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‘Scientific’ Study Says People of Faith Are Stupid
The Christian Diarist ^ | April 28, 2012 | JP

Posted on 04/28/2012 8:52:00 AM PDT by CHRISTIAN DIARIST

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To: CHRISTIAN DIARIST

The researchers’ general approach was to test volunteers — in some cases, Canadian undergraduates, in others, as the paper explains, a “nationwide (though nonrepresentative) sample of American adults recruited online”. Both sets of volunteers constitute only a limited sample, as Gervais and Norenzayan acknowledge.

During the tests, volunteers were either engaged in a task that surreptitiously elicited analytical thinking, or were given a control task. They were then asked if they concurred with a series of statements about religion, such as “I believe in God” or “I don’t really spend much time thinking about my religious beliefs”.

http://www.nature.com/news/is-rationality-the-enemy-of-religion-1.10539


21 posted on 04/28/2012 9:46:41 AM PDT by kcvl
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To: CHRISTIAN DIARIST

this study was not science, it was satire and contained absolutely no science, did not employ scientific methods, didn’t frame the question properly, and didn’t even design valid test - and this moron thinks he is analytical - lmao.


22 posted on 04/28/2012 9:47:26 AM PDT by rigelkentaurus
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To: CHRISTIAN DIARIST
In a study published yesterday in the journal Science, researchers from Canada’s University of British Columbia posit that people who believe in God are not analytical thinkers.

Actually, I have absolute faith in a creator because of quantum mechanics.

Is that "analytical" enough?

23 posted on 04/28/2012 9:55:08 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum (Government is the religion of the sociopath.)
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To: CHRISTIAN DIARIST

They showed some participants images of artwork that supposedly encouraged analytical thinking – like Rodin’s statue, “The Thinker.”


No intuitive thinking here.....................


24 posted on 04/28/2012 9:57:23 AM PDT by PeterPrinciple (Lord, save me from some conservatives, they don't understand history any better than liberals.)
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To: Poison Pill

Get a copy of “50 Nobel Laureates and Other Great Scientists Who Believe in God.”


25 posted on 04/28/2012 9:58:23 AM PDT by CHRISTIAN DIARIST
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To: CHRISTIAN DIARIST

1 Corinthians 1:25
For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom...


26 posted on 04/28/2012 10:03:51 AM PDT by fx45guy
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To: hinckley buzzard

They discredited themselves way before that.

They have had the long knives out for creationists - even to the point of including verbiage in their “charter.”

Not saying that creationists are correct in a scientific way - I *am* saying that the much vaunted practitioners of the scientific method (with peer review, no less) can close their minds with the best of them.

I would have respected them much more if they had actually done some sort of scientific inquiry into the matter rather than dismissing it out of hand.


27 posted on 04/28/2012 10:07:08 AM PDT by sauropod (You can elect your very own tyranny - Mark Levin)
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To: CHRISTIAN DIARIST

Change ‘people of faith are not thinking’ -— to ‘people of OTHER faiths are not thinking’, and I suspect the proposition will gain many more supporters. :-) This doesn’t mean, of course, that such persons can’t solve difficult mathematical problems, or do all kinds of things that require considerable intelligence, but really now, isn’t it the opinion of nearly all the persons here that people of other faiths believe all kinds of crazy stuff? (I would judge so from the posts I’ve seen in many threads, and it’s my opinion too.) There seems to be an area of intellectual blindness with respect to religion — called being non-analytical by the persons who did that silly experiment — in the OTHER guy’s beliefs, not in one’s own.

Take the 9-11 terrorists, for instance (from the point of view of probably everybody here). If I recall correctly, these weren’t illiterate peasants taken from some remote village somewhere. They may well have been intelligent and well educated in some respects, especially the leader. Where they went astray, though, was in their religious interpretation of the situation, the belief that they were doing what God wanted them to do, and that — though killed — they would be rewarded for it. I can’t help but draw the conclusion that they didn’t analyze the situation correctly.


28 posted on 04/28/2012 10:12:53 AM PDT by GJones2 (Religion and analytical thinking)
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To: rigelkentaurus

“They recruited 650 or so Canucks and Yanks to participate in their study. They showed some participants images of artwork that supposedly encouraged analytical thinking – like Rodin’s statue, “The Thinker.””

