tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-81621627620214685242024-02-08T04:08:31.312+01:00Daily AtheistLet there be factsAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13743460535956343491noreply@blogger.comBlogger512125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162162762021468524.post-53208176396157172552013-01-13T12:28:00.000+01:002013-01-13T12:28:51.791+01:00The spiritual but not religious likely to face mental health issues, drug use, study says<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><a href="http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2013/01/09/the-spiritual-but-not-religious-likely-to-face-mental-health-issues-drug-use-study-says/">"Can being spiritual but not religious lead to mental health issues?</a> The answer is yes, according to a recent study.<br />The study, published in the January edition of the British Journal of Psychiatry, says spiritual but not religious people, as opposed to people who are religious, agnostic or atheist, were more likely to develop a "mental disorder," "be dependent on drugs" and "have abnormal eating attitudes,” like bulimia and anorexia."</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Religion.blogs.cnn.com, January 9th, 2013 </i></blockquote>
<br />
I think this just shows that the benefit of religion isn't the belief itself, but rather the sense of community. But also note that atheists and agnostics do well in the survey. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://bjp.rcpsych.org/content/202/1/68.abstract">Here is the abstract.</a> <br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13743460535956343491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162162762021468524.post-61976031634607955282012-08-09T11:48:00.001+02:002012-08-09T11:50:26.330+02:00Number of atheists around the world is rising<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><a href="http://www.secularism.org.uk/news/2012/08/number-of-atheists-around-the-world-is-rising?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+nssnews+%28NSS+News%29&utm_content=Google+Reader">"According to the latest global poll</a> released by RedC Opinion Poll, part of WIN-Gallup International, a world-wide network of leading opinion pollsters, the number of self-declared atheists in the world has risen by 9% since the measure was last taken in 2005.<br /><br />The massive poll, conducted in 57 countries (not, apparently, including Britain) among 51,000 people asked a single question "Irrespective of whether you attend a place of worship or not, would you say you are a religious person, not a religious person or a convinced atheist?"<br /><br /><b>It shows that on average 59% of the world said that they think of themselves as religious, whereas 23% think of themselves as not religious and 13% think of themselves as convinced atheists.</b> Naturally there are enormous variations from country to country.<br /><br />The countries with most self-described atheists are China (47%); Japan (31%), Czech Republic (30%), France (29%), South Korea (15%), Germany (15%), Netherlands (14%), Austria (10%), Iceland (10%), Australia (10%) and Ireland (10%).<br /><br />The most religious countries are: Ghana (where 96% of people define themselves as religious), Nigeria (93%), Armenia (92%), Fiji (92%), Macedonia (90%), Romania (89%), Iraq (88%), Kenya (88%), Peru (86%) and Brazil (85%).<br /><br /><b>One of the most dramatic reductions in the proportion of the population considering themselves religious occurred in Ireland: from 69% in 2005 to 47% in 2012,</b> placing Ireland on the index of religious belief at position 43 out of 57 countries.<br /><br /><b>The poll also showed that the poorer people were, the more likely they were to be religious.</b><br /><br />One anomaly that the pollsters have themselves questioned is in Turkey, where those who say they are religious is only 23% while those defining themselves as non-religious is 73% (self-defined atheists 2%)."</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>National Secular Society, 08 Aug 2012</i></blockquote>
Good news indeed. <a href="http://redcresearch.ie/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/RED-C-press-release-Religion-and-Atheism-25-7-12.pdf">Here's the full report</a>. <br />
<br />
Here's a couple of charts from the report:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtUaZDb2Buqk3jEg5qDM_eaat4vrEhv9_YFifM89DqJyJVABcZEc-OrOHEPnnAt2sg3d_m72sdlEEcCzlCJnGmAGlvL342se22sBfB5KE2zqaZkjWoNpTZvSE-Ut3pJxRYNIkrmyLpN3OH/s1600/top+10+atheist+pop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtUaZDb2Buqk3jEg5qDM_eaat4vrEhv9_YFifM89DqJyJVABcZEc-OrOHEPnnAt2sg3d_m72sdlEEcCzlCJnGmAGlvL342se22sBfB5KE2zqaZkjWoNpTZvSE-Ut3pJxRYNIkrmyLpN3OH/s320/top+10+atheist+pop.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwYuTUHzLVZ5Z8I2U9ACpPPhpRv7Jlg9x3EsMUz7ehnf2RQ-M4WxxAftQuLYYMXiZngsyr2ymCYAg7whYmb7TbRH50sCDGieJsjbz44bYqERsWejFQHzNNVI7hImEs5I5uleUqYZzuD32r/s1600/notable+decline.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwYuTUHzLVZ5Z8I2U9ACpPPhpRv7Jlg9x3EsMUz7ehnf2RQ-M4WxxAftQuLYYMXiZngsyr2ymCYAg7whYmb7TbRH50sCDGieJsjbz44bYqERsWejFQHzNNVI7hImEs5I5uleUqYZzuD32r/s320/notable+decline.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOyNo6-neH4EbjY5sN-zwMKZvv5Wjz1B62tn4DIms5THZqPWFmuRf3AArgNxmG1SDjTZyL9r7fBhJDhU0sWuAknPY3J1QQupYHCryk-X8FMjNMWAqRg98spv2QIAhJX7zV_hNQmgJyERtr/s1600/group_wise.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOyNo6-neH4EbjY5sN-zwMKZvv5Wjz1B62tn4DIms5THZqPWFmuRf3AArgNxmG1SDjTZyL9r7fBhJDhU0sWuAknPY3J1QQupYHCryk-X8FMjNMWAqRg98spv2QIAhJX7zV_hNQmgJyERtr/s320/group_wise.jpg" width="207" /></a></div>
Notice on the last chart that women are slightly more atheist than men. This contradicts most other polls, but it's nevertheless a good thing. Also notice how relatively many Muslims are non-religious compared to, say, Catholics. A lot of Jews are non-religious, but that was to be expected.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13743460535956343491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162162762021468524.post-82904185985186447942012-07-10T17:15:00.000+02:002012-07-10T17:15:07.041+02:00Atheists don't change their view when confronted with death<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><a href="http://www.psmag.com/culture-society/do-atheists-have-deathbed-conversions-43291/">"Are there atheists in foxholes?</a> That timeless question (the literal answer to which is yes) is a shorthand way of asking whether, when confronted by their own mortality, even nonbelievers’ thoughts turn to God.<br /><br />Research published earlier this year tentatively <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022103112000534">concluded that they do</a>. But a<a href="http://psp.sagepub.com/content/early/2012/06/20/0146167212449361.abstract"> new study</a>, conducted by scholars from three countries, reports that death-related thoughts lead us to reaffirm whatever belief system gives our lives meaning—and for atheists, that’s something other than religious faith."</i><br />
