compare:.
rome, "divine victory" international convention august 1973:.
attendance 57.000; baptised 3366. rome, "teachers of god's word" international convention august 2001:.
Steve,
the attendance stats are not meaningful in themselves (in 1973 the Rome convention was the only one in the country; this year there were several conventions) ... more interesting and suggestive of a remarkable drop in new recruitments is the attendance/baptisms ratio:
in 1973: 3366/57000 (5,90%)
in 2001: 626/80000 (0,78%)
in 2009: 338/70000 (0,48%)
Behemot
compare:.
rome, "divine victory" international convention august 1973:.
attendance 57.000; baptised 3366. rome, "teachers of god's word" international convention august 2001:.
Compare:
Rome, "Divine Victory" International Convention August 1973:
attendance 57.000; baptised 3366
Rome, "Teachers of God's Word" International Convention August 2001:
attendance 80.000; baptised 626
Rome, "Keep on the Watch" International Convention August 2009:
attendance: 70.000; baptised 338
Behemot
see this essay on evolutionary psychology (july 2009 issue):.
http://www.epjournal.net/filestore/ep073984414.pdf.
abstract: better understanding the nature, origin and popularity of varying levels of popular religion versus secularism, and their impact upon socioeconomic conditions and vice versa, requires a cross national comparison of the competing factors in populations where opinions.
See this essay on Evolutionary Psychology (July 2009 issue):
http://www.epjournal.net/filestore/EP073984414.pdf
Abstract: Better understanding the nature, origin and popularity of varying levels of popular religion versus secularism, and their impact upon socioeconomic conditions and vice versa, requires a cross national comparison of the competing factors in populations where opinions
are freely chosen. Utilizing 25 indicators, the uniquely extensive Successful Societies Scale reveals that population diversity and immigration correlate weakly with 1st world socioeconomic conditions, and high levels of income disparity, popular religiosity as measured by differing levels of belief and activity, and rejection of evolutionary science correlate strongly negatively with improving conditions. The historically unprecedented socioeconomic security that results from low levels of progressive government policies appear to suppress popular religiosity and creationist opinion, conservative religious ideology apparently contributes to societal dysfunction, and religious prosociality and charity are less effective at
improving societal conditions than are secular government programs. The antagonistic relationship between a better socioeconomic conditions and intense popular faith may prevent the existence of nations that combine the two factors. The nonuniversality of strong religious devotion, and the ease with large populations abandon serious theism when conditions are sufficiently benign, refute hypotheses that religious belief and practice are the normal, deeply set human mental state, whether they are superficial or natural in nature. Instead popular religion is usually a superficial and flexible psychological mechanism for coping with the high levels of stress and anxiety produced by sufficiently dysfunctional social and especially
economic environments. Popular nontheism is a similarly casual response to superior conditions.
I know, "correlation does not imply causation", still ...
Behemot
should scare the crap out of those religious folks still stuck in the 5th century......pregnant women are told to stay in-doors to prevent "defects" and hindu leaders predict "calamity" when the two great fighting demons "swallow the sun.".
it's 2010 soon people wake up!
and the ganges is not holy drinking water!.
The demon-swallowing-the-sun myth as aetiological "explanation" of solar eclypses is pretty common in ancient cultures.
The same motif is echoed, according to some scholars, in the Old Testament, i.e. in Job 3:8 (see Theodor H. GASTER, Myth, Legend and Custom in The Old Testament, New York, Harper & Row 1969, pp. 878, 888; idem, Thespis: Ritual, Myth and Drama in the Ancient Near East, New York, Harper Torch Books 1966, pp. 228-9; Luis I. J. STADELMAN, The Hebrew Conception of the World: A Philological and Literary Study, Rome, Pontifical Biblical Institute 1970, pp. 21-2).
Behemot
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jul/01/religion-euthanasia.
behemot.
Wobble,
don't know if the article appeared in the main paper (I don't live in England). I reached it through the Edge website (www.edge.org: lots of good stuff there).
As to A. C. Grayling, I like him too. Read a couple of his books (The Meaning of Things: Applying Philosophy to Life and The Heart of Things: Applying Philosophy to the 21st Century).
Behemot
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jul/01/religion-euthanasia.
behemot.
http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-sci-collins9-2009jul09,0,7642590.story.
read a debate between collins and richard dawkins on time nov 5, 2006 (god vs science):.
http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1555132,00.html.
http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-sci-collins9-2009jul09,0,7642590.story.
read a debate between collins and richard dawkins on time nov 5, 2006 (god vs science):.
http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1555132,00.html.
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=1790709.
behe.
