RD Extra: Debate – “Is the US Government Founded on the Christian Religion?” Ed Brayton vs. Dr. Tim Schmig

brayton_v_schmigThis RD Extra features a debate between Ed Brayton and Dr. Tim Schmig. The debate took place on November 12, 2014 at CFI Michigan in Grand Rapids.

Ed Brayton is the founder and owner of the Freethought Blogs Network and the voice behind the popular blog Dispatches from the Culture Wars. He is the co-founder and past president of Michigan Citizens for Science and the recipient of the Friend of Darwin Award from the National Center for Science Education and has appeared on The Rachel Maddow Show, The Thom Hartmann Show, and C-SPAN. Ed is also a current member of CFI Advisory Board. Brayton argued for the resolution “That the government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.”

Arguing against that resolution is Dr. Tim Schmig, the Executive Director for the Michigan Association of Christian Schools. Tim Schmig has taught High School History, Social Studies, Government and Economics for 5 years in two different Christian Schools. He holds a Doctorate of Literature in Ministry from Maranatha Baptist Bible College.Tim spends much time in Washington D.C. and Lansing meeting with elected officials and has earned respect and garnered influence on both sides of the political aisle.

Reasonable Doubts would like to thank Ed Brayton and CFI Michigan for letting us share this debate, as well as a special thanks to Mike Slomka for helping capture the audio. Reasonable Doubts will be back with another regular format episode on December 15th.

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RD Extra: Does Religion Make Us Better People? (Galen’s Bulldog Edition)

Does Religion Make Us Better People? An Empirical Critique of the Religious Prosociality Hypothesis.

Does religion make us happier, healthier and more helpful? A number of popular psychology books and articles argue that religion is a positive force for enhancing the health and well-being of both individuals and whole communities. A careful examination of the social psychological literature, however, reveals a complicated relationship between religion and “pro-social” traits that defies such a simple characterization. Luke Galen, Professor of Psychology at Grand Valley State University, recently reviewed dozens of studies on religion and pro-social traits for the American Psychological Association’s Psychology Bulletin, exposing some of the misleading ways in which this research is conducted and presented to the public. For this talk Jeremy Beahan (instructor of Philosophy and World Religions at Kendall College of Art and Design and co-host of the popular Reasonable Doubts Podcast) will summarize key details of the review in a way that is accessible to non-professionals and reveal the devil lurking in the details.

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Episode Links:
Research Report: Does Religion Really Make Us Better People? By Luke Galen and Jeremy Beahan (Free Inquiry Volume 33 No 4)

Does religious belief promote prosociality? A critical examination.

Galen, Luke W.
Psychological Bulletin, Vol 138(5), Sep 2012, 876-906. doi: 10.1037/a0028251

 

RD Extra: Debate – Is Belief in God Irrational? Chris Hallquist vs. Randal Rauser

Screen Shot 2014-01-15 at 11.47.20 PMIn late 2013, Chris Hallquist and Randal Rauser participated in a debate on the rationality of belief in God.  This debate was not a live debate, rather it was a series of audio exchanges that took place in late 2013.  The exchanges were according to agreed upon time limitations on each section. For each of their several sections, the debaters were given at least a week to analyze, script and record their entries before submitting it to their opponent.  Each submission, has been edited together in the agreed upon order for your listening interest.  As one speaker ends, the next will follow without interruption.

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Debate: Does the God of Christianity Exist? Max Andrews vs. Justin Schieber

andrews_v_schieberDoes the God of Christianity Exist? 

This debate was not a live debate, rather it was a series of audio exchanges that took place through the months of June and July of 2013 between Max Andrews of (Sententias.org) and Justin Schieber (Doubtcast.org). The exchanges were according to agreed upon time limitations on each section. For each of their several sections, the debaters were given at least a week to analyze, script and record their entries before submitting it to their opponent. Each submission, has been edited together in the agreed upon order for your listening interest. As one speaker ends, the next will follow without interruption.

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RD Extra: A Skeptical Review of Religious Prosociality Research with Luke Galen

This RD extra features a lecture by Luke Galen “A Skeptical Review of Religious Prosociality” delivered to CFI Michigan June 26th 2013

It is often suggested that religion leads individuals to be more prosocial, that is, more cooperative, generous, friendly, and happy. A commonly held belief is that “religion makes better neighbors”. However, a closer examination of the research supporting these claims yields important qualifications to this relationship. Dr. Galen will offer some common examples of these types of studies and invite the audience to ask critical questions regarding the types of conclusions that can be drawn from the “religion makes you good” literature.

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And for everyone who asked for references…get a load of this:

References

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4. Myers, D. G. (2008). A friendly letter to skeptics and atheists: Musings on why God is good and faith isn’t evil. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

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6. Bering, J. (Jul. 1, 2012).  Don’t Trust the Godless. Slate. http://www.salon.com/2012/07/01/dont_trust_the_godless/

7. Galen, L.W. (2012). Does Religious Belief Promote Prosociality?: A Critical Examination. Psychological Bulletin, 138, (5), 876-906. doi: 10.1037/a0028251

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11. Galen, L. W., Smith, C. M., Knapp, N., & Wyngarden, N. (2011[lg1] ). Perceptions of religious and non-religious targets: Exploring the effects of perceivers’ religious fundamentalism. Journal of Applied Social Psychology,41, (9), 2123–2143. doi:10.1111/j.1559-1816.2011.00810.x

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13. Galen, L.W., & Ver Wey, A. (July, 2012). Unpacking religious prosociality: Personality ratings are contaminated by religious stereotype and ingroup bias. Symposium presented at the 16th meeting of the European Conference on Personality, Trieste, Italy.

