[asa] Re: [asa] RE: [asa] “A Friendly Letter to Skeptics and Atheists”: Fri. Feb. 27, 3:30

I too thought that Myers' book was interesting and I enjoyed reading it. My
only concern was that the data presented all showed "a positive correlation"
as James puts it but don't address the question of causal relationships. I
wish he would have discussed the various possibilities for other causal
factors. For example, the chapter on happiness indicated that church-going
people tended to be happier than non-attendees. It wasn't clear, however,
whether anyone considered that people who were less happy (or at least
uncomfortable in social interactions) would be less likely to attend church
in the first place. I agree, that the correlation may indicate that religion
isn't particularly harmful but whether it is a positive causal factor
doesn't seem to be conclusive from the data presented in this book.

Loren, perhaps you'll get a chance to ask him about that at the talk.

Randy

----- Original Message -----
From: "James Patterson" <james000777@bellsouth.net>
To: <asa@calvin.edu>
Sent: Saturday, February 21, 2009 8:22 AM
Subject: [asa] RE: [asa] “A Friendly Letter to Skeptics and Atheists”: Fri.
Feb. 27, 3:30

> This is interesting from a clinical perspective. If you look at the
> literature on spirituality and faith, and how it relates to health and
> wellness, the vast majority of the publications show a positive
> correlation. It is therefore difficult to understand from an
> evidenced-based perspective how "religion" is bad for you, or for society.
> The data say otherwise.
>

To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@calvin.edu with
"unsubscribe asa" (no quotes) as the body of the message.
Received on Sat Feb 21 11:10:11 2009