This website – bibviz.com – aspires to be a beautiful and interactive resource for skeptics and believers alike to explore some of the more negative aspects of holy books.
It was heavily inspired by the Reason Project’s poster of biblical contradictions,
which in turn was inspired by Chris Harrison’s Bible Visualizations.
A new review of 63 scientific studies stretching back over decades has concluded that religious people are less intelligent than non-believers.
A piece of University of Rochester analysis, led by Professor Miron Zuckerman, found “a reliable negative relation between intelligence and religiosity” in 53 out of 63 studies.
According to the study entitled, ‘The Relation Between Intelligence and Religiosity: A Meta-Analysis and Some Proposed Explanations’, published in the ‘Personality and Social Psychology Review’, even during early years the more intelligent a child is the more likely it would be to turn away from religion.
In old age above average intelligence people are less likely to believe, the researchers also found.
One of the studies used in Zuckerman’s paper was a life-long analysis of the beliefs of 1,500 gifted children with with IQs over 135.
The study began in 1921 and continues today. Even in extreme old age the subjects had much lower levels of religious belief than the average population.
The review, which is the first systematic meta-analysis of the 63 studies conducted in between 1928 and 2012, showed that of the 63 studies, 53 showed a negative correlation between intelligence and religiosity, while 10 showed a positive one.
Only two studies showed significant positive correlations and significant negative correlations were seen in a total of 35 studies.
The authors of the review looked at each study independently, taking into account the quality of data collection, the size of the sample and the analysis methods used.
The three psychologists carrying out the review defined intelligence as the “ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly, and learn from experience”.
Religiosity is defined by the psychologists as involvement in some (or all) facets of religion.
According to the review, other factors – such as gender or education – did not make any difference to the correlation between intelligence and religious belief.
The level of belief, or otherwise, did however vary dependent upon age with the correlation found to be weakest among the pre-college population.
The paper concludes that: « Most extant explanations (of a negative relation) share one central theme —the premise that religious beliefs are irrational, not anchored in science, not testable and, therefore, unappealing to intelligent people who ‘know better’. »
Criticisms of the conclusions include that the paper only deals with a definition of analytic intelligence and fails to consider newly identified forms of creative and emotional intelligence.
The psychologists who carried out the review also sought to pre-empt the secularist interpretation of the findings by suggesting that more intelligent people are less likely to have religious beliefs as they associate themselves with ideas around personal control.
« Intelligent people typically spend more time in school – a form of self-regulation that may yield long-term benefits, » the researchers wrote.
« More intelligent people get higher level jobs (and better employment (and higher salary) may lead to higher self-esteem, and encourage personal control beliefs. »
Rob Williams
The Independent
Après une visite de sept jours à Rio pour les Journées mondiales de la jeunesse, le pape Francois, dans l’avion du retour, a, une nouvelle fois, cherché à donner un autre visage à l’Eglise catholique pour se démarquer de son prédécesseur conservateur, Benoît XVI.
Il a ainsi affirmé ne pas juger les homosexuels, y compris dans l’Eglise. « Le problème n’est pas d’avoir cette tendance, c’est de faire du lobbying. C’est le problème le plus grave, selon moi. Si une personne est gay et cherche le Seigneur avec bonne volonté, qui suis-je pour la juger ? » a-t-il demandé, estimant que le problème était « d’en faire un lobby ». « Les lobbies ne sont pas bons », qu’ils soient politiques ou francs-maçons.
« Je n’ai encore vu personne au Vatican sur la carte d’identité duquel est inscrit ‘gay’. On affirme qu’il y en a. Le catéchisme de l’Eglise catholique dit très bien qu’on ne doit pas marginaliser ces personnes qui doivent être intégrées dans la société. »
PAS D’ORDINATION POUR LES FEMMES
Evoquant plus largement la sexualité dans l’Eglise, il a distingué « les délits » comme « les abus sur mineurs » et les « péchés », notamment les « péchés de jeunesse ». « Des laïcs, des prêtres, des sœurs ont péché et se sont convertis. Quand le Seigneur pardonne, il oublie tout. »
Interrogé sur le mariage gay et sur l’avortement, auxquels l’Eglise est fermement opposée, le pape a répondu : « Vous savez parfaitement la position de l’Eglise. » Pour la seule fois, il a répondu brièvement, sèchement, selon des journalistes présents dans le vol.