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29. Ahmed, A. M., & Salas, O. (2009). Is the hand of God involved in human cooperation? International Journal of Social Economics, 36, (1/2), 70–80. doi:10.1108/03068290910921190

30. Paciotti, B., Richerson, P., Baum, B., Lubell, M., Waring, T., McElreath, R., … Edsten, E. (2011). Are religious individuals more generous, trusting, and cooperative? An experimental test of the effect of religion on prosociality. In D. C. Wood (Series Ed.) & L. Obadia & D. C. Wood (Vol. Eds.), Research in Economic Anthropology: Vol. 31. The economics of religion: Anthropological approaches (pp. 267–305). Bingley, England: Emerald. doi:10.1108/S0190-1281(2011)0000031014

31. Shariff, A. F., & Norenzayan, A. (2007). God is watching you: Priming God concepts increases prosocial behavior in an anonymous economic game. Psychological Science, 18, (9), 803– 809. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01983.x

32. Ahmed, A. M., & Salas, O. (2008). In the back of your mind: Subliminal influences of religious concepts on prosocial behavior (Working Papers in Economics No. 331). Gothenburg School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden. Retrieved from http://gupea.ub.gu.se/bitstream/2077/18838/4/gupea_2077_18838_4.pdf

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34. Laurin, K., Kay, A. C., & Fitzsimons, G. M. (2011). Divergent effects of activating thoughts of God on self-regulation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 102, (1), 4–21. doi:10.1037/a0025971

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39. Bateson, M., Nettle, D., & Roberts, G. (2006). Cues of being watched enhance cooperation in a real-world setting. Biology Letters, 2, (3), 412–414. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2006.0509

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43. Williamson, W. P., & Assadi, A. (2005). Religious orientation, incentive, self-esteem, and gender as predictors of academic dishonesty: An experimental approach. Archive for the Psychology of Religion, 27, (1), 137–158.

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45. Bushman, B. J., Ridge, R. D., Das, E., Key, C. W., & Busath, G. L. (2007). When God sanctions killing: Effect of scriptural violence on aggression. Psychological Science, 18, (3), 204 –207. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01873.x

46. Leach, M. M., Berman, M. E., & Eubanks, L. (2008). Religious activities, religious orientation, and aggressive behavior. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 47, (2), 311–319. doi:10.1111/j.1468-5906.2008.00409.x

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49. Vilaythong Tran, O., Lindner, N. M., & Nosek, B. A. (2010). “Do unto others”: Effects of priming the golden rule on Buddhists’ and Christians’ attitudes toward gay people. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 49, (3), 494–506. doi:10.1111/j.1468-5906.2010.01524.x

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52. Rowatt, W. C., Ottenbreit, A., Nesselroade, K. P., Jr., & Cunningham, P. A. (2002). On being holier-than-thou or humbler-than-thee: A social-psychological perspective on religiousness and humility. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 41, (2), 227–237. doi:10.1111/1468-5906.00113

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73. Galen, L. W., & Kloet, J. (2011). Personality and social integration factors distinguishing nonreligious from religious groups: The importance of controlling for attendance and demographics. Archive for the Psychology of Religion, 33, (2), 205–228.

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76. Hagerty, B.B. (Jan 13, 2011). Army’s ‘Spiritual Fitness’ test angers some soldiers. http://www.npr.org/2011/01/13/132904866/armys-spiritual-fitness-test-angers-some-soldiers

 

RD Extra: Etcetera debate: The Status of God in the 21st Century – Featuring Justin Schieber & Scott Smith

schiebervsmithLast month Justin Schieber was invited by Etcetera to Traverse City, Michigan to debate/discuss with Scott Smith (CApologetics.org) the ‘Status of God in the 21st Century‘.  The lively discussion touched on a wide range of topics from moral intuitions to the strength of positing a God as an explanation.

 

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RD Extra: Orme vs Shieber Debate – Does The Christian God Exist?

orme_vs_schieber

 

For this RD Extra, we give you a lengthy debate on the existence of the Christian god. Arguing in the affirmative is apologist Jared Orme of Conversion Points Radio and in the negative, Justin Schieber. Reasonable Doubts wants to thank Jared for the time and effort he put into this exchange

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RD Extra: The Nativity Debate with Jonathan Pearce and Randal Rauser

why_does_mary_look_like_a_dudeDon’t get into heated debates with your family this Christmas without first getting your facts straight. Check out this debate between Jonathan Pearce and Randal Rauser on the historical reliability of the Nativity narratives so you can impress your family by being the most informed troublemaker at the dinner table. Merry Christmas from the Doubtcasters!

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