Re: Too broad of categories

Too broad of categories (Score: 4, Insightful)

by billshooterofbul@pipedot.org on 2014-11-05 14:38 (#2TX6)

There are billions of Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Atheists and Agnostics. I wouldn't automatically dismiss any research by any of them. Nor would I automatically trust it because it came from one of them.

Now, if I have more information about a particular group an individual comes from, I can certainly do that. Like, if it comes from The Institute for Creation Research I'm not trusting anything they say. Or if they are funded by a large oil company and do climate research...

Re: Too broad of categories (Score: 1, Insightful)

by tanuki64@pipedot.org on 2014-11-05 15:14 (#2TX8)

Hmm... your point of view is valid. But there are others. For instance you wrote:

Or if they are funded by a large oil company and do climate research...

Yes, people have reasons to fake research results. They may be paid to do so. They may do it to get funding and/or fame. Those reasons are equally valid for religious and not religious people. However, unlike Atheists and perhaps Agnostics, Christians, Muslims, Buddhists can have an extra incentive to fake results. One more kind of temptation. So statistically one should be more careful about what religious people say.

Of course, this is only statistics, there should not be an automatism to dismiss their research. There is no Christian, Muslim, or Buddhist hive mind. Cheating is always done by an individual.