So - if I am shown by a Muslim acadmeic psychologist, pictures of MadMo boinking Aisha I will believe pedop[hilia is an Allah inspired activity?

As usual, the PsychPerson confuses correlation with causality.

Papers like this one, by academics such as this author, are just one of the many reasons for the low public opinoin of the “soft sciences”.


29 posted on 04/28/2012 10:15:53 AM PDT by GladesGuru (In a society predicated upon freedom, it is necessary to examine principles."...the public interest)
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To: CHRISTIAN DIARIST
At least 50 Nobel Prize-winning scientists

Did a search on the title you provided and found a list with 27 Nobel scientists. Your claim was misleading.

30 posted on 04/28/2012 10:18:24 AM PDT by Poison Pill (Obama is the hopium of the masses)
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To: Poison Pill

Wasn’t basing it strictly on the book, but also on additional research.


31 posted on 04/28/2012 10:26:16 AM PDT by CHRISTIAN DIARIST
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To: CHRISTIAN DIARIST
Wasn’t basing it strictly on the book, but also on additional research.

I see. So, who are the 23+ other Nobel Prize winning scientists?

32 posted on 04/28/2012 10:33:15 AM PDT by Poison Pill (Obama is the hopium of the masses)
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To: Poison Pill

Send me your email address and I’ll give you a link to the list.


33 posted on 04/28/2012 10:41:48 AM PDT by CHRISTIAN DIARIST
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To: CHRISTIAN DIARIST
Send me your email address and I’ll give you a link to the list

No thanks. I'm not interested in providing hits to your site or having my mail box spammed.

34 posted on 04/28/2012 10:54:13 AM PDT by Poison Pill (Obama is the hopium of the masses)
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To: CHRISTIAN DIARIST

Wow..!! then that means that there is no religious people successful in life


35 posted on 04/28/2012 11:01:57 AM PDT by californian by choice
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To: GladesGuru
Papers like this one, by academics such as this author, are just one of the many reasons for the low public opinoin of the “soft sciences”.

The use of statistics overcame any flaws in the study.
36 posted on 04/28/2012 11:03:41 AM PDT by PeterPrinciple (Lord, save me from some conservatives, they don't understand history any better than liberals.)
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To: Poison Pill

I’m a genuine Christian. Not a spammer or a scammer. I’m sorry if you’ve had past bad experiences with persons pretending to be true believers.


37 posted on 04/28/2012 11:06:15 AM PDT by CHRISTIAN DIARIST
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To: Poison Pill

I’m a genuine Christian. Not a spammer or a scammer. I’m sorry if you’ve had past bad experiences with persons pretending to be true believers.


38 posted on 04/28/2012 11:06:15 AM PDT by CHRISTIAN DIARIST
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To: GJones2
, but really now, isn’t it the opinion of nearly all the persons here that people of other faiths believe all kinds of crazy stuff?

I'm a Christian and I'm one of the most analytical people I have ever met. I know many other analytical Christians. I have studied the writings of many past and current Christian theologians and I can state that they are surely and thoroughly analytical in their writings and their conclusions.

With all of that said, every Christian I know realizes that we believe in some "crazy stuff" and that the world deems crazy. However, our analysis of the testimony by the witnesses in the bible, the testimony of those fellow Christians who have experienced the affect on our lives from the love of Christ and the power to change ourselves to be like Christ that only comes from the Holy Spirit provides us analytical types with sufficient evidence that the biblical claims are true. Further our personal experience that comes from reading scripture and prayer leads us to the analytical conclusion that Christ was born, Christ died on the cross for us and Christ rose from the dead and ascended to heaven.

We do realize that this conclusion based on analyzing the evidence presented leads to "crazy stuff" but that is the nature of using reason and analysis and applying it to the evidence in the nature of the testimony given by scripture as well as the testing of the scripture in our daily lives.

39 posted on 04/28/2012 11:29:32 AM PDT by Raycpa
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To: PeterPrinciple

“The use of statistics overcame any flaws in the study.”

Mark? Mark Twain? Is that your ghost posting under PeterPrinciple’s name?

;-)


40 posted on 04/28/2012 11:32:07 AM PDT by GladesGuru (In a society predicated upon freedom, it is necessary to examine principles."...the public interest)
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