calcsam comments on Raise the Age Demographic - Less Wrong

4 Post author: calcsam 06 August 2011 05:10PM

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Comment author: [deleted] 06 August 2011 06:44:11PM 6 points [-]

Member of proselytizing religious organization proposes that rationalists direct their attention away from people of an age at which they actually change their minds.

Suspicions of ulterior motives aside, I think this is a really important point: there is a huge cognitive difference between getting someone to join a religious group and training someone in rationality. The former depends almost entirely on social factors, whereas the latter requires a lot more effort from the inductee and depends on their mental state. We should definitely be accounting for this when trying to do rationality outreach, because it suggests that some of the "conventional" religious methods won't work as well.

Comment author: calcsam 07 August 2011 02:47:26PM 2 points [-]

the latter requires a lot more effort from the inductee

I object here. I can't comment on all religions, but here are the things we would ask people to do, mandatory if they wanted to join the LDS church:

  • No premarital/extramarital sex (one woman we helped work through a really messy divorce to a man she was separated from and marry her boyfriend who she was living with.)
  • No porn
  • No tea/coffee (and everyone in India is addicted to this)
  • No alcohol
  • No smoking
  • Give tithing, ie, 10% of your income
  • Resolve any job time conflicts so you can come to church on Sundays

...and more, but the other ones weren't mandatory, and some like treating wives as equals, were more difficult to enforce.

Comment author: [deleted] 07 August 2011 03:21:08PM 3 points [-]

You are certainly correct as far as LDS is concerned, but I was thinking more along the lines of reformed religious communities whose social expectations are little more than "attend church every once and a while" and "send your kids to religious school."

Comment author: calcsam 07 August 2011 04:51:04PM 0 points [-]

Oh, that makes sense. I guess we were just using the same word to refer to different things ^.^