to read "Humanism and Its Aspirations," the third Humanist Manifesto, click below. you'll also find links to the AHA site and the UN World Food Programme's FreeRice game.
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Closing comments from the Myth Busters Adam Savage at the recent Reason Rally:
I have concluded through careful empirical analysis and much thought that somebody is looking out for me, keeping track of what I think about things, forgiving me when I do less than I ought. Giving me strength to shoot for more than I think I’m capable of. I believe they know everything that I do and think, and they still love me, and I’ve concluded, after careful consideration, that this person keeping score is me.
To hear his full speech as well as speeches from Greta Christian, Taslima Nasrin and Tim Minchin, check out part one of the American Humanist Associations coverage of the Rally.
Study: Analytic thinking can decrease religious belief
After exposure to such stimuli, researchers gauged participants’ religious beliefs through a series of questions. Subjects who had performed analytical tasks were more likely to experience a decrease in religious belief than those who were not involved in such tasks. That included devout believers.
“There’s much more instability to religious belief than we recognize,” said Norenzayan, noting that life’s circumstances and experiences, from traumatic events to joyous occasions, can lead people to become more or less religious.
“Religion is such an important part of the world and we have so little understanding of it,” he added. “So regardless of what you think about religion, it’s important to understand it because it’s so important in the world.”
Norenzayan is quick to mention that the experiments did not turn devout believers into total atheists. But he speculated that if people habitually think analytically, like scientists or lawyers do, it would lead to less religious belief in the long run. [x]