<i><br /></i><br />
<i>Pacific Standard, July 10, 2012</i></blockquote>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13743460535956343491noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162162762021468524.post-82383735215596913822012-06-29T11:22:00.001+02:002012-06-29T11:22:59.439+02:00Less crime if you believe in Hell?<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/heaven-help-us-crime-rates-higher-in-countries-that-believe-in-supernatural-benevolence/article4368446/">"Belief in hell keeps down criminal activity</a>, but belief in heaven actually boosts it, according to a pair of researchers at the universities of Oregon and Kansas.<br /><br />Azim Shariff and Mijke Rhemtulla scoured 30 years of international values-based surveys and found societies that put more stock in supernatural benevolence than supernatural punishment have higher national crime rates. The relationship is so significant, they found, that it is a stronger predictor of crime rates than are economic factors such as gross domestic product and income equality."</i><br />
<i><br /></i><br />
<i>The Globe and Mail, Jun. 25 2012</i></blockquote>
I understood immediately that there were issues with this research. Comparing crime statistics between countries, when crime is reported differently makes no sense at all. I may be prejudiced but I my first thought was that belief in Hell correlates with poor crime statistics. I might as well post the graph right away (which is picked up from <a href="http://epiphenom.fieldofscience.com/2012/06/does-belief-in-compassionate-god.html">Epiphenom</a> which also has a critical article):<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixkBUMHnrgXwz_0S1k1OlrMHBR-R38zT7nY8HcqC94SzB0cT-71up0YPivzMR7tH4fIm6Vxg31VCjy-HoUizNaP8yjae0qTk4Z5nLh6GZFVSXirebXJAdfoCcdEQhXAV5Ytxwt8Y9S9aOT/s1600/Shariff_2012_Heaven_hell_crime_rates.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="259" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixkBUMHnrgXwz_0S1k1OlrMHBR-R38zT7nY8HcqC94SzB0cT-71up0YPivzMR7tH4fIm6Vxg31VCjy-HoUizNaP8yjae0qTk4Z5nLh6GZFVSXirebXJAdfoCcdEQhXAV5Ytxwt8Y9S9aOT/s320/Shariff_2012_Heaven_hell_crime_rates.png" width="320" /></a></div>
It's a bit hard to read with only two letters abbreviations but you can see that Norway (NO) and Sweden (SE) are ranking high here. Yes, I live in one of the most crime infested countries. <a href="http://natashajsmith.wordpress.com/2012/06/26/please-god-please-make-it-stop/">I wish I lived in Egypt</a> (EG) which you will see on the bottom. <br />
<br />
Here's a critical examination:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"Interpol merely gathers and reports nonlethal crime statistics provided by member nations without standardizing or vetting it <sup>[19, 22]</sup>.
<b>For example, assaults are reported at a rate about 6 times higher in
Australia and Sweden than in Canada and France, this level of disparity
is suspect. Rates of theft are reported to be twice as high in Sweden as
in France; are the former actually twice as larcenous as the French, or
are the latter twice as unlikely to file a report, or is the reality
somewhere in-between?</b> Similarly suspicious discrepancies exist in
International Crime Victims Survey results. Reported rates of rape are
two to twenty times higher in the U.S. than in other 1st world nations <sup>[24,25]</sup>,
but this only means that American females report being raped at far
higher rates, not that American males are more prone to committing
sexual assaults. <b>Nonlethal crimes are difficult to compare even between
the relatively uniform 1st world countries, they only grow worse when
comparing 2nd and 3rd world nations with greater disparities between the
quality of crime reporting.</b>"</i><br />
<br />
<i>Plosone.org, GregorySPaul on 24 Jun 2012</i></blockquote>
The only statistic you can reliably compare is homicide, but even there there are issues:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><b>"In contrast, Jensen found that more homicide is more strongly linked to greater popular support for the reality of hell than for heaven [12] -- he suggests that “malevolent” forms of religion produce inferior results compared to “benevolent” -- Sharif and Rhemtulla do not cite Jensen or explain the disparity in their results with his. </b>Sharif and Rhemtulla find that more homicide weakly correlates with more belief in God, Rees [5] as well as Jensen [12] found a positive relationship in a large sample of nations. In the more uniform prosperous democracies the only example with high levels of homicide, the U.S., has the highest levels of religiosity including belief in heaven and hell [6]. <b>The advanced democracies with the least, and remarkably low, homicide are the most atheistic</b>. (It would be interesting to analyze correlations between measures of religiosity and homicide in different economic categories of nations.) Potential reasons that deity worship and scripture contribute to lethal violence have been proffered [6-8,13-15].<br />How crime in general corresponds to differing levels and types of religiosity remains inherently uncertain, but the most atheistic democracies appear to suffer relatively modest nonlethal misdemeanors and felonies, and definitely enjoy very low lethal violence. <b>All studies agree that the most reliably measured crime, homicide, tends to be higher in less atheistic countries.</b> Studies are contradictory regarding how homicide correlates with differing belief beliefs in the afterlife, further analysis may clear this up." </i></blockquote>
