tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1051713021757781960.post2480497553313904147..comments2023-10-31T10:57:37.652+00:00Comments on Epiphenom: Do atheists make better parents?Epiphenomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05420404206189437710noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1051713021757781960.post-63549635842516549852009-11-24T20:14:38.813+00:002009-11-24T20:14:38.813+00:00Sorry... badly written in the original! My mistake...Sorry... badly written in the original! My mistake.Epiphenomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05420404206189437710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1051713021757781960.post-14474758224270301552009-11-24T16:33:13.645+00:002009-11-24T16:33:13.645+00:00Hi Tom,
you wrote: "Well, it turns out that ...Hi Tom,<br /><br />you wrote: "Well, it turns out that there was no difference between atheists and strong religious believers on the amount of support given to children." - amount of support.<br /><br />Thus, I remembered our discussion about religious fertility, with the possibility that children in smaller families got more of that.<br />http://bhascience.blogspot.com/2009/09/why-do-atheists-have-fewer-kids.html<br /><br />By the way, I just praised your blog:<br />http://www.scilogs.eu/en/blog/biology-of-religion/2009-11-23/tom-rees-beyond-the-bias<br /><br />Best wishes!Michael Blumehttp://www.blume-religionswissenschaft.de/english/index_english.htmlnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1051713021757781960.post-1781662930749035682009-11-23T21:58:43.205+00:002009-11-23T21:58:43.205+00:00Hold on a moment! This study doesn't say anyth...Hold on a moment! This study doesn't say anything about how much time and effort parents devote to their children - still less how much time they spend per child.<br /><br />It's about parenting style - in this case whether parents are supportive or controlling. Here's some sample questions, so you can get an idea of what it's measuring:<br /><br />“My father makes me feel better after I discuss my worries with him”<br /><br />“My father is always trying to change how I feel or think about<br />things”<br /><br />“My father helps me to choose<br />my own direction in life”Epiphenomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05420404206189437710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1051713021757781960.post-48560500371874126952009-11-23T16:35:10.801+00:002009-11-23T16:35:10.801+00:00@ Anonymous, you are right. The atheists tend to h...@ Anonymous, you are right. The atheists tend to have fewer children, but not to invest more support into each of them - and these (fewer) children are even turning out somewhat more materialistic (on average) than those of the religious.<br /><br />From an evolutionary perspective, the results seem to be pretty clear (and eerily resembling those invocations of Rabbi Sacks, which infuriated you so much, @Tom)...Michael Blumehttp://www.blume-religionswissenschaft.de/english/index_english.htmlnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1051713021757781960.post-89250739274964124472009-11-23T16:07:54.532+00:002009-11-23T16:07:54.532+00:00Somewhat of a surprise for me was that atheist par...Somewhat of a surprise for me was that atheist parents were at least as materialistic as the religious ones.<br /><br />I had expected (and hoped) that with greater capacity for abstract thought (which atheists likely have, in the US) comes somewhat less materialism--that those who aare philosophical materialists in a society that is mostly superstitious, are less 'materialistic' in the common sense of the term.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1051713021757781960.post-38250494647806701692009-11-23T10:03:25.895+00:002009-11-23T10:03:25.895+00:00Wow, I am surprised that the religious parents man...Wow, I am surprised that the religious parents manage to give as much support to their children as the atheists - because the religious are having (on average) more of them! I tended to assume that atheist parents focussed their support on their fewer numbers of children, but obviously, they don't. Didn't expect that one, thanks for the study review!Michael Blumehttp://www.blume-religionswissenschaft.de/english/index_english.htmlnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1051713021757781960.post-42412870439279813152009-11-21T13:51:38.173+00:002009-11-21T13:51:38.173+00:00This post has been linked for the HOT5 Daily 11/21...This post has been linked for the HOT5 Daily 11/21/2009, at <a href="http://unreligiousright.blogspot.com/" rel="nofollow">The Unreligious Right</a>UNRRhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17093711439992855042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1051713021757781960.post-47623498855302197582009-11-21T10:29:55.986+00:002009-11-21T10:29:55.986+00:00So, who makes better parents? It depends what you ...<b><i>So, who makes better parents? It depends what you mean by 'better'.</i></b><br /><br />Indeed – but I would have thought the first question to ask would be why would anyone think that by not believing in the invisible blue unicorn a parent is expected to be either better or worse than one that did?<br /><br />Makes no sense if phrased this way<br /><br />It isn’t my ‘atheism’ that I teach my children - a non-belief is, well, nothing.<br /><br />See ya<br /><br />LeeLeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10707252275624009014noreply@blogger.com