In a now somewhat older article on the blog Pharyngula, P.Z. Myers commented on a press release about two papers by Rodney Stark on why men tend to be less religious than women. Here's a snippet of the release:
I noticed two things about both articles. First, they were more generally about irreligion rather than just atheism, although atheism would definitely be considered a subset of irreligion in these articles. Second, if the authors of the articles had discussed a tendency among males to take risks in general rather than impulsive risks in particular, the second article would have been more plausible at explaining gender disparity in religiosity. That second article did tentatively show that when the risks to being irreligious are lower, as is the case in Japan, there is less disparity between the religiosity of men and women. This would have been explained just as well by a more general male tendency to risk-taking, rather than a specifically impulsive one. Of course, that assumes that there is a such a general male tendency, which opens up a whole host of issues. However, testing that assumption would at least be more promising than trying to explain away the very non-impulsive nature of many deconversions.
I don't think I'd put too much stock in either article, though.
Myers' response was a bit of a distortion, "Did this guy just compare atheism to murder and rape?" The answer is pretty obviously no. However, Stark did appear to indicate that atheism is impulsive, which seemed a bit strange to me, and certainly doesn't square with the deconversion stories that I read. To give Stark the benefit of the doubt, I googled and found the two articles that were mentioned in the press release:"Recent studies of biochemistry imply that both male irreligiousness and male lawlessness are rooted in the fact that far more males than females have an underdeveloped ability to inhibit their impulses, especially those involving immediate gratification and thrills."
The upshot is that some men are shortsighted and don't think ahead, and so "going to prison or going to hell just doesn't matter to these men," Stark said.
- "Physiology and Faith: Addressing the 'Universal' Gender Difference in Religiousness," Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. (2002) 41:495-507.
- Alan S. Miller and Rodney Stark, "Gender and Religiousness: Can Socialization Explanations Be Saved?" American Journal of Sociology. (2002): 107: 1399-1423.
I noticed two things about both articles. First, they were more generally about irreligion rather than just atheism, although atheism would definitely be considered a subset of irreligion in these articles. Second, if the authors of the articles had discussed a tendency among males to take risks in general rather than impulsive risks in particular, the second article would have been more plausible at explaining gender disparity in religiosity. That second article did tentatively show that when the risks to being irreligious are lower, as is the case in Japan, there is less disparity between the religiosity of men and women. This would have been explained just as well by a more general male tendency to risk-taking, rather than a specifically impulsive one. Of course, that assumes that there is a such a general male tendency, which opens up a whole host of issues. However, testing that assumption would at least be more promising than trying to explain away the very non-impulsive nature of many deconversions.
I don't think I'd put too much stock in either article, though.
0 comments:
Post a Comment