Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Bogus Conclusion Alert!
The headline:
The conclusion (emphasis added):
The study, which compares the relatively secular Britain with the relatively religious US, tells us little that we did not already know. It makes no connection between the two facts, American has higher rates of those things and American has more believers. Oh sure, the study's authors are full of speculation as to a connection -- but they cannot make one based on the data at hand.
Cheat Seeking Missles has a few comments on this little gem.
This is a non-story.
The conclusion (emphasis added):
In general, higher rates of belief in and worship of a creator correlate with higher rates of homicide, juvenile and early adult mortality, STD infection rates, teen pregnancy and abortion in the prosperous democracies.What's wrong with this picture? Correlation does not equal casuation!
The study, which compares the relatively secular Britain with the relatively religious US, tells us little that we did not already know. It makes no connection between the two facts, American has higher rates of those things and American has more believers. Oh sure, the study's authors are full of speculation as to a connection -- but they cannot make one based on the data at hand.
Cheat Seeking Missles has a few comments on this little gem.
This is a non-story.
