RELIGIOUS belief can cause damage to a society, contributing towards high murder rates, abortion, sexual promiscuity and suicide, according to research published today.
So begins an article in the London Times, (read more). This story was also picked up by ABC, who unlike their British counterparts at least offer an alternative.
The study wasn't conducted by an anthropologist or a theologian or a sociologist, but rather by Gregory Paul, a dinosaur palaeontologist. That such a study with all its flaws would be published is incredible. Obviously the Journal of Religion and Society is trying to sell a few more magazines. Paul is a devout evolutionist, who desired to prove "scientifically" that the belief in God was a bad thing. So he put some criteria together and set out to make his point. And he succeeded. If a person is bias against religion, then here's the proof to back up one's worldview. And everyone knows that most any bigotry, no matter how irrational, can be backed up with "facts" if one tries hard enough. The statistical data was specifically chosen by Paul, while other relevant information was excluded. For instance, why didn't he include information about contributions to charities, or how Americans respond to disasters worldwide? Why did he choose to measure only negative behaviors and not any positive ones?
When I was in college, I wrote a paper on "How to Lie with Statistics." I wasn't advocating lying, but rather showing how one can manipulate data to make it prove just about whatever one wants it to prove. Can there be any doubt that's exactly what Paul did?
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