No, this is not about those humble people of faith who like their warm and fuzzy lives with their chosen faith system.

It's about the fire breathing hell damnation literalist who insist on pushing their religion onto everyone else, the ones who vote for leaders that will kill a million Muslims...with "God" on their side, the ones who deny evolution and want it's teachings banned from our schools, and replaced with prayer....basically the ones who cannot take a “sheet” without a Psalm.

Religion can cause brain damage, ruin marriages, and harm others...especially children.

~~~

"Over 70 years of research on IQ and religiosity has shown a consistent pattern. IQ and religiosity are negatively correlated. No study to date has shown that religion enhances or improves intelligence, but almost all studies show that, on average, the higher the level of religiosity, the lower the IQ. This is not to say that all people who are religious are unintelligent, but that religion seems to suppress intelligence. IQ differences can be as much as 5 points or 1/2 of a standard deviation lower among highly religious groups. My own guess is that this difference is due to the inhibitions and suppression of curious and questioning behavior in religious followers. If questioning is prohibited from early childhood, it probably has a decided effect on development or critical thinking skills which are associated with higher intelligence.

With respect to mental health, the picture is even more interesting. Nationally, the more religious a region is the higher the incidence of sexual abuse and child abuse. The best predictor of child abuse in a home is alcohol use BUT the second best predictor is religiosity of the parents. Finally, the best predictor of divorce in the US is religiosity. The highest level of divorce is among Baptists and similar groups. George Barna, a admittedly evangelical researcher, has reported consistently that divorce is highest among Baptists and fundamentalist evangelical groups and that divorce occurs most often after one or both spouses are “saved.” He also found that agnostics and atheists have among the lowest divorce rates.

Yet another indicator might be the incidence of teen pregnancy which is positively related to religiosity. The least religious teens do not get pregnant as often and they also have a lower incidence of STD’s. Finally, all religious groups are represented in prison population about equal to their frequency in the general population with the big exception of atheists and the non-religious. This group is significantly under represented in the prison population.

If we agree that divorce, criminal behavior ,teen pregnancy and child abuse are proxy indicators of mental health, then “Houston we have a problem.” Religion is not associated with high levels of mental health."

Links:

(Click on "warning!" from the below link for this report and links for the articles’ references)

http://www.recoveringreligionists.com/

I don't see much difference between that and this

I do see a difference...I have dated many fine ladies who are Christians and they don't all breathe fire. They can have a faith and still respect humanity.

For example we may have people here who think that no "true Christian" would have voted for Obama...and that God appointed the Dippic to wage war against Islam...they know who they are but not what they are.

either way

still just somebody that doesnt approve of how someone else lives

and puttin em down for it

I agree with the OP to the point that extremism comes in all beliefs and it is dangerous to people.

This could be a fitting response,,I took it off another site


But the same argument could be made about the advance of leftist egalitarianism. To paraphrase your argument, in the 19th century, people believed that ethnicity and race mattered, and the leaders of society believed that ethnicity and race mattered. So why has it come about that today all the leaders of society believe the opposite?
You see the problem? You are mistaking the dominance and ascendancy of beliefs as proof that they are correct. You are not seeing that even the most intelligent and successful people make mistakes, terrible mistakes.

So for example, just as many of the most intelligent people today believe that race is of absolutely no importance and that social improvements can equalize all races, many of the most intelligent people believe that there is no reality beyond what can be experienced by the senses and measured by the material sciences.

The high IQ elite today believe in the unimportance of race, and even in the unimportance of high IQ, yet that doesn't stop you from saying that they are wrong, notwithstanding their high IQ. But then you turn around and say that, because high IQ people today are non-believers in God, this shows that non-belief in God is the result of high intelligence, and is therefore true.




It is the common disagreement between correlation vs causation.

It's a touchy subject and the people who cry fowl the loudest may have the most to deny.

It's all a lie I tell ya

MsHarmony...I don't see the correlation to 21st century knowledge in that response. We have evolved to the point of knowing right from wrong but yet religious extremists STILL want to crusade and destroy. I think the article I posted points out the disparities in people accepting common knowledge vs. the ancient writs that (some) people of religion insist on today (in wanting them to be laws thus justifications for continued discriminations...wars).

21st and 20th century knowledge are not terribly different. The point of the piece was that people often view correlation as causation. IF the popular belief at the time is that Pigs Fly, you will probably find people with the highest IQs are most likely to believe such as well. The correlation to popular belief would be just as valid as the correlation to IQ and therefore make it very difficult to pinpoint whether either factor was the cause or result of high iq. They are most likely all just correlations, since , as the piece pointed out,, there was a time(not terribly long ago relative to human history) when the popular belief was that certain races were inferior. The Highest IQS would have been subject to popular belief as well, but that wouldnt mean they were more intelligent BECAUSE of that belief.

Just look at the leaps we've made in only 50 years. We have learned a lot in just that speck of time than in the millions of years before while humans were evolving.

But I see we're veering off course on the points of the article.

Please read them this time and maybe you'll see what we've learned in human bahavour concerning religiosity. I see that the less extreme a person is about their religion the less likely they are harmful to society.