In short: Bollocks.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13743460535956343491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162162762021468524.post-90570044108744825332012-04-29T16:58:00.000+02:002012-04-29T16:58:57.263+02:00Analytic thinking can decrease religious belief<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><a href="http://www.publicaffairs.ubc.ca/2012/04/26/analytic-thinking-can-decrease-religious-belief-ubc-study/">"A new University of British Columbia study finds</a> that analytic thinking can decrease religious belief, even in devout believers.</i><br /><br /><i>[...]</i><br /><br /><i>Researchers used problem-solving tasks and subtle experimental priming – including showing participants Rodin’s sculpture The Thinker or asking participants to complete questionnaires in hard-to-read fonts – to successfully produce “analytic” thinking. The researchers, who assessed participants’ belief levels using a variety of self-reported measures, found that religious belief decreased when participants engaged in analytic tasks, compared to participants who engaged in tasks that did not involve analytic thinking."</i><br /><br /><i>The University of British Columbia, Apr. 26, 2012</i></blockquote>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13743460535956343491noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162162762021468524.post-73507200965484176822012-04-10T14:16:00.000+02:002012-04-10T14:16:48.166+02:00Canadians trust the non-religious more than the religious<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><b><a href="http://life.nationalpost.com/2012/04/07/religion-not-important-to-most-canadians-although-majority-believe-in-god-poll/">"67 per cent of those surveyed said they trusted</a> “people who are religious” in general, and even more respondents — 73 per cent — expressed trust in “people who are not religious.”</b></i><br />
<i><br /></i><br />
<i>[...]</i><br />
<i><br /></i><br />
<i>Just 42% of those polled agreed with the statement “religion is an important part of my life,” with women (46%) more likely to value religious activity than men (37%) by a clear margin.</i><br />
<i><br /></i><br />
<i>[...]</i><br />
<i><br /></i><br />
<i>Only 30% of those aged 18 to 24 agreed that religion is important to their life, while respondents aged 65 and older were most likely (56%) to consider religion a force in their life.<br /><br />Likewise, an expressed belief in God was lowest (56%) among the youngest group of respondents and highest (79%) among the oldest."</i><br />
<i><br /></i></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<i>Nationalpost.com, Apr 6, 2012</i></blockquote>
<br /><a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2012/04/08/amazing-poll-results-from-canada-the-non-religious-are-trusted-more-than-the-religious/">H/T to Friendly Atheist</a><br /><br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13743460535956343491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162162762021468524.post-48412304690678777242012-03-30T17:30:00.000+02:002012-03-30T17:30:00.064+02:00Fear of death is highest among Muslims<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><a href="http://epiphenom.fieldofscience.com/2012/03/fear-of-death-is-highest-among-muslims.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BhaScienceGroup+%28Epiphenom%29&utm_content=Google+Reader">"Many people assume that religious people</a> are less anxious about death than the non-religious. After all, the most popular religions (Islam and Christianity) explicitly hold out the promise of eternal rewards for the faithful.<br /><br />However, it's not quite that simple. After all, traditional versions of these gods are also pretty vengeful, and if you believe in a vengeful god, then you have to face the distinct possibility of some pretty nasty experiences after death. After all, even holy people usually have some guilty secrets.<br /><br />[...]<br /><br />The results for Malaysia were striking. There was a clear linear relationship between religiosity and fear of death. There was a similar relationship in Turkey, although less strong (they interviewed far fewer people in Turkey, however).<br /><br />Even more striking were the results in the USA. Here, there was a curvilinear relationship - death anxiety was highest in those with average religious feelings. <br /><br />The reason for these differences is probably down to differences in religious beliefs between Muslims and Christians. Muslims had the highest fear of death -<b> the lowest fear of death was seen in the non-religious in America and Christians in Malaysia.</b>"</i><br />
<br />
<i>Epiphenom, Tom Rees, March 24, 2012</i></blockquote>
<br /><br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13743460535956343491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162162762021468524.post-87213976798396716162012-03-29T17:49:00.002+02:002012-04-05T14:39:03.006+02:00Study questions religion-depression link<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/28/us-religion-depression-idUSTRE81R1R320120228">"Some research has suggested that religious people</a> may have a buffer against major depression -- but new findings cast some doubt on that.<br /><br /><b>Researchers said people who develop depression might be more likely to stop going to services, which could explain why those who regularly go to religious services have lower rates of depression than the less-devout.</b><br /><br />The new study found evidence of just that.<br /><br />Among 2,100 Americans followed from birth to about middle-age, women who had developed depression early in life -- before age 18 -- were more likely than others to stop going to religious services by their early 20s.<br /><br /><b>Among men, there was no link between depression and churchgoing habits.</b>"<br /><br />Reuters.com, Feb 28, 2012</i></blockquote>
<a href="http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2012/02/20/aje.kwr349.abstract">See abstract of research here</a>. <br />
Aktuelt for lesere av <a href="http://www.vl.no/kristenliv/religion-gjor-deg-lykkelig/">Vårt Land</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13743460535956343491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162162762021468524.post-13781059106199934452012-03-28T17:37:00.000+02:002012-03-28T17:39:36.540+02:00A third of Americans are non-religiousHere's the result of a new Gallup survey of American religiosity:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><a href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/153479/Mississippi-Religious-State.aspx?utm_source=tagrss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=syndication">"Gallup classifies 40% of Americans nationwide</a> as very religious -- based on their statement that religion is an important part of their daily life and that they attend religious services every week or almost every week. <b>Another 32% of Americans are nonreligious, based on their statement that religion is not an important part of their daily life and that they seldom or never attend religious services.</b> The remaining 28% of Americans are moderately religious, because they say religion is important but that they do not attend services regularly or because they say religion is not important but still attend services.</i><br />
<i><br /></i><br />
<i>[...]</i><br />
<br />
