[Vision2020] Highly religious people are less motivated bycompassion than are non-believers

[lfalen]

Totally agree with your last paragraph. Any hypothesis should be substantiated, at least by a preponderance of evidence. 
skepticism is the place to start.
Roger
-----Original message-----
From: Paul Rumelhart godshatter at yahoo.com
Date: Thu, 03 May 2012 08:03:42 -0700
To: Art Deco art.deco.studios at gmail.com
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Highly religious people are less motivated bycompassion than are non-believers

> 
> Thank you for your kind rebuke, but I did read the entire post.  I get 
> that you wanted Chas to look at the study before being critical of it.  
> I wouldn't mind hearing his take on the details as well.  I'm telling 
> you that being skeptical *before* you look at a study is proper and is 
> not foolish or arrogant.
> 
> Both you and Mr. Hansen indicated I needed to be more "honest".  What, 
> exactly, do you think I'm lying about?
> 
> The word "skepticism" has gotten a bad rap lately.  It doesn't mean that 
> a person is completely against an idea, it just means that there is now 
> a bar that the idea or study has to get over.  Assuming they do this, 
> then the person who was previously skeptical could now become one of the 
> study's main proponents.  I would blame the AGW community for the 
> co-opting of "skepticism" into a dirty word, but they would just blame 
> me for Not Being a True Skeptic or some such nonsense.
> 
> Paul
> 
> On 05/02/2012 10:00 AM, Art Deco wrote:
> > This should be three first things on your to-do list:
> >
> > Reading Comprehension
> > Read Entire Post Before Making An Ass of Yourself
> > Honesty
> >
> > w.
> >
> >
> > On Wed, May 2, 2012 at 9:47 AM, Paul Rumelhart <godshatter at yahoo.com 
> > <mailto:godshatter at yahoo.com>> wrote:
> >
> >     When did people start conflating skepticism with arrogance and
> >     foolishness?  It should be the default outlook when anyone tells
> >     you anything that is in any way surprising.
> >
> >     Paul
> >
> >     ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >     *From:* Art Deco <art.deco.studios at gmail.com
> >     <mailto:art.deco.studios at gmail.com>>
> >     *To:* vision2020 at moscow.com <mailto:vision2020 at moscow.com>
> >     *Sent:* Wednesday, May 2, 2012 9:19 AM
> >
> >     *Subject:* Re: [Vision2020] Highly religious people are less
> >     motivated by compassion than are non-believers
> >
> >     It's not enough to express skepticism without giving reasons.  Any
> >     fool can do that.
> >
> >     If you want to exhibit more than arrogance, criticize the
> >     experimental design of the multiple studies cited.  Such design
> >     are open to criticism as is any early experimental works on
> >     particular subjects.  In this case the lack of clear and precise
> >     definitions make unclear what is being measured.
> >
> >     However, as with many pioneering experimental work, the results
> >     are suggestive.  Now the methodology needs to be refined, and
> >     further, broader experiments pursued with more care and rigor. 
> >     That's how science works.  In the case of social and behavioral
> >     sciences, the struggle for clearer definitions and results is much
> >     more difficult than in the physical sciences because of the number
> >     of variables involved and the difficulty of isolating the
> >     variables.  That doesn't mean, however, that the search for
> >     knowledge in this area should be abandoned.
> >
> >     w.
> >
> >     On Wed, May 2, 2012 at 8:57 AM, Donovan Arnold
> >     <donovanjarnold2005 at yahoo.com
> >     <mailto:donovanjarnold2005 at yahoo.com>> wrote:
> >
> >         Yes, Chas, it seems far-fetched that such values could be so
> >         easily quantified and measured with any scientific accuracy or
> >         validity.
> >         Donovan Arnold
> >
> >         *From:* Chasuk <chasuk at gmail.com <mailto:chasuk at gmail.com>>
> >         *To:* Donovan Arnold <donovanjarnold2005 at yahoo.com
> >         <mailto:donovanjarnold2005 at yahoo.com>>
> >         *Cc:* Art Deco <art.deco.studios at gmail.com
> >         <mailto:art.deco.studios at gmail.com>>; "vision2020 at moscow.com
> >         <mailto:vision2020 at moscow.com>" <vision2020 at moscow.com
> >         <mailto:vision2020 at moscow.com>>
> >         *Sent:* Tuesday, May 1, 2012 8:33 AM
> >         *Subject:* Re: [Vision2020] Highly religious people are less
> >         motivated by compassion than are non-believers
> >
> >         The study looked at generosity and charity, and tried to
> >         determine the motives behind those behaviors. It decided that
> >         the highly religious were driven towards acts of generosity
> >         and charity less often by empathy and compassion than were the
> >         non-religious/less religious. I'm skeptical that such a
> >         determination can legitimately be made.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >     -- 
> >     Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)
> >     art.deco.studios at gmail.com <mailto:art.deco.studios at gmail.com>
> >
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> >
> >
> >
> >
> > -- 
> > Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)
> > art.deco.studios at gmail.com <mailto:art.deco.studios at gmail.com>
> >
> >
> > =======================================================
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> >   serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
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> 
> 
>