Status Updates From America's Four Gods: What W...

Interesting

(Continued from previous note:) “Therefore, in simple dollars and cents, it is evident that religion is not inexorably bad for scientific research. Clearly, a proportion of the American public wants to reduce spending on science for religious reasons, yet at the same time, another segment of the religious population value science, not only for what it produces, but also for the exploration of the unknown.”

“Believers in Distant or Critical gods express the opposite view. They retain their faith in God but don’t believe scientists have an anti-religious agenda. Instead, they see academic science as an important source of human knowledge that partially fulfills their striving to understand God’s creation. In turn, they are much more likely to want science generously funded by their tax dollars.”

“Instead of trying to separate Americans into those with morals and those without, a good way to think about our moral differences is to consider each individual’s level of moral absolutism. A moral absolutist feels that certain activities are wrong, no matter what the circumstances. A moral relativist wants to know the circumstances before making such a decision.”