Jim Clark:
I hope that Jim is as keen to find flaws in any conclusions based on such
anecdotes as he is to find flaws in actual studies.
Jim Guinee:
Well, I don't follow you...I don't think we should generalize one conversion
story. That doesn't mean it isn't interesting and a worthwhile case study,
one we might learn from (whether or not we agree or enjoy the end result)
Jim Clark: The reality is that degree of belief in a personal god has a very
strong negative association with scientific training.
The Cornell Project on Evolution, for example, found that 84% of
evolutionary biologists who responded to a questionnaire answered "No" to
the question "Do you consider yourself a religious person?" A similarly
high percentage indicated they did not believe in god, and 70% thought there
was no grounds (i.e., evidence) for a belief in god. 72% thought that
religion is a social adaptation, a part of evolution.
Jim: Are we to extrapolate from one kind of scientist, from one particular
study, that your thesis has been supported, ie scientific training and
religious beliefs do
not often make merry?
If you look at Larson and Witham (1997)
[http://www.mat.univie.ac.at/~neum/sciandf/contrib/clari.txt]
they suggest that 40% of scientists believe in God, and that this percentage
has remained unchanged in the last century.
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