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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   35039 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of March 13, 2023

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for that matter atheists don't become Catholic when you show them the data that prayer and church attendance does have a positive impact on your psychological health

One of these things is not like the others: atheists don't necessarily disagree with the data. If you show a non-HBDer twin studies, presumably they'll try to disagree with them because they agree that to believe in the worldview modelled by the studies would "compel" them to become a HBDer, which they don't want for social censure. Ie. there are preferences attached to their beliefs. But if an atheist believes that Christians are more mentally healthy, this does not compel him to believe in God. Why would it? I mean, it's absolutely a value difference, but it's a value difference that isn't hooked to that part of the world model.

Fine, atheists don't start going to church and start praying after seeing the data.

I mean yeah? I'm pretty happy with my mental health, I don't see an urgent need to improve it. If my mental health was in the shitter, I'd keep church in the back of my mind.

(That's assuming it is causal, which I think would be hard to demonstrate.)

Well, there's another difference. I might believe that praying and going to church is good for the mental health of people who believe in God. That doesn't mean it would do me any good if I don't believe in God.

(This is pretty close to my actual position. I think the positive power of a community and a sincere belief that there's an omnipotent being who loves you personally probably is good for someone's mental health. That doesn't convince me that the omnipotent being exists, or that pretending to believe in him would make me feel better.)

Right, so that would be a situation where both sides can reconcile data with their beliefs, no matter what the data says.... which is exactly like the debate on porn.

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