Comments on: How We Believe http://www.michaelshermer.com books, essays, columns, reviews, and multimedia clips of famed skeptic Michael Shermer Thu, 11 Mar 2010 18:27:49 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Martin Buss http://www.michaelshermer.com/how-we-believe/comment-page-1/#comment-3093 Martin Buss Mon, 25 May 2009 19:31:19 +0000 http://www.michaelshermer.com/how-we-believe/#comment-3093 On p. 259 you say: "(roughly) 60% practicing scientists...according to a 1966 survey by Ed Larson, have no belief in God or an afterlife." That is misleading. 60% expressed a disbelieve in "God" as defined. The definition was chosen quite some time earlier by an opponent of a belief in God, who apparently chose a definition that would most likely receive a negative reply. In fact, I am surprised that 40% answered "yes." Many marginally religious people take "God's answering prayer" to mean that God gives one what one asks for. Not many deeply or professionally religious people hold that; in fact, such a belief does not make sense if one believes in God with a universal interest. Furthermore, "belief in life after death" (also part of the questionnaire) is not very useful for a definition of a belief in God. Even quite conservative Christians hold that eternal life does not come "after" death, since it is not a temporal matter. Incidentally, your recent essay "Agenticity" in Scientific American fails to mention what Hood says about ethics. Thus I get the impression of a one-sided use of sources (others do that, too, of course). On p. 259 you say: “(roughly) 60% practicing scientists…according to a 1966 survey by Ed Larson, have no belief in God or an afterlife.” That is misleading. 60% expressed a disbelieve in “God” as defined. The definition was chosen quite some time earlier by an opponent of a belief in God, who apparently chose a definition that would most likely receive a negative reply. In fact, I am surprised that 40% answered “yes.” Many marginally religious people take “God’s answering prayer” to mean that God gives one what one asks for. Not many deeply or professionally religious people hold that; in fact, such a belief does not make sense if one believes in God with a universal interest. Furthermore, “belief in life after death” (also part of the questionnaire) is not very useful for a definition of a belief in God. Even quite conservative Christians hold that eternal life does not come “after” death, since it is not a temporal matter.

Incidentally, your recent essay “Agenticity” in Scientific American fails to mention what Hood says about ethics. Thus I get the impression of a one-sided use of sources (others do that, too, of course).

]]> By: Everything does not happen for a reason. « Life in Montage. http://www.michaelshermer.com/how-we-believe/comment-page-1/#comment-2682 Everything does not happen for a reason. « Life in Montage. Tue, 30 Dec 2008 06:51:19 +0000 http://www.michaelshermer.com/how-we-believe/#comment-2682 [...] I steal this observation from Michael Shermer, who talks about it in more detail in How We [...] [...] I steal this observation from Michael Shermer, who talks about it in more detail in How We [...]

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