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spacer   Does religion protect us from pseudoscience?
Posted by O'Leary at 11:12 AM
 
Apparently so. A recent study from Baylor University suggests that the answer is yes. In "Look Who's Irrational Now" (Wall Street Journal, September 19, 2008), Mollie Ziegler Hemingway notes,
"What Americans Really Believe," a comprehensive new study released by Baylor University yesterday, shows that traditional Christian religion greatly decreases belief in everything from the efficacy of palm readers to the usefulness of astrology. It also shows that the irreligious and the members of more liberal Protestant denominations, far from being resistant to superstition, tend to be much more likely to believe in the paranormal and in pseudoscience than evangelical Christians.

Now, that in itself should not be a surprising finding. For one thing, traditional religious groups tend to oppose occult practices, so the regular attender is likely to be aware of the group's negative view.

Also just up at Mindful Hack:

Near death experiences: Respectful interview with near death researcher in Time Magazine

The Spiritual Brain: A "great primer" on the mind-body debate, says reviewer (= how does the mind control the body when the mind is immaterial and the body is material)

Neuroscience: Getting beyond the mind-body problem

Neuroscience: Where materialism misleads us

Evolutionary psychology: Misunderstanding superstition

 
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