US religiosity caused by appalling levels of stress

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DeBunkem
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US religiosity caused by appalling levels of stress

Post #1

Post by DeBunkem »

Like the very religiose serfs of the Middle Ages who were terribly treated by the gentry of their time, Americans have little to no social safety nets even close to the level of the mostly secular fellow 1st World nations. We are more and more a plutocracy and corporatocracy, where legislation always flows in favor of the rich and powerful.

...religion is not a deep-seated or inherited tendency. It is a crutch to which people turn when they are under extreme stress, "a natural invention of human minds in response to a defective habitat". Americans, he says, suffer appalling stress and anxiety due to the lack of universal health care, the competitive economic environment, and huge income inequalities, and under these conditions belief in a supernatural creator and reliance on religious observance provides relief. By contrast, the middle class majorities of western Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan have secure enough lives not to seek help from a supernatural creator.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree ... egory-paul


You can find the link to the original study at the site above (the Guardian).

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Scotracer
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Post #2

Post by Scotracer »

Makes sense considering the fact that poor people tend to be more religious.

I have personal experience with this too - back when I was under particularly extreme stress and anxiety I felt the need to start searching for some thing to comfort me. Luckily I still had my wits about me to know what was actually happening.
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DeBunkem
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Post #3

Post by DeBunkem »

I have noticed that I tend to invoke a deity when I whack my head on some ledge (I'm tall) and my rational thinking is subsumed by a surge from the limbic (reptilian) brain. #-o

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Post #4

Post by Jayhawker Soule »

No doubt a paradigm-shifting study. Then again ...
Gregory Scott Paul (24 December 1954) is a freelance researcher, author and illustrator who works in paleontology, and more recently has examined sociology and theology. He is best known for his work and research on theropod dinosaurs and his detailed illustrations, both live and skeletal.
I'm underwhelmed.

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Post #5

Post by firechild »

In Australia, religion is not especially prevalent in day-to-day living. Sure, there are some very religious people as there are anywhere in the world but Christians here are far less outspoken than they are in the US. We hear more here about the Islamic minority speaking out for their rights because they seem to think that because there are a few of them here we should change our laws according to the Qur'an. Christan belief systems are not undermined but they are also not often considered in politics. It is a little more mutual respect between religious and non-religious groups.

You can go weeks, even months without hearing a single word from bible bashers about how the country should be run. For us, the debate about war in the middle east has nothign to do with religion. Fortunately I believe that most western countries are slowly realising what religion really stands for, and that is not a supernatural being but a set of guidelines by which to live.

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Post #6

Post by DeBunkem »

More than guidelines. Although forbidden in the Constitution, there are unwritten bans on atheism, such as election to high office. It would come near to an impeachable offense or even worse if an elected President refused to swear on the Bible, also not done by the Founders. Some State laws, mostly in the South, of course, nonetheless forbid any atheist from holding office. The whole mindset of the Bible is submission to an unseen despot and what many consider to be his earthly government. So indifference to progress and resignation to fate prevail where all rewards are believed to come after dying.

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Post #7

Post by DeBunkem »

Jayhawker Soule wrote:No doubt a paradigm-shifting study. Then again ...
Gregory Scott Paul (24 December 1954) is a freelance researcher, author and illustrator who works in paleontology, and more recently has examined sociology and theology. He is best known for his work and research on theropod dinosaurs and his detailed illustrations, both live and skeletal.
I'm underwhelmed.
Sociology being the operative word. His conclusions are backed by others in the field.
These conclusions are in line with other recent sociological research such as Pippa Norris and Ronald Ingelhart's Sacred and Secular (2006) and Phil Zuckerman's Society Without God (2009). The paper goes on the conclude that religion is not universal, that there is no well developed "God gene," and that humans are much more adapted to be materialists than spiritual. The study was covered by the senior science editor at Newsweek who observed that the "brain may indeed be predisposed to supernatural beliefs. But that predisposition may need environmental input to be fully realized.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregory_S._Paul#Religion
Maybe his study of dinosaurs and the drivel about an "intelligent designer" clashed as it does in my own mind.

Monstrous shark-toothed carcharodontosaurus.

Designed and fabricated by God, Inc. :confused2:

Image


What sane "intelligence" would "design" these and even more monstrous life forms?

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Post #8

Post by Miles »

DeBunkem wrote:
Jayhawker Soule wrote:No doubt a paradigm-shifting study. Then again ...
Gregory Scott Paul (24 December 1954) is a freelance researcher, author and illustrator who works in paleontology, and more recently has examined sociology and theology. He is best known for his work and research on theropod dinosaurs and his detailed illustrations, both live and skeletal.
I'm underwhelmed.
Sociology being the operative word. His conclusions are backed by others in the field.
These conclusions are in line with other recent sociological research such as Pippa Norris and Ronald Ingelhart's Sacred and Secular (2006) and Phil Zuckerman's Society Without God (2009). The paper goes on the conclude that religion is not universal, that there is no well developed "God gene," and that humans are much more adapted to be materialists than spiritual. The study was covered by the senior science editor at Newsweek who observed that the "brain may indeed be predisposed to supernatural beliefs. But that predisposition may need environmental input to be fully realized.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregory_S._Paul#Religion
Maybe his study of dinosaurs and the drivel about an "intelligent designer" clashed as it does in my own mind.

Monstrous shark-toothed carcharodontosaurus.

Designed and fabricated by God, Inc. :confused2:

Image


What sane "intelligence" would "design" these and even more monstrous life forms?
Yeah! Like the

Monstrous mustachioed-Munich jewkillersaurus

Image

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Post #9

Post by DeBunkem »

Hitler just accelerated the demise of religiosity in Europe.

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Post #10

Post by DeBunkem »

Here's one of many disturbing animals that still exist. Did God Designs, Inc. work with the Pentagon on this one?

Image

In 2002, the snakefish (or Channidae) was described as “something from a bad horror movie� by US Interior Secretary Gale Norton. Some describe snakefish as having �a voracious appetite, often consuming all other fish in a lake or pond and even eating its young. It can slither across land, staying out of water for up to three days, to find new sources of food.� Norton also warns that once on land �snakeheads can eat almost any small animal in its path…. They have even attacked people in China who got too close to snakeheads’ egg nesting areas.� According to Wikipedia, snakefish can be up to over a metre in length and over 6 kilograms in weight. Most snakefish are 2-3 feet long. They’re also fast reproducers with no natural enemies outside of their native environments. Within their native environments, small snakefish are preyed upon by bigger fish, while full-grown snakefish are consumed by crocodiles and alligators. Because of their ability to move into new habitats and wipe out local ecosystems (and to then hop out of the water and mosey on over to another body of water and repeat the process) snakefish have been prohibited in 13 American states and other countries (e.g., Australia).
http://www.oddee.com/item_96531.aspx

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