Et, s’il a dit vouloir approfondir le rôle des femmes au sein de l’Eglise – « On ne peut pas imaginer une Eglise sans femmes actives » –, il a catégoriquement rejeté l’idée que la prêtrise leur soit ouverte.
AFP, AP et Reuters
Le Monde
The Satanic Temple, a burgeoning community of worship devoted to the Dark Lord, has performed a “Pink Mass” over the grave of Westboro Baptist Church founder Fred Phelps Jr.’s mother. The Pink Mass is a Satanic ritual performed after death that turns the deceased’s straight spirit into a homo one—it’s not unlike the Mormon practice of baptizing the dead, only much gayer.
On Sunday the Satanic Temple, which first came into the national spotlight last January when the organization announced its support for Florida Governor Rick Scott, went to the Phelps family graveyard in Mississippi to perform the ritual. (Two Pink Masses were performed, one with a female couple and another with men.) I contacted Lucien Greaves, the Temple’s spokesperson and officiator of the ceremony, to find out what exactly the Pink Mass entials. While he didn’t get into specifics, he told told me via email that « there were, in fact, scriptures recited, candles lit, and a ceremonial proceeding that we may eventually post the details of at our website, westboro-baptist.com. That is, if the Pink Mass generates sufficient interest to the point that other responsible parties, respectful of the graveyard, wish to perform their own. »
The idea for the mass came about in April, when the WBC announced their intention to protest the funerals of the Boston Bombing victims. The church never showed up, but later issued a statement saying they were there “in spirit.” As is always the case when WBC does or says anything, both the initial plans and the subsequent statement pissed off everyone in the world, including Satanists. And so, according to a press release, the Satanic Temple decided that a ceremony celebrating same-sex couples « at the gravesite of Fred Phelps’ mother was an appropriate way to meet the Westboro Baptists, ‘in spirit,’ but this time on our terms.”
Now the spirit of Catherine Idalette Johnston is officially into other chicks, meaning her gravesite is a viable target for one of her son’s “God hates fags” protests. Lucien told me, « We believe that Fred Phelps is obligated to believe that his mother is now gay in the afterlife. Further, if beliefs are inviolable rights, nobody has the right to challenge our right to believe that Fred Phelps believes that his mother is now gay. »
When I asked Lucien if the Temple has plans to perform Pink Masses on any other deceased members of the Phelps family, he said, « We haven’t gayed Fred’s father yet, or his great-aunt, Irene Jordan, who raised him after his mother died. We will perform Pink Masses for each of them, and more descendants of the Phelps, each time they picket funerals or applaud horrific terrorist actions, as they are known to do. Fred himself is getting pretty long in the tooth, and I hope to be presiding over his Pink Mass before long. »
The Temple is encouraging other gay couples to make the trek to Magnolia cemetery in Mississippi and suck each others’ faces at the grave. They say that every time a same-sex couple makes out over the grave of a Pink Mass recipient, the spirit of the deceased “is pleasured in the afterlife,” presumably with spooky ghost orgasms.
And for couples interested in performing an official Pink Mass of their own, Lucien told me, « I would encourage them to try to arrange such a thing with us, so that we might have a High Priest formally officiate. »
In addition to supporting Republican politicians and turning ghosts gay, the Satanic Temple has launched a bid to adopt a highway in New York City. They are hoping that their Pink Masses will raise awareness for their highway campaign, which is lacking in public support. You can watch a video about the project above, and they’ve set up an Indiegogo page where you can donate money and help the Temple achieve their dream of contributing to the betterment of society by keeping our highways clean and litter-free.
In conclusion, your mom likes to scissor now, Fred.
Jonathan Smith
Vice.com
