finds that analytic thinking can decrease religious belief, even in devout believers. The study, which will appear in tomorrow's issue of Science (abstract), finds that thinking analytically increases disbelief among believers and skeptics alike, shedding important new light on the psychology of religious belief."
Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
really? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Whoever is responsible for this article (Score:5, Funny)
Now that's what I call a loving god!
In other news... (Score:5, Funny)
A new study finds that intelligence can decrease stupidity! Maybe the two teams could join forces.
Re:Whoever is responsible for this article (Score:1, Funny)
Is THAT what you call someone who grabs the world by the throat and holds it's head in a bucket of water for 40 days and 40 nights?
Re:Whoever is responsible for this article (Score:5, Funny)
It was probably one of them fancy college boys with their books and such.
Re:Whoever is responsible for this article (Score:5, Funny)
The more I think about it, the less sense the parent comment makes.
Re:Awesome Jedi Mind Trick (Score:5, Funny)
71 And then the Romans laid hands on Jesus to lead him away. 72 But Peter said unto them, "This is not the Jew you are looking for." 73 And then the centurion said unto them, "This is not the Jew we are looking for."
Re:Not just analytic... (Score:4, Funny)
Of course, if you really think about it, here's some fun logic:
1. An article says that if people analyze written articles and books, they won't believe them.
2. Ergo, If I analyze the this article, I won't believe it.
3. If I believe the article, I didn't analyze it. (contrapositive)
4. But if I didn't analyze it, it might not be complete BS, so I shouldn't believe the article.
5. Conclusion: Don't believe anything you read, including this analysis.
Re:Whoever is responsible for this article (Score:4, Funny)
Don't judge him. Those first born children of Egypt were asking for it.
Re:Whoever is responsible for this article (Score:5, Funny)
Re:really? (Score:4, Funny)
God as my witness, I've known this all along.
Re:Whoever is responsible for this article (Score:4, Funny)
That's funny. The harder I think about that comment, magically, the more sense it makes.
Re:Whoever is responsible for this article (Score:5, Funny)
those who practice magic arts
I guess IT is fucked....
Re:Whoever is responsible for this article (Score:2, Funny)
Thank God I'm Atheist!
Imagine that... (Score:4, Funny)
Imagine that: if your brain starts working, you stop worrying about the the fictional man in the sky.
Color me amazed.
Everyone knows it's turtles all the way down.
Re:Whoever is responsible for this article (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Whoever is responsible for this article (Score:4, Funny)
It was a set up. Sorta a way for a new god to muscle in on the other gods' territory.
Re:Whoever is responsible for this article (Score:5, Funny)
You're wrong. People that believe in those false gods are obviously inferior and God will smite them with all his fury if they don't convert. We the Catholics have been helping the Lord with the smiting for two millennia, with great success!
And we do that because the Lord told us to love everybody and we want everybody to go to heaven.
Re:Whoever is responsible for this article (Score:5, Funny)
Oh come on. Magic is all about weird clothes, secret societies, strange languages, darkened catacombs, and a system of mystical thinking that has little bearing on logic. IT is nothing like th-
Mother of god.
Re:Whoever is responsible for this article (Score:4, Funny)
Actually, I think that we see far fewer miracles or healing today than seem to have been prevalent in Christ and the Apostles time because God doesn't want to share any glory with the medical community. We don't stand on faith to be healed anymore. We pray, and if that doesn't work trot off to the doctors. We may continue to be prayed for, but why should God act when we're not trusting in him but trusting in the doctors? God does what He chooses to do to advance His causes. Once and a while they line up with what we want. Usually we want Him to act in ways that benefit us and don't do His cause any good at all - or at least that's been my experience with people.
This isn't a smash against the medical profession either. My wife is in the medical field. Doctors have a lot of knowledge about the body and I'm not against making use of their services to fix problems at all. That isn't the intent of the post. It is simply an acknowledgement that we try to cover all bases today rather than waiting for God to heal and give Him all the glory for what He has done for us. Why should we expect Him to act under those circumstances? In the case I have observed, although medical doctors had been consulted and the individual was referred to a specialist, no actual treatment had yet been done. The healing was done before going to the specialist.
My observations in no way are meant to convince anybody else, and my recounting them again wouldn't do any good either to answer another previous post. I'm simply stating that they are sufficient for me. If there was just one data point, your claim would be more valid. But I have many in my life. It is sufficient for me. The test procedure was written up in the Bible a couple thousand years ago, and it still is observable today. I choose to accept that.
If it is not sufficient for you, my earlier comment does still apply though. Go spend time with Pentecostal Christians that are living up to the NT churches principles for evidence for yourself. If you don't want to be around any place where you might see some direct evidence yourself, then you can't criticize me or other Christians for believing what we do actually observe. You are a like a scientist who doesn't like a particular theory but who won't do the experiment himself because he doesn't want to have his world view messed up, in much the same way that Christians are accused of rejecting science because it might change their spiritual view.