Heaving Dead Cats » Study

God Thinks Like You and He Personally Cares For You, Plus a Video To Cheer You Up

Neece — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 16:40:19 +0000

I have 2 studies to share with you then a video to cheer you up afterwards.

The first paper is titled ‘Believers’ estimates of God’s beliefs are more egocentric than estimates of other people’s beliefs’. It found through a series of 7 studies and surveys that people believe that god has the same beliefs that they have. Here is what they concluded:

The researchers noted that people often set their moral compasses according to what they presume to be God’s standards. ”The central feature of a compass, however, is that it points north no matter what direction a person is facing,” they conclude. “This research suggests that, unlike an actual compass, inferences about God’s beliefs may instead point people further in whatever direction they are already facing.”

Isn’t that convenient? It certainly explains how god can hate all the same people they hate, and basically agree with them about everything. It’s like knowing your dad will let you do whatever you want because he thinks just like you. It’s a license to act any way you like, with your god’s blessing.

Also, are you sure people set their compass according to god’s standards? Maybe instead they set god’s compass to theirs. That would be interesting to find out, although I don’t know how you’d do it.

The second paper is titled ‘Socioeconomic Status and Beliefs about God’s Influence in Everyday Life.’ It used data from two recent national surveys of Americans to examine people’s beliefs about god’s involvement and influence in their lives. Here are some of the findings:

Overall, most people believe that God is highly influential in the events and outcomes in their lives. Specifically:

82 per cent say they depend on God for help and guidance in making decisions;
71 per cent believe that when good or bad things happen, these occurrences are simply part of God’s plan for them;
61 per cent believe that God has determined the direction and course of their lives;
32 per cent agree with the statement: “There is no sense in planning a lot because ultimately my fate is in God’s hands.”
Overall, people who have more education and higher income are less likely to report beliefs in divine intervention.
However, among the well-educated and higher earners, those who are more involved in religious rituals share similar levels of beliefs about divine intervention as their less-educated and less financially well-off peers.

According to Schieman: “Many of us might assume that people of higher social class standing tend to reject beliefs about divine intervention. However, my findings indicate that while this is true among those less committed to religious life, it is not the case for people who are more committed to religious participation and rituals.”

82% depend on god to help them make decisions! That is incredibly disturbing to me. It’s one thing to ask your friend for advice in helping you decide something important. That person is REAL. It’s another thing to ask an invisible fantasy man for help. But according to the previous study, you’re just doing whatever you like because god thinks like you. Right?

Doesn’t this get a person off the hook, decrease their need for personal responsibility, if they can just say it’s all god’s doing? And isn’t it all incredibly delusional? Religious people who think god is personally involved in their daily lives must be the most adept people at cherry-picking information. They are great at seeing only the hits where chance makes it look like the sky daddy is helping them, and ignoring the millions of misses where their furtive pleas to god go unanswered.

So here is a video which might give you a bit of hope.

The internet: where religions come to die (almost 11 minutes). Some of it is exceedingly creepy and depressing, but it has a happy ending.

Information IS Beautiful!

Neece — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 07:26:42 +0000

Stumbling around the interwebs, I found a site that I think you might love. It’s called Information is Beautiful. David McCandless takes all kinds of data and ideas and visualizes it in appealing ways.

The one I found that I thought was amazing was Snake Oil?: Scientific evidence for popular health supplements. (That link takes you to the interactive version. See the static version here.) On the side is a show me button that flies out a list of uses and types of supplements. Choose what you’re interested in to filter the results. The bigger the bubble, the more popular the supplement is. The higher on the chart, the more evidence there is that it works. Notice how many bubbles are below the Worth It line. Remember, the supplements are only good for the conditions listed inside the bubble, which you can see by hovering over it.

What David says about the evidence:

We only considered large, human, randomized placebo-controlled trials in our data scrape – wherever possible. No animal trials. No cell studies. Many of the health claims made by the $23 billion supplements industry are based on non-human trials. We wanted to cut through that.

This piece was doggedly researched by myself, and researchers Pearl Doughty-White and Alexia Wdowski. We looked at the abstracts of over 1500 studies on PubMed (run by US National Library Of Medicine) and Cochrane.org (which hosts meta-studies of scientific research). It took us several months to seek out the evidence – or lack of.

The information is generated from a Google Doc, so when new research comes out it can be easily updated. Very cool indeed. The data has web addresses to the source of the research so you can see it for yourself. It’s not just anecdotal evidence.

David also has a chart on caffeine and calories. He even shows how much exercise it will take to work off that large iced mocha you had for breakfast.

He does two interesting charts about politics. The Left vs the Right. A world version and an American version. These are chock full of information.