<i>Mississippi is the most religious U.S. state, and is one of eight states where Gallup classifies at least half of the residents as "very religious." At the other end of the spectrum, Vermont and New Hampshire are the least religious states, and are two of the five states -- along with Maine, Massachusetts, and Alaska -- where less than 30% of all residents are very religious. <a href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/153479/Mississippi-Religious-State.aspx?utm_source=tagrss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=syndication#2">See full list here</a></i><br />
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<i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPQvBFk6NkbE-CgulFv-sRfBUXr8yuV0K8hDlMc-Z3UOjku9NJSZKXmsZ8UhBNzLHntM7wYDdJGXa4itt9HwC4W8ilNYZRN1yKZb7v7oNvmwPK-rMuqtB2E6otwuhjpxzOqAHDXaKlV3kW/s1600/USA_map.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPQvBFk6NkbE-CgulFv-sRfBUXr8yuV0K8hDlMc-Z3UOjku9NJSZKXmsZ8UhBNzLHntM7wYDdJGXa4itt9HwC4W8ilNYZRN1yKZb7v7oNvmwPK-rMuqtB2E6otwuhjpxzOqAHDXaKlV3kW/s320/USA_map.jpg" width="320" /></a></i></div>
<br />
<br />
<i>[...] </i><br />
<i><br /></i><br />
<i>Results are based on telephone interviews conducted as part of the
Gallup Daily tracking survey Jan. 1-Dec. 31, 2011, with a random sample
of 353,492 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and
the District of Columbia."</i><br />
<br />
<i>Gallup.com, March 27, 2012</i></blockquote>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13743460535956343491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162162762021468524.post-35055973049200092362012-03-06T18:45:00.000+01:002012-03-06T18:45:21.662+01:00One Jesus for liberals, another for conservatives<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2012/mar/04/jesus-liberals-conservatives">"New research shows how believers tailor </a>Christian teachings to fit their own political viewpoint<br /><br />[...]<br /><br />A study led by Lee Ross of Stanford University in California has found that the Jesus of liberal Christians is very different from the one envisaged by conservatives. The researchers asked respondents to imagine what Jesus would have thought about contemporary issues such as taxation, immigration, same-sex marriage and abortion. Perhaps not surprisingly, Christian Republicans imagined a Jesus who tended to be against wealth redistribution, illegal immigrants, abortion and same-sex marriage; whereas the Jesus of Democrat-voting Christians would have had far more liberal opinions. The Bible may claim that God created man in his own image, but the study suggests man creates God in his own image."<br /><br />Johnjoe McFadden, Guardian.co.uk, 4 March 2012</i></blockquote>
This just goes to show that socalled religious morals are no more founded in absolute truths than secular morals. Religious people fool themselves into thinking that they act upon what their religion objetively tells them. But in reality, they first compile a set of religious morals they're satisfied with and then goes on to act (more or less) accordingly: <br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13743460535956343491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162162762021468524.post-39747915416672755392012-03-03T11:31:00.000+01:002012-03-03T11:31:42.816+01:002030: The year Britain will cease to be a Christian nation with the march of secularism<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnMP6UEhakVXQwzJyZGlcmP6-fBlyILl1ZFr5wlv-bS3KURp-kk75NT8CKXURefZ0gTMpVWwE5kAHLPJXqqAxXmekjPsfC9zuLFykL1yeeiAxSbauCSx4QmKltHGbEQjIxADFu8T0KJs1H/s1600/religion+in+decline.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnMP6UEhakVXQwzJyZGlcmP6-fBlyILl1ZFr5wlv-bS3KURp-kk75NT8CKXURefZ0gTMpVWwE5kAHLPJXqqAxXmekjPsfC9zuLFykL1yeeiAxSbauCSx4QmKltHGbEQjIxADFu8T0KJs1H/s320/religion+in+decline.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2109488/2030-The-year-Britain-cease-Chrsitian-nation-march-secularism.html?ito=feeds-newsxml">"The march of secularism means Britain</a> may no longer be a Christian country in just 20 years, a report said yesterday.<br /><br />If trends continue, the number of non-believers is set to overtake the number of Christians by 2030."</i><br />
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<i>Daily Mail, 3rd March 2012 </i></blockquote>
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<br /><br /><br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13743460535956343491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162162762021468524.post-82114568603029781112012-02-21T10:31:00.001+01:002012-02-21T10:31:49.349+01:00The Church wins the award for intolerance<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><a href="http://richarddawkins.net/articles/645034-the-church-wins-the-award-for-intolerance">"To say that religion is part of our culture</a>, therefore we should cherish it, is a circular argument. The Church spent a thousand years intolerantly stamping out rival strands of culture, insisting that every ritual from birth to death be celebrated in its halls. So yes, it is part of my culture."<br /><br />MATT RIDLEY, THE TIMES, 21 February 2012</i></blockquote>
An excellent quote in an otherwise nice piece.<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13743460535956343491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162162762021468524.post-81345775104467582972012-02-16T11:36:00.000+01:002012-02-16T11:37:36.789+01:00Muslims in Wales pass on their faith at higher rates than other religions<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><a href="http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2012/02/13/muslims-in-wales-pass-on-their-faith-at-higher-rates-than-other-religions-cardiff-university-study-finds-91466-30323317/">"The Cardiff University study, published online today</a> in the journal Sociology, says that <b>the proportion of adult Muslims actively practising the faith they were brought up in as children was 77%. That compares with 29% of Christians and 65% of other religions.</b><br /><br />The study also found that 98% of Muslim children surveyed said they had the religion their parents were brought up in, compared with 62% of Christians and 89% of other religions.<br /><br />The team analysed data from the Home Office’s 2003 Citizenship Survey data, using 13,988 replies from adults and 1,278 from young people aged 11 to 15.<br /><br />[...]<br /><br />Home Office statistics show that 74% of people in Wales are Christians but that only 7% of those attend church."<br /><br /><br />Walesonline.co.uk, Feb 13 2012 (Found via <a href="http://islamineurope.blogspot.com/2012/02/uk-muslims-pass-on-their-faith-at.html">Islam in Europe</a>)</i></blockquote>
