your above study isn't an accurate assessment of the religious devotions of scientists, I have posted plenty of opposite studies on this very forum and this very section (health and science).. use the search engine third from your anatomical right..
You need to know first and fore most how to conduct a legitimate study, how to free it from confounders, how to randomize it, set important variables and get a large enough population so that it is legitimate.
if I post this study
Quote:
In 2003, to learn about the contribution of religious factors on physicians' clinical practices, Curlin and colleagues surveyed 1,820 practicing physicians from all specialties, including an augmented number of psychiatrists; 1,144 (63%) physicians responded, including 100 psychiatrists.
The survey contained questions about medical specialties, religion, and measures of what the researchers called intrinsic religiosity--the extent to which individuals embrace their religion as the "master motive that guides and gives meaning to their life."
Although 61 percent of all American physicians were either Protestant (39%) or Catholic (22%), only 37 percent of psychiatrists were Protestant (27%) or Catholic (10%). Twenty-nine percent were Jewish, compared to 13 percent of all physicians. Seventeen percent of psychiatrists listed their religion as "none," compared to only 10 percent of all doctors.
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which was conducted by the university of chicago medical center
http://www.uchospitals.edu/news/2007...hiatrists.html
You'd formulate the idea that psychiatrists are mostly atheists, fact is I can already spot a couple of confounder with this study right off the bat.. they have excluded the other 39% of physicians who didn't fall into the Judeo-Christian category and who in fact might be devoutly religious-- the other is 1,820 isn't a statistically significant number...
That is using numbers to mislead people!
other than that, I find it sort of ridiculous to believe or not believe based on an appeal to authority..
It is neither careful nor judicious.. it is actually rather sad!
and that goes from both ends!
cheers