His 2012 chart is also great. The left describes the believers, the right describes the skeptics, with information refuting what the believers say. Sources are listed at the bottom, and are available in a Google Doc.

His climate change chart shows global warming deniers vs the scientific consensus.

He has many more on his site as well. That’s just a few of my favorites.

A Chart of Religiousness, IQ, Morality and More

Neece — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 21:30:26 +0000

My friend Gerald found this interesting chart chock full of information. Of course, remember correlation does not necessitate causation, but it is striking how the numbers fall.

Links on the full page >>

State of the States: Importance of Religion – Gallup Poll, January 28, 2009
Average IQ Score By State
Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates (2008, US Census Bureau)
Law Enforcement, Courts and Prisons: Crimes and Crime Rates (US Census Bureau)
Divorce Rates by State, 1990-2005
Generosity in Canada and the US: The 2009 Generosity Index
Political Ideology: “Conservative” Label Prevails in the South (August 2009)
2008 State Well-Being Composite Rankings

Cross-posted from Morgantown Atheists

A New Pew Religion Survey

Neece — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 16:00:24 +0000

There is a new Pew Survey about religion of people coming of age around the year 2000 (called the Millenials) out. It’s quite interesting. I’ve included some of the charts and tables for you.

What is interesting is how the Millenials are less affiliated, but they still believe in the afterlife, miracles, angels and demons to a high degree. I think that’s where atheism is lacking for a lot of people; that comfort that there’s more to life than just the natural, that life doesn’t just end when we take our last breath. Personally I find that it makes life much more precious.

Let’s see some charts and tables!

Note that in the Unaffiliated group are the Religious Unaffiliated, people who describe their faith as “nothing in particular” but say that religion is somewhat or very important in their lives. Whatever that means.

If you take out the religious unaffiliated, you still get a much higher group of unaffiliated than the general population. Note how few people are still willing to label themselves as atheists.

Another chart showing age composition of religions.

Lots of people find religion to be very important to them. Note how religion seems to become more important as the different groups get older. Could that be fear of death?

53% of Millenials are certain god exists. Note the other groups as well.

Interesting how different groups view the bible or other “holy” book.

Here’s a chart for the last table. Note how the different groups change over time in regards to believing the bible is the literal word of god.

Notice how the unaffiliated still believe in the afterlife, miracles, angels and demons. I think this is significant.

How to obtain eternal life table, only the affiliated were asked, of course.

Views of homosexuality as always wrong.

Views on abortion. I’d love to see this as a chart over time.

Is evolution the best explanation for human life? Does Hollywood threaten values? Do you like bigger government with more services? Interesting numbers.

Are there absolute standards of right and wrong? Should government protect morality? Should churches talk politics? The unaffiliated stand out a bit here.

Opposition to prayer and bible reading in public schools. The Millenials stand out again.

So what do you think? Are you an Unaffiliated? Have you ever heard of Religious Unaffiliated? Do you think the Unafilliated results are too muddied by combining those numbers for the rest of the questions? I do. Does this poll seem hopeful to you, or not? And if you’re nonreligious, do you believe in miracles, angels and demons, and life after death?

Thanks to my friend Daniel, for letting me know this had been released.

Some Recent Scientific Studies

Neece — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 01:59:01 +0000

As you may have guessed, I love science. I thought I’d share some studies that have been recently published that seem interesting.

First, we’ll start with Norway. They took a novel approach to dealing with staph infections. They drastically reduced their use of antibiotics. Some time ago I talked a bit about refraining from using antibacterial soaps which are harmful to you and those you love. Anyway, Norway is now the most infection-free country in the world. And they did it by reducing their use of antibiotics.

Midday Naps boost your learning capacity! Good news for those of us able to catch a few ZZZ’s during the day. New research from the University of California, Berkeley, shows that an hour’s nap can dramatically boost and restore your brain power. Indeed, the findings suggest that a biphasic sleep schedule not only refreshes the mind, but can make you smarter.

Few professionals keep current with what’s going on in their field. This is disturbing but not surprising.

Nanotechnology creates a way to cheaply and efficiently make lightweight paper and fabric batteries, store energy, and still be stretchable! (I love me some nanotech) These are known as eTextiles. Imagine energy-storing wallpaper, charging your portables on the go by plugging them into your shirt. How about moving display clothing, high performance sportswear and wearable power for soldiers? Groovy!

Biogas may be even better than previously thought. Biogas from refuse produces 95 per cent less greenhouse gas emissions than gasoline, according to a new research report. With a few simple improvements to the biogas plants, the figure can rise to 120 per cent — i.e. biogas becomes more than climate neutral. This can be compared with the standard figures used today, which indicate that biogas produces 80 per cent lower emissions than gasoline.