Talk about "good and bad news"! The downside of such a study is that many people who identify as Christians, but don't give a toss about religion in their daily life, will suddenly feel the urge to compete with the muslims. Instead of embracing our secular future, they may turn around and cling to the past only because the Muslims do it.<br />
On the other hand, 27% apostates within Islam is not a bad number considering how Islam is portrayed.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13743460535956343491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162162762021468524.post-43090947982151982752012-02-14T19:30:00.003+01:002012-02-14T19:30:56.522+01:00Evaluating God<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><a href="http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/main/2011/07/evaluating-god.html">"While many polls have asked what</a> Americans’ beliefs are about God, there has been little measurement of voters’ evaluation of its performance."</i><br />
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<i>Publicpolicypolling.com, July 22, 2011</i></blockquote>
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Old poll, but I just found it in a recent grumpy TownHall.com commentary which neglected to include a source nor a date. Anyway, fairly interesting to see all the "not sure" answers. No doubt many of them were also unsure whether or not to dare say they were unsure. <a href="http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/pdf/2011/PPP_Release_National_721.pdf">Here are the results (PDF)</a><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><br /></i><br />
<i>"Q7 If God exists, do you approve or disapprove of its performance?<br />Approve ............. 52%<br />Disapprove......... 9%<br />Not sure ............. 40%<br />Q8 If God exists, do you approve or disapprove of its handling of natural disasters?<br />Approve ............. 50%<br />Disapprove......... 13%<br />Not sure ............. 37%<br />Q9 If God exists, do you approve or disapprove of its handling of animals?<br />Approve ............. 56%<br />Disapprove......... 11%<br />Not sure ............. 33%<br />Q10 If God exists, do you approve or disapprove of its handling of creating the universe?<br />Approve ............. 71%<br />Disapprove......... 5%<br />Not sure ............. 24%"</i></blockquote>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13743460535956343491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162162762021468524.post-66803969886828834702012-02-14T18:21:00.000+01:002012-02-14T18:28:06.280+01:00Poll reveals majority of UK Christians support secular outlook<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><a href="http://www.secularism.org.uk/news/2012/02/poll-reveals-majority-of-christians-support-secular-outlook">"Results of a poll carried out by Ipsos MORI</a> for the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science (UK) show that UK Christians are overwhelmingly secular in their attitudes on a wide range of issues.<br /><br />[...]<br /><br />The poll revealed that, on balance, significantly more Christians:<br /><br /> agree that the law should apply equally to everyone, regardless of their religion or belief (92% v 2%)<br /> oppose religion having special influence on public policy (74% v 12%)<br /> oppose the UK having an official state religion (46% v 32%)<br /> oppose seats being reserved for Church of England bishops in the House of Lords (32% v 25%)<br /> support the costs of hospital chaplains being met by the chaplain's religious organisation rather than from NHS budgets (39% v 32%)<br /> want state-funded schools to teach knowledge about the world's main faiths even-handedly, rather than inculcate beliefs (57% v 15% solely Christian inculcation or 8% inculcate other school faith)<br /> approve of sexual relations between two adults of the same sex than do not (46% v 29%)<br /> approve of an adult woman's right to have an abortion within the legal time limit (62% v 20%)<br /> support the legalisation of assisted suicide in the case of terminally ill adult patients with safeguards (59% v 21%)"<br /><br />National Secular Society, 14 Feb 2012</i></blockquote>
See lengthy press releases with lots more numbers here:<br />
<a href="http://richarddawkins.net/articles/644941-rdfrs-uk-ipsos-mori-poll-1-how-religious-are-uk-christians">RDFRS UK/Ipsos MORI Poll #1: How religious are UK Christians?</a><br />
<a href="http://richarddawkins.net/articles/644942-rdfrs-uk-ipsos-mori-poll-2-uk-christians-oppose-special-influence-for-religion-in-public-policy">RDFRS UK/Ipsos MORI Poll #2: UK Christians oppose special influence for religion in public policy</a><br />
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<a href="http://c3414097.r97.cf0.rackcdn.com/IpsosMORI_RDFRS-UK_Survey_Topline_14-02-2012.pdf">Here are the full results of the poll (PDF)</a><br />
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See also:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><a href="http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/16279">"The kind of conservative religious aggression</a> that claims 'anti-Christian discrimination' every time Christians are asked to treat others fairly and equally in the public square is a threatened response to the loss of top-down religion's social power. So is overbearing 'Christian nation' rhetoric, and the 'culture wars' that some hardline believers and non-believers may seek to launch and win against each other.<br /><br />[...]<br /><br />"Likewise, Richard Dawkins may not be a subtle, unbiased or persuasive analyst of religion overall, but it would be entirely unhelpful for believers to dismiss this survey because they disagree with its commissioner in other respects. Its content evidently needs further and deeper analysis, alongside other data, than the initial response to it has allowed."</i> <br />
<i><br /></i><br />
<i>Ekklesia (Christian think-tank)</i></blockquote>
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<a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/9081215/Christians-dont-want-religion-to-influence-public-life.html">Daily Telegraph: Christians don't want religion to 'influence public life'</a><br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13743460535956343491noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162162762021468524.post-2610052366143130182012-02-11T16:11:00.000+01:002012-02-11T16:11:07.345+01:00Six Reasons Young Christians Leave Church<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><a href="http://www.barna.org/teens-next-gen-articles/528-six-reasons-young-christians-leave-church">"No single reason dominated the break-up</a> between church and young adults. Instead, a variety of reasons emerged. Overall, the research uncovered six significant themes why nearly three out of every five young Christians (59%) disconnect either permanently or for an extended period of time from church life after age 15.<br /><br />Reason #1 – Churches seem overprotective.<br />Reason #2 – Teens’ and twentysomethings’ experience of Christianity is shallow.<br />Reason #3 – Churches come across as antagonistic to science.<br />Reason #4 – Young Christians’ church experiences related to sexuality are often simplistic, judgmental.<br />Reason #5 – They wrestle with the exclusive nature of Christianity.<br />Reason #6 – The church feels unfriendly to those who doubt."<br /><br />Barna.org, September 28, 2011</i></blockquote>
