On Thursday, September 16, Dr. Susan Blackmore announced something quite shocking; that she no longer believes that religion is a “virus of the mind.” An idea first proposed by Richard Dawkins, and then expanded on by Blackmore and others, the idea gained popularity in recent years with secularists.
In fact, Blackmore was presenting this idea at the Explaining Religion 2010 Conference at the University of Bristol when she was swayed by the data of the other side! The data presented by Michael Blume, speaking on “The Reproductive Advantage Religion”, showed that not only do religious people have more children, but the data also suggests:
that religious people are happier and possibly even healthier than secularists. And at the conference, Ryan McKay presented experimental data showing that religious people can be more generous, cheat less and co-operate more in games such as the prisoner’s dilemma, and that priming with religious concepts and belief in a “supernatural watcher” increase the effects.
So what does a secular scientist who has achieved great success with the opposing theory do with this information? She goes with the data, even when it does not support her side:
This is how science (unlike religion) works: in the end it’s the data that counts. Being shown you are wrong is horrid, but this has happened to me often enough before (yes, you may make jokes if you like) and one gets used to it. This shock may not be as bad as when I discovered I was wrong about the paranormal, but it’s still a shock. The good side is that it has thrown me into new thoughts, new lines of inquiry, and set me wondering again just how religions can have such power over us.
To me, this is what is inspiring about good science: changing your mind when presented with newer, better data is a virtue – not a sign of weakness. When one clings to ideas that are no longer valid with new information, it is not sticking to your guns, it is foolish pride.
Thank you Dr. Blackmore for not only keeping your mind open to new evidence, but announcing publicly why we should too!
You can read the entire piece here.
Heidi -
Great find! This is an awesome piece.
As a childfree atheist and disabled woman, the point about religious people having more children and being healthier certainly fits in my worldview. (Although I think of myself as the exception, not the rule, when it comes to health.) And as someone tolerant of religion, I don’t have any problem with the idea that religion makes people happy.
The husband and I are both armchair activist, I use words and he uses humor, so I see my life as having a purpose that isn’t religiously motivated. I can see feeling like there’s no purpose to life being unhappy making. But I don’t take that bit personally becasue I don’t feel it applies to me.
But I have to admit I’m a little uncomfortable with the bit about the prisoners dilemma. I’d love to see the original piece of research and also to see if that result has been duplicated. Although I know I’m reacting to that piece of information because I personally would like to believe “I” wouldn’t be less generous, cheat more, or co-operate less if put in a prisoners dilemma kind of situation.
If the data about the prisoners dilemma is consistent, I’ll believe it. But it wouldn’t make me WANT religion or change my worldview.
When I said “worldview” I was meaning “personal perspective.” Regardless if secularists in general are ethical, I know myself to be an ethical person.
I’ve not heard or read the entire speech, so I’m just assuming here that Dr Blackmore isn’t saying God is real, just that people who choose to believe might be happier as a group than secularists are. All I have is my own observation, which is that, and my two grown children, are happier now that we’re not involved with religion.