An inexpensive, fast, accurate DNA test that reveals a person’s risk of developing certain diseases is expected to become a reality. Scientists have developed a method of pinpointing variations in a person’s genetic code at critical points along the DNA chain. The technique could be used to analyze DNA in a drop of saliva.

While research over the past couple of years is showing that taking vitamins may be more harmful than beneficial (get your nutrients in your food!), a large survey study finds that middle aged and elderly people with high levels of vitamin D could reduce their chances of developing heart disease or diabetes by 43%. Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin that is naturally present in some foods and is also produced when ultraviolet rays from sunlight strike the skin and trigger vitamin D synthesis. Fish such as salmon, tuna and mackerel are good sources of vitamin D.

More about Vitamin D:Vitamin D is quickly becoming the “it” nutrient with health benefits for diseases, including cancer, osteoporosis, heart disease and now diabetes.

How about this? Scorpion venom could be an alternative to morphine, with no side effects!

Routine Driving, even for experienced drivers, increases the chances of accidents. The findings of the study show that the brain is more active and reacts more along unfamiliar routes. When the test persons became familiar with the routes, the activity of their brains became less; this was the case for both the experienced and inexperienced drivers. This means that drivers drive on familiar routes without consciously orientating themselves.

A Brain-controlled cursor doubles as a neural network. Scientists have found that watching a cursor respond to one’s thoughts prompts brain signals to become stronger than those generated in day-to-day life. The finding holds promise for rehabilitating patients after stroke or other neurological damage. It also suggests that a human brain could quickly become adept at manipulating an external device such as a computer interface or a prosthetic limb.

So there you go, some recent random studies from the scientific world.

Being Good Without God Is Natural

Neece — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 17:45:50 +0000

I walked away from religion when I was 12. While it took me almost another 2 decades to become and accept that I am an atheist, I have basically lived without god for a long time. In fact, I’ve been an atheist for about 9 years and in that time, I have managed to refrain from killing anyone, stealing anything, cheating on my husband, and many other bad behaviors.

I do still drink copious amounts of coffee and swear a lot, but hey, nobody’s perfect.

I’ve met christians who have said they would kill, rape, steal and basically go on a rampage without god watching their every move. I’m very glad those amoral people are afraid of burning in hell because they have no moral compass like most of us do. Those few people who think they need god to be good need to stay religious. They have a screw loose.

Apparently research is finding that being moral is part of our evolution. Recently I’ve been hearing of studies that show morality in other animals. And awhile ago I read about E. Coli and how it sometimes sacrifices itself for the good of the colony. Basically, working within the framework of your given society is beneficial in fundamental ways, and that’s been with us and many other creatures for eons.

Still, religions think they have some kind of monopoly on morality. But if you actually read their “holy” books, you’ll find rampant murder, religious wars, rape, killing of women and children, wholesale slaughter of people who believed differently, and on and on. Recently I read the first part of God Hates You, Hate Him Back by CJ Werleman which goes through every book of the bible. I was reminded how much god hates everyone, even his chosen people, and how much he kills people and has his people kill people, children and animals. It’s heart-warming mind-numbing. That’s the main gist of the old testament. (the other main theme is how the chosen people aren’t worshiping god correctly, how they are worshiping other gods – wait, isn’t there just one? even god admits there are others! – and generally being bad followers and need to be punished. It’s very loving crazy-making to read it.)

The bible and other religious texts also say that morals are fixed and unchanging, but the easiest way to refute that is simply to look at slavery. The old and the new testament both promote slavery and tell people to be good slaves if that is their lot. Yet we learned some time ago that slavery is morally wrong and in all civilized places in the world it is rejected as unethical.

Also, look at how women are treated in the bible and the quran while in our modern, civilized society women are becoming fully equal in stature. We still need to keep working on it, but it would be so much easier if people would stop turning to a dusty old book from the Iron Age. In some parts of the world women are subjugated to status lower than dogs, but in every culture I can think of, religion plays a huge part of why that is still the case.

Another point to make is that people from all walks of life, with different religions or no religions at all, have the same basic set of morals. Of course there are differences for each culture, especially over time, but in most societies murder and stealing are wrong. If only one religion had the corner on morals, everyone else would be barbarians, would they not?

Of course, look at islam which condones rape, killing your own children even today, and many other reprehensible ethics. This is where religion is most definitely not on the high ground. As an atheist no prophet or god tells me I have to kill my daughter or son if they convert to another religion. No god or “holy” book tells me I have to hate my parents and my children if they don’t follow jesus either. Face it, religions are barbaric and amoral.