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See the original article for further description of the reasons why young people leave the church.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13743460535956343491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162162762021468524.post-85941544000078145142012-02-07T18:49:00.000+01:002012-02-07T18:49:53.574+01:00Visions of Angels Described in Bible May Have Been Lucid Dreams<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><b><a href="http://www.livescience.com/17594-visions-angels-bible-lucid-dreams.html">"Sleep researchers say they have established</a> that many of the visions of angels and other religious encounters described in the Bible were likely "the products of spontaneous lucid dreams."</b></i><br /><br /><i>In a sleep study by the Out-Of-Body Experience Research Center in Los Angeles, 30 volunteers were instructed to perform a series of mental steps upon waking up or becoming lucid during the night that might lead them to have out-of-body experiences culminating in perceived encounters with an angel. Half of them succeeded, the researchers said.</i><br /><br /><i>[...]</i><br /><br /><i>Raduga, whose organization is partly funded by sales of his "practical guide" books on lucid dreaming, designed the experiment to test his theory that many reports of miraculous encounters are actually instances of people experiencing this vibrant, lifelike dream state.<b> If he could coach people to dream a realistic religious encounter, he said, that could prove that many historical accounts of such encounters — such as Elijah's vision in the Bible — are really just products of people's imaginations."</b></i><br /><br /><i>Livescience.com, 21 December 2011</i></blockquote>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13743460535956343491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162162762021468524.post-36179283881522304392012-02-05T15:39:00.000+01:002012-02-06T21:41:24.874+01:00In the West, religious nations are more sexist<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><a href="http://epiphenom.fieldofscience.com/2011/11/in-west-religious-nations-are-more.html">"First of all, let's look at the correlation</a> with a straightforward measure of whether women can be leaders, which was assessed by asking the level of agreement with two questions: “On the whole, men make better political leaders than women do” and “On the whole, men make better business executives than women do.”<br /><br />Overall, there's a fairly good correlation. But there is an exception, and that's Asian countries. There are only a few Asian countries in the sample, so it's hard to draw sweeping conclusions. But they are all very sexist, whether their citizens are religious (Thailand, Taiwan) or non-religious (China, Hong Kong, Japan)<br /><br />So I took these countries out of the analysis - in fact, what's shown in the graphic is only those countries with a predominantly Western, Christian culture (i.e. North and South America, Europe, and Australia).<br /><br /><b>In these Westernised countries there's a strong, linear relationship between religion and sexism.</b><br /><br /><b>In fact, if you narrow the sample a bit more to look only at European countries the fit is even cleaner (I haven't shown this, but it's a remarkably straight line).</b>"</i><br />
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<i>Epiphenom.fieldofscience.com, Tom Rees, November 11, 2011</i></blockquote>
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Religion vs. sexism </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha1OV9HMmYrOx-pWdHExMk3jAqMduPEDn8kdkt1ADAD-rp68MZDDjHziB_e4hI5cuMwhVGWtnA2EmBri1Sl5_CDAgfeKy76bBDFSmNrW5nAkSYGqfJOn9GNMJFjd7YB2K19l7lugKIaraO/s1600/sexist_by_dailyatheist-d36ok25.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="143" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha1OV9HMmYrOx-pWdHExMk3jAqMduPEDn8kdkt1ADAD-rp68MZDDjHziB_e4hI5cuMwhVGWtnA2EmBri1Sl5_CDAgfeKy76bBDFSmNrW5nAkSYGqfJOn9GNMJFjd7YB2K19l7lugKIaraO/s320/sexist_by_dailyatheist-d36ok25.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13743460535956343491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162162762021468524.post-75490646067535172862012-02-05T14:50:00.000+01:002012-02-05T14:50:33.198+01:00Religious people are less likely to take their medicine<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><a href="http://epiphenom.fieldofscience.com/2011/03/if-god-loves-you-why-take-medicine.html">"Sarah Finocchario-Kessler, at the University of Kansas</a>, used data from one such drug trial to see what the effect of religious beliefs (and other psychological factors) was on medication taking.<br /><br /><b>She found that people who put themselves in God's hands really were less likely to take their medicine.</b><br /><br />To be precise, people who used a passive religious deferral coping style (e.g. "I don’t try much of anything; simply expect God to take control") were less likely to take their medicine as often as they were supposed to. On the other hand, collaborative religious coping "I work together with God as partners" or self-directing religious coping (e.g., "I make decisions about what to do without God’s help" had no effect on whether people took their medicines.<br /><br />The biggest effect was with those people who scored high on the "God as locus of health control" measure - that means people who agreed with statements like "Whether or not my HIV disease improves is up to God." "</i><br />
