A thread of some interesting studies about the effects of religiosity on political & personal behavior:
Many studies have correlated religiosity and social conservatism. Here are a few:
A simple one: Just 4% of atheists voted for Donald Trump in 2016: baylor.edu/baylorreligion…
This correlation between religiosity and economical & social rightism holds across nearly the entire world:
Gaskins 2013: religiosity correlates with conservatism (on left-right self-placement, divorce, euthanasia, abortion, suicide, and homosexuality): sci-hub.st/10.1017/S00223…
Cingranelli 2019: in 1981-2015, higher religiosity (how often attend religious services) correlates with worse women's rights (right to vote, run for office, proportion offices held by women) and worse protections for female domestic violence victims: muse.jhu.edu/article/730069/
Cingranelli 2019 also find that religiosity correlates with authoritarianism -- lower respect for human rights (free assembly & association, free & fair elections, free speech): sci-hub.st/10.1353/hrq.20…
Why is this? Religiosity appears to correlate with more-conservative mentalities:
Hannover 2018: among German adolescents, religiosity correlates with sexism, fundamentalism, right-wing authoritarianism, and social dominance orientation: sci-hub.st/10.3389/fpsyg.…
Religion also seems to justify the status quo -- "divine right" or "opiate of the masses"
Shepherd 2016: among the religious who believe the USA is in decline, belief that God has a plan for the USA increases support for existing political systems: sci-hub.st/10.1111/pops.1…
The common cause for these traits may be that religious people think more "intuitively" (fast, unsystematic) while less religious people think more "analytically" (slow, systematic): Zuckerman 2013: sci-hub.st/10.1177/108886…>
This greater reliance on analytic thinking may explain atheists overrepresentation in higher ed.
In 2009:
~4% of US residents are atheists
~40% of US scientists are atheists (~10x higher)
~70% of US philosophers are atheists (~20x)
pewforum.org/2009/11/05/sci…
psychologytoday.com/blog/logical-t…
This fact may have large effects on religion and scientific performance: Stoet 2017 found that more-religious countries have significantly worse scientific education performance; this effect is partially explained by HDI levels: sci-hub.st/10.1016/j.inte…
Religion certainly provides comfort and wholeness to many people. However, I believe the evidence shows that higher religiosity also brings social & economic conservatism, worse scientific performance, and weaker models of thought.
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