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Wealth vs. Religiosity

theatlantic.com

11–20 of 20 posts

Re: Wealth vs. Religiosity

#11
post #5

What's a "religiosity scale"?

From http://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/2275614130/

"Definition: Religiosity is measured using a three-item index ranging from 0-3, with 3 representing the maximum religious position. Respondents were given a +1 if they believe faith in God is necessary for morality; and +1 if they say religion is very important in their lives; and +1 if they pray at least once a day."

Re: Wealth vs. Religiosity

#13
post #5

What's a "religiosity scale"?

From http://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/2275614130/ "Definition: Religiosity is measured using a three-item index ranging from 0-3, with 3 representing the maximum religious position. Respondents were given a +1 if they believe faith in God is necessary for morality; and +1 if they say religion is very important in their lives; and +1 if they pray at least once a day."

most atheists seem to think morality is a religious idea. like dawkins.

Re: Wealth vs. Religiosity

#15
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From http://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/2275614130/ "Definition: Religiosity is measured using a three-item index ranging from 0-3, with 3 representing the maximum religious position. Respondents were given a +1 if they believe faith in God is necessary for morality; and +1 if they say religion is very important in their lives; and +1 if they pray at least once a day."

most atheists seem to think morality is a religious idea. like dawkins.

No? Show me serious writing by an atheist, explaining how morality exists and isn't religious?

Re: Wealth vs. Religiosity

#16

The second comment on this thread: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/2275614130/ puts it all in context. In short: the graph means what you want it to mean, according to your own background.

In the absence of more information about the graph and how the data was created, yeah. The rest of what she says, though, are mostly bizarre inferences. Based on that, and reading the rest of her profile, I don't think she really cares about science. I have a hard time thinking that people would, as a society, willingly choose to not have clean running water, environmental protection, or sewage treatment plants because it might not be "pious".

The thing to ask now should be to ask is what is the casual relationship, if any, between the two data sets and if there is a way to test the relationship. I think she may also be missing out on the idea of "aggregate" sums.

If you look at the color of the dots, though, you see that richer continents don't overlap; or at least, they seem discrete. That's interesting.

Re: Wealth vs. Religiosity

#17
post #15
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

most atheists seem to think morality is a religious idea. like dawkins.

No? Show me serious writing by an atheist, explaining how morality exists and isn't religious?

So If we don't choose to immediately respond you automatically declare a default victory?

Because even if we can't disprove your assertion, we are expected to go along with your idea without question?

Re: Wealth vs. Religiosity

#18
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No? Show me serious writing by an atheist, explaining how morality exists and isn't religious?

So If we don't choose to immediately respond you automatically declare a default victory? Because even if we can't disprove your assertion, we are expected to go along with your idea without question?

The "No?" was to the downmodders, who were basically saying I'm wrong without giving a counter example. They declared a position. If you're unsure and have no position, that's fine.

I don't care if you "go along with my idea". I do care that many people say something exists, but no one has ever been able to give me a single half-way-decent example.

Re: Wealth vs. Religiosity

#19
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From http://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/2275614130/ "Definition: Religiosity is measured using a three-item index ranging from 0-3, with 3 representing the maximum religious position. Respondents were given a +1 if they believe faith in God is necessary for morality; and +1 if they say religion is very important in their lives; and +1 if they pray at least once a day."

most atheists seem to think morality is a religious idea. like dawkins.

I would agree that morality outside of religion is nonsensical, but I would also say that religion is nonsensical . I can't say "most atheists" think morality is a religious idea, but Dawkins certainly does not think that it is. At least in The God Delusion and in his lectures, he maintains that it isn't. So...

Re: Wealth vs. Religiosity

#20
It would be interesting to see what religions beget what wealth.

Our own preconceptions set aside, what is obvious is the relation between countries with a Judeo-Christian backgound that are wealthy. Even if many countries have abandoned many of these practises it is still the root of many bases of society (our law system, trust as fundamental to business e.g. contracts, money etc.). Societies stemming from Judeo-Christina values more often have a everyone-has-value society than non-Judeo-Christian based societies. Apart from the actual debate on where wealth comes from (slavery anyone?) it still is interesting to ponder.

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