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<i>Epiphenom.fieldofscience.com, Tom Rees, March 02, 2011</i></blockquote>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13743460535956343491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162162762021468524.post-22141854699569134732012-02-05T13:54:00.000+01:002012-02-05T13:54:18.983+01:00Kids are less likely to come with supernatural explanations than adults<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><a href="http://epiphenom.fieldofscience.com/2011/10/supernatural-explanations-just-dont.html">"It's pretty much taken as an assumption these days</a> that human beings are 'natural-born believers'. Ask a cognitive scientist who specializes in religion, and they will tell you that our brains are predisposed to all sorts of supernatural concepts.<br /><br />[...]<br /><br />And when independent researchers outside the core groups test the hypothesis, they often get results that don't fit the story. That's the case with a new study by Jacqui Woolley, a psychologist at the University of Texas.<br /><br />She and her colleagues read some short tales to a bunch of kids (67 in total) aged 8, 10 or 12, and also 22 adults. All the stories illustrated a 'difficult to explain' event.<br /><br />[...]<br /><br />So they read these stories and then asked the listener how the event could be explained. <b>The surprising thing was that the kids hardly ever offered up supernatural explanations. </b><br /><br />[...]<br /><br /><b>Adults, on the other hand, readily offered up supernatural explanations.</b> There was a clear trend, too, as you can see in the graph - the older the child, the more likely they were to explain these strange happenings by recourse to the supernatural <br /><br />Epiphenom.fieldofscience.com, Tom Rees, October 04, 2011</i></blockquote>
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Kids are less likely to come with supernatural explanations than adults </div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13743460535956343491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162162762021468524.post-21707079606487564372012-02-05T13:13:00.000+01:002012-02-05T13:39:38.849+01:00Simply being near a church makes people more hostile to outsiders<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><a href="http://epiphenom.fieldofscience.com/2012/02/simply-being-near-church-makes-people.html">"In a recent study, Jordan LaBouff (University of Maine)</a> worked with colleagues at Baylor College to discover whether attitudes to different groups are affected by subliminal Christian priming.<br /><br />[...]<br /><br />So what effect does religious priming have on ordinary people? To test this, LaBouff stopped people at random outside a church in the Netherlands (and, to check if the effect was culturally specific, a few people outside Westminster Abbey in London). He asked them a series of questions, including asking them to rate their attitudes to different groups on a 1-10 scale.<br /><br />He also stopped some other people in a location that contained only civic buildings (in England, the location chosen was the Houses of Parliament).<br /><br />[...]<br /><br />But, as you can see from the graph, attitudes towards every single group were more hostile when people were asked outside a church. All the differences are statistically significant (except the difference in attitudes towards Christians)."<br /><br />Epiphenom.fieldofscience.com, Tom Rees, Saturday, February 04</i></blockquote>
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Attitudes towards different groups vary depending on where you ask the question.</div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13743460535956343491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162162762021468524.post-62766868518868014542012-02-05T12:24:00.000+01:002012-02-05T12:24:42.627+01:00Conservative religious beliefs strongly predict U.S. teen birth rates<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><a href="http://www.salon.com/2012/01/08/so_what_if_america_is_the_most_religious_nation/singleton/">"Some religions insist on the sexual abstinence before marriage.</a> Isn’t it ironic that the journal Reproductive Health reports a correlation showing that the more religious the state, the higher the rates of teenage pregnancy?</i><br />
<i><br /></i><br />
<i>Salon.com, Bernard Starr, Jan 8, 2012</i></blockquote>
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Here's from the report by <a href="http://www.reproductive-health-journal.com/">Reproductive Health</a>:<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"Conclusions </i><br />
<i>With data aggregated at the state level, conservative religious beliefs strongly predict U.S. teen birth rates, in a relationship that does not appear to be the result of confounding by income or abortion rates. One possible explanation for this relationship is that teens in more religious communities may be less likely to use contraception. " </i><br />
<i><br /></i><br />
<i>Religiosity and teen birth rate in the United States, Joseph M. Strayhorn and Jillian C. Strayhorn </i></blockquote>
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<a href="http://www.reproductive-health-journal.com/imedia/1545549611271544_article.pdf?random=414460">See full report here.</a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5zWiJAL297LANCCs-lh2qkuAqqZJ991bxceZ-sERPsbCrDU6XO5by2rnfo4JmLC3X1YueE6pnSKujncK-k63-FJ0C7OJbpRn-OyxD6G98e89NnmVIEZaUjrgH-JgSpCbHb5iPfqMkhwOd/s1600/teen_birth_rathe_by_religiosity.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5zWiJAL297LANCCs-lh2qkuAqqZJ991bxceZ-sERPsbCrDU6XO5by2rnfo4JmLC3X1YueE6pnSKujncK-k63-FJ0C7OJbpRn-OyxD6G98e89NnmVIEZaUjrgH-JgSpCbHb5iPfqMkhwOd/s320/teen_birth_rathe_by_religiosity.jpg" width="288" /> </a></div>
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Teen birth rate by religiosity </div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13743460535956343491noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162162762021468524.post-91135300025851461612012-02-04T19:08:00.000+01:002012-02-04T19:08:15.343+01:00Britain is becoming less religious, survey shows<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBLWPlShEkL0-qnwo-VqNdU017BuVJ2hVjTv9Sobx6LNXLndYjVrNr9BqwMJZKNloh9wEKVXsDHDQ74aCh5j74rObvyriUA7fAL23mgYWlQBWe3cVy7zf-23UP3xsDwbH2qzJOvvw4BwpK/s1600/british+social+attitudes+2011-2012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBLWPlShEkL0-qnwo-VqNdU017BuVJ2hVjTv9Sobx6LNXLndYjVrNr9BqwMJZKNloh9wEKVXsDHDQ74aCh5j74rObvyriUA7fAL23mgYWlQBWe3cVy7zf-23UP3xsDwbH2qzJOvvw4BwpK/s320/british+social+attitudes+2011-2012.jpg" width="223" /></a></div>
An interesting survey by <a href="http://www.natcen.ac.uk/">NatCen</a> shows that religion is indeed in decline in Britain. <a href="http://ir2.flife.de/data/natcen-social-research/igb_html/pdf/1000001_e.pdf">Download the PDF on religion here. </a><br />
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<i>"The first point to note is that there is no evidence of a lifecycle effect – that is, as people grow older they become more or less religious. Non-affiliation remains relatively stable as each generation ages; for example, 30 per cent of those born between 1936–1945 did not follow a religion in 1983 (when they were aged 38–47 years), compared with 31 per cent in 2010 (when they were 65–74 years). </i><br />