If you read the 10 commandments, the only really good ones are “don’t murder” and “don’t steal”. Most of the rest of them are self serving to the jewish/christian god. And those two moral concepts have been around since long before we were even human, and certainly in every culture.

I was listening to some old Point of Inquiry episodes and found a short three part series called Can You Be Good Without God? where Paul Kurtz explores:

POI Jan 6, 2006: the real origin of morality. (go to 30:06 in the podcast which you can get on iTunes through the link)
POI Jan 13, 2006: defending godless morality. (starts at 37:05 in the podcast)
POI Jan 20, 2006: the specific ethical ideals secular humanists cherish.(starts at 42:09)

Some studies that might interest you:

Morality Research Sheds Light on the Origins of Religion: (Feb. 9, 2010) — The details surrounding the emergence and evolution of religion have not been clearly established and remain a source of much debate among scholars. Now, an article published by Cell Press in the journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences on February 8 brings a new understanding to this long-standing discussion by exploring the fascinating link between morality and religion.
…Citing several studies in moral psychology, the authors highlight the finding that despite differences in, or even an absence of, religious backgrounds, individuals show no difference in moral judgments for unfamiliar moral dilemmas. The research suggests that intuitive judgments of right and wrong seem to operate independently of explicit religious commitments.
Why Powerful People – Many of Whom Take a Moral High Ground – Don’t Practice What They Preach: (Dec. 30, 2009) — 2009 may well be remembered for its scandal-ridden headlines, from admissions of extramarital affairs by governors and senators, to corporate executives flying private jets while cutting employee benefits, and most recently, to a mysterious early morning car crash in Florida. The past year has been marked by a series of moral transgressions by powerful figures in political, business and celebrity circles. New research from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University explores why powerful people – many of whom take a moral high ground – don’t practice what they preach.
Why Saints Sin And Sinners Get Saintly: (June 28, 2009) — To many, New York Gov. Eliott Spitzer’s fall from grace seemed to make no sense at all. But a new Northwestern University study offers provocative insights that possibly could relate to why the storm trooper of reform — formerly known as the Sheriff of Wall Street — seemingly went from saint to sinner overnight.

So while a lot of us were raised on the 10 commandments, we are faced with many grey area issues in our daily lives that we need to decide, what is right or wrong here? What are your 5 top morals and where do you feel you got them from? If not from religion, then from society or perhaps from your own innate sense of right and wrong? Have they changed as you’ve matured? I’d love to hear what you have to say about it all.

A Wild Ride With Robert Sapolsky

Neece — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 11:50:18 +0000

My friend Brent sent me a link to a page on the web. It’s a conversation with Robert Sapolsky, a quiet, funny, apparently brilliant professor of biological sciences at Stanford University and of neurology at Stanford’s School of Medicine. Professor Sapolsky has written several books such as:

The link Brent sent me was called TOXO and he suggested it to me because our book club is reading The God Virus: How religion infects our lives and culture, by Daniel W Ray. Now the video on that page was Robert Sapolsky talking about a most interesting parasite called Toxoplasma. This is what pregnant women need to worry about, and why they avoid cats and cat feces. It can wreak havoc on their unborn baby’s nervous system.

If you read The God Virus, which talks about parasites and viruses as an analogy for religion, I highly recommend watching this video. If you aren’t going to read the book I still recommend the video. The transcript is underneath it too, which will make it even more accessible for you. But the video is longer than the transcript. So take 25 minutes and enjoy it. Here’s another link to the video. I’m telling you, it’s fascinating. As I mentioned, the video is longer than the transcript. He goes into telemeres and molecular age, which I heard a study about recently confirming what he is explaining.

What he’s talking about touches on evolution, common ancestors, parasites and how they go about getting where they need to be, motorcyclists and speed freaks, and schizophrenics, as well as the government’s interest in this parasite. A wild ride indeed!

Of course, as a skeptic, I thought I’d just look around a bit and see who this Sapolsky guy is, since I’d never heard of him. I found his books (linked to above), his Wikipedia page, and a very cool speech he gave to Stanford students about to graduate. It’s about the uniqueness of humans. Here is the Stanford speech:

TED likes him too. Here’s his bio page .

“If a rat is a good model for your emotional life, you’re in big trouble.” Robert Sapolsky

I guess it’s no surprise that he’s an “unbudgeable atheist“. Did I mention he was awarded a MacArthur Genius Grant? But if you watch the videos, you’ll find that he’s fairly easy to understand, so he’s able to teach what he knows, which is awesome.

Oh, and the connection between toxoplasma and schizophrenia? Science Daily has a few studies that I could find:

Cross-posted from Morgantown Atheists

Heaving Dead Cats » Study

God Thinks Like You and He Personally Cares For You, Plus a Video To Cheer You Up

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