DiscussMormonism.com

"The majority of well-conducted studies found that higher levels of religious involvement are positively associated with indicators of psychological well-being (life satisfaction, happiness, positive affect, and higher morale)."

How did that go with Karl Barth, Jerry Falwell jr (and the pool boy) Ravi Zacharias (took advantage of female ladys in massage business)
Why are the fastest growing demographic in religion are the "nones?"

Unfortunately Dan makes the same mistake most studies of this topic make - they conflate benefits of community with benefits of religion.

There's a pesky little difference between correlation and causation that Daniel should have learned during his undergrad sometime in the 1970's.

hauslern wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 07, 2022 12:11 am

"The majority of well-conducted studies found that higher levels of religious involvement are positively associated with indicators of psychological well-being (life satisfaction, happiness, positive affect, and higher morale)."

Somebody tell him that a lot of nonreligious people believe in Jesus. It has to be apples to apples, not apples to oranges.

what in sam h does Karl Barth have to do with Jerry Fallwell?

IHAQ wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 07, 2022 12:17 am

Unfortunately Dan makes the same mistake most studies of this topic make - they conflate benefits of community with benefits of religion.

That is Mormonism in a nutshell - taking credit for what it never did - and charging 10%.

hauslern wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 07, 2022 12:11 am

Ravi Zacharias (took advantage of female ladys in massage business)

So he left the male ladies alone?

IHAQ wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 07, 2022 12:17 am

Unfortunately Dan makes the same mistake most studies of this topic make - they conflate benefits of community with benefits of religion.

Religion provides a benevolent community that is easy to join. Maybe the LDS Church's dues are higher than other groups, but they never have $50,000-a-plate dinners like Republicans or restrictions like MENSA.

I joined Mensa once and was disappointed. It turned out mainly to be a group of people who were good at IQ tests and felt that this was important. With one exception I had found more interesting people who were literally digging holes in the ground, in the infantry. The one exception was some guy who wrote an article, in a national Mensa magazine, about the moving industry (as in moving house, putting your furniture into moving vans and stuff). This guy was a mover, but he wrote so clearly that I wasn't even impressed by him. I was impressed that maybe Mensa had a purpose, in finding really smart people who weren't in traditionally intellectual jobs.

That was the one exception. Everything else seemed to be ridiculously hard but uninteresting brainteasers and expressing sophomoric ideas while patting oneself on the back for being a certified genius.

The test to get in was an outdated IQ test. I finished in half the time and sat there second guessing myself. At the end one guy asked anxiously whether anyone had finished the test; I later met him at the welcoming event, so he actually passed. What I recall was a stupid question about which word pair most closely resembled perfume: atomiser. The choice they wanted was milk:bottle, because "atomiser" is an old-fashioned word for a spray-bottle. I knew that, because I had read too many B-grade novels from the early 20th century and also knew the French word atomiseur, but I second-guessed myself into selecting dirt:shovel, because the atomising feature (reduction to tiny droplets) in a spray bottle is a delivery mechanism, not a storage function, and my experience filling sandbags made me realize that shovels were delivery mechanisms for dirt. You put the dirt where you want it. Afterwards I had to admit that you could also pour the milk out of a bottle, but in my lifetime we had never done that. Even when we kept milk in bottles, when I was a little kid, we poured it from jugs.

What a stupid question to try to use to find smart people. It might have been a valid test of your reading experience in about 1940, but in 1993 it was just idiotically random.

There are certainly some very smart people in Mensa. There are also quite a few people who are not particularly smart in any meaningful sense. And there are tons of people who are plenty smart enough that everyone should listen to them, who would not pass Mensa's arbitrary tests.

huckelberry wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 07, 2022 5:03 am

what in sam h does Karl Barth have to do with Jerry Fallwell?

I suppose I could have googled. Doing so I find Barth had a long term affair with a female assistant he loved. Sort of a polygamy type relationship. Not exactly a happy matter.