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<i> [...] </i><br />
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<i>Conclusions </i><br />
<i><b>Britain is becoming less religious, with the numbers who affiliate with a religion or attend religious services experiencing a long-term decline.</b> And this trend seems set to continue; not only as older, more religious generations are replaced by younger, less religious ones, but also as the younger generations increasingly opt not to bring up their children in a religion – a factor shown to strongly link with religious affiliation and attendance later in life. </i><br />
<i>What does this decline mean for society and social policy more generally? On the one hand, we can expect to see a continued increase in liberal attitudes towards a range of issues such as abortion, homosexuality, same-sex marriage, and euthanasia, as the influence of considerations grounded in religion declines. <b>Moreover, we may see an increased reluctance, particularly among the younger age groups, for matters of faith to enter the social and public spheres at all.</b> The recently expressed sentiment of the current coalition government to “do” and “get” God (Warsi, 2011) therefore may not sit well with, and could alienate, certain sections of the population. "</i><br />
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<i>British Social Attitudes 28, 2011-2012</i></blockquote>
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Now for the charts: <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjalxyW90nb4jYyDxXto8Cryigj472Hquf6AMBrfrfpqvP67PZvq2d7jTGAYJkEBm-Bkb2JwDUaTik9QcX4fUG4yGK0zOK5Q6-Dir_wAAj9dKC-gHgNrcz2kNmTDeLmhdBRa4WJXqCep9px/s1600/no_religion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjalxyW90nb4jYyDxXto8Cryigj472Hquf6AMBrfrfpqvP67PZvq2d7jTGAYJkEBm-Bkb2JwDUaTik9QcX4fUG4yGK0zOK5Q6-Dir_wAAj9dKC-gHgNrcz2kNmTDeLmhdBRa4WJXqCep9px/s320/no_religion.jpg" width="320" /> </a></div>
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50 per cent has no religion in Britain</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0PuNuFmzyr3DsxCBTpLZHoMPXA47inX0cNfbLkAGuz2afL9Jzh4R2WS-0sWRhcUqyno9a1iiz7jNVlPWw7cx-mfgxiZ2ny6LoIlUfw_h5Nob6I19Rk5PW-PjVVj9W_54KU9v-oAneIufV/s1600/No+religious+affiliation+cohort+analysis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0PuNuFmzyr3DsxCBTpLZHoMPXA47inX0cNfbLkAGuz2afL9Jzh4R2WS-0sWRhcUqyno9a1iiz7jNVlPWw7cx-mfgxiZ2ny6LoIlUfw_h5Nob6I19Rk5PW-PjVVj9W_54KU9v-oAneIufV/s320/No+religious+affiliation+cohort+analysis.jpg" width="320" /> </a></div>
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No religious affiliation, cohort analysis, 1983–2010 </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaZOsI-UrmTuaa_luVfLac3zPH_3W5ZEoiVl9mbYa2jWuNvDZm-4f_rX9YZW2rdHuP8S8bJGMIPB9OanYIXC0VU-xjaLDOh5aWSF_0Wyxk8E_53Ns_Ny03upwxa8U2mbgzCRTBIgTVLpeh/s1600/upbringing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaZOsI-UrmTuaa_luVfLac3zPH_3W5ZEoiVl9mbYa2jWuNvDZm-4f_rX9YZW2rdHuP8S8bJGMIPB9OanYIXC0VU-xjaLDOh5aWSF_0Wyxk8E_53Ns_Ny03upwxa8U2mbgzCRTBIgTVLpeh/s320/upbringing.jpg" width="320" /> </a></div>
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Current religious affiliation, by religious upbringing. Notice how despite having had religious upbringing a huge chunk ends up being non-religious. </div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13743460535956343491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162162762021468524.post-42302165400044635732012-02-04T17:34:00.000+01:002012-02-04T17:34:19.065+01:00Apatheism on the rise in USA survey shows<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/story/2011-12-25/religion-god-atheism-so-what/52195274/1">""The real dirty little secret of religiosity in America</a> is that there are so many people for whom spiritual interest, thinking about ultimate questions, is minimal," says Mark Silk, professor of religion and public life at Trinity College, Hartford, Conn.<br /><br />[...]<br /><br />•44% told the 2011 Baylor University Religion Survey they spend no time seeking "eternal wisdom," and 19% said "it's useless to search for meaning."<br /><br />•46% told a 2011 survey by Nashville-based evangelical research agency, LifeWay Research, they never wonder whether they will go to heaven.<br /><br />•28% told LifeWay "it's not a major priority in my life to find my deeper purpose." And 18% scoffed at the idea that God has a purpose or plan for everyone.<br /><br />•6.3% of Americans turned up on Pew Forum's 2007 Religious Landscape Survey as totally secular — unconnected to God or a higher power or any religious identity and willing to say religion is not important in their lives."<br /><br />USA Today, 1/3/2012</i></blockquote>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13743460535956343491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162162762021468524.post-7252658357983378132012-02-04T13:08:00.000+01:002012-02-04T13:09:35.442+01:00Religious Young Adults Become Obese By Middle Age<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><b><a href="http://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/stories/2011/03/religious-young-adults-obese.html">"Young adults who frequently attend religious activities</a> are 50 percent more likely to become obese by middle age as young adults with no religious involvement</b>, according to new Northwestern Medicine research. This is the first longitudinal study to examine the development of obesity in people with various degrees of religious involvement.<br /><br />[...]<br /><br />Previous Northwestern Medicine research established a correlation between religious involvement and obesity in middle-age and older adults at a single point in time. By tracking participants’ weight gain over time, the new study makes it clear that normal weight younger adults with high religious involvement became obese, rather than obese adults becoming more religious.<br /><br />[...]<br /><br />The study, which tracked 2,433 men and women for 18 years, found normal weight young adults ages 20 to 32 years with a high frequency of religious participation were 50 percent more likely to be obese by middle age <b>after adjusting for differences in age, race, sex, education, income and baseline body mass index.</b> High frequency of religious participation was defined as attending a religious function at least once a week."<br /><br />Northwestern.edu, March 23, 2011</i></blockquote>
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