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thakil comments on Positive Thinking - Less Wrong
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As always, generalising from anecdotes can be dangerous. I am married to a christian, and have occasion to meet both non-religious and religious people. I see a wide variety of mental behaviours in them, with depressive and positive in both communities. In most cases these behaviours actually have their root in (I suspect) other parts of their background.
What I will agree with is that religousity can encourage people to be more altruistic than they might be otherwise. While a rationalist might carefully reach the same results, it is a more difficult course to enter without getting caught up in simple selfish action. That said, the bonus of group altruism brings with it distate for outsiders, and a slavish devotion to a set of behaviours that the group has decided are "good"
I really, really, wish that problem came from religion and not universal human behavior. It would make non-religious communities so much more pleasant!
Well it's not as if they can just look up the Universal List of Actually Good Behaviors and devote themselves to those. What should they devote themselves to if not the things they believe are good?
The slavish devotion means that they don't question the goodness of these beliefs. Frequently I will find people (and this includes myself) engaging in behaviours that contradict key assumptions they make about what they believe to be good, because they haven't thought carefully about those actions. Any group think can discourage critical thinking, but religious groupings can be particularly prone to it.
Yes, sorry, I should have made clear that that issue is attached to the nature of the closely knit group (as I suspect the benefits are)
Agreed that generalizing from anecdotes can be dangerous. Thus the posting it to a public forum where people can tell me whether or not my conclusions are generalizable...so far the consensus is probably not.
"What I will agree with is that religousity can encourage people to be more altruistic than they might be otherwise. While a rationalist might carefully reach the same results, it is a more difficult course to enter without getting caught up in simple selfish action."
Very well put. This is exactly the behavior I've noticed in myself since I stopped going to the church.