~~~

"Yet another indicator might be the incidence of teen pregnancy which is positively related to religiosity. The least religious teens do not get pregnant as often and they also have a lower incidence of STD’s. Finally, all religious groups are represented in prison population about equal to their frequency in the general population with the big exception of atheists and the non-religious. This group is significantly under represented in the prison population.

If we agree that divorce, criminal behavior ,teen pregnancy and child abuse are proxy indicators of mental health, then “Houston we have a problem.” Religion is not associated with high levels of mental health."

amen brother!

About RR:

"RR™ was started by Dr. Darrel Ray, author of The God Virus: How Religion Infects Our Lives and Culture. RR is an organization dedicated to helping people navigate the path out of religion. After publishing his book, Darrel found a huge need for some kind of support group to help people deal with the aftermath of leaving their religion. Such a move often causes problems with family, spouses, children, even employers in some cases. RR is dedicated to helping people, NOT reindoctrinating them. We don’t care if someone has a god belief, what we are concerned about is the religion part of it. To learn more about Dr. Ray and issues around religion, look at his Youtube videos, click on the one below, or read his book, The God Virus"

We know the social pressures to believe and follow along, this groups helps people through the transition away from the rigid religious beliefs...to freedom.

I do agree also that I see the damage religion can do to people too.

Their "right mind" seems to be twisted somehow.

And yet they do not know it...how many people are there who don't know they are extremist and consider themselves as having a "right mind"?

We need a test...lol...I'll work on that.

“Ultimately the Darwinian theory of evolution is no more no less then the great cosmogenic myth of the twentieth century.” -Michael Denton, British-Australian author and biochemist

“Evolution is a fairy tale for grown ups." -Dr. Louis Bounoure, Director of the Zoological Museum and Director of Research at the National Center of Scientific Research in France

“When confronted with the marvels of life and the universe, the only possible answers are religious…I find a need for God in the universe and in my own life.” -Winner of the Noble prize for Physics, Arthur L. Schawlow

(note-heavenlyboy34 neither believes nor disbelieves in religion, but will disbelieve in evolution till the scientific method is used to prove it...which has not yet been done.)

I always tell people, one of the greatest, most freeing things I did in life was set down religion.

I take full and utter responsibility for what I do in life to myself and others
I don't have to try to be superior to others with the mythology of old men nor wish hell on those who do not believe.
I don't have to look to others for my morality.
I don't have to believe in an evil force using me to fight an imaginary battle with another force supposedly good.
I don't have to believe that I am some uncontrolled animal without religion.
I REALLY do have free will, not the illusion taught in religion
I can look at the progression/regression of man because and around religion objectively without reverence for one over the other.

My spirit has been so full of life and appreciation for life since I freed it.

So what does THAT say? It says more about the person who posted the topic than those who responded to it.

Does spelling have any indication of intelligence? Quack!

Why are the religious extremists more dangerous than the non-religious extremists? They both use a sort of dogma and have to create a mythological system to justify themselves. The latter simply distinguish themselves by cloaking their dogma in Statist or patriotic rhetoric.

Actually, although I agree with you, heavenly, on the subject of extremism being dangerous at all levels. Whenever people refuse to see the other side objectively, you will have problems. I believe that evolution is way more believable in general even if all the tweeks haven't been worked out of it yet, than any religious story of creation that exists to my knowledge.