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Labels: religion
posted by John Lott at 5:22 AM
My commentary on a broad array of economics and crime related issues.
Dumbing Down the Courts: How Politics Keeps the Smartest Judges Off the Bench
Straight Shooting: Firearms, Economics and Public Policy
Are Predatory Commitments Credible? Who Should the Courts Believe?
-Research finding a drop in violent crime rates from Right-to-carry laws
-Ranking Economists
-Interview with the Washington Post
-Debate on "Guns Reduce Crime"
-Appalachian law school attack
-Sources for Defensive Gun Uses
-The Merced Pitchfork Killings
-Fraudulent website pretending to be run by me
-Steve Levitt's Correction Letter
-Ian Ayres and John Donohue
-Other issues regarding Steve Levitt
-National Academies of Science Panel on Firearms
-Baghdad murder rate
-Arming Pilots
-General discussion of my 1997 and 2002 surveys as well as related surveys
-Problems with Wikipedia
-Errata for Gun Books
-US Supreme Court Wire
-Futures for Financial Markets
-judgepedia
Economist and Law Professor David D. Friedman's Blog
Larry Elder's The Elder Statement
Economist Robert G. Hansen's Blog
Firearmstruth.com -- a media-watchdog website
A debate that I had with George Mason University's Robert Ehrlich on guns
Lyonette Louis-Jacques's page on Firearms Regulation Worldwide
An interview concerning More Guns, Less Crime: Understanding Crime and Gun Control Laws
The End of Myth: An Interview with Dr. John Lott
Art DeVany's website, one of the more innovative economists in the last few decades
St. Cloud State University Scholars
Bryan Caplan at George Mason University
Alphecca -- weekly review on the media's coverage of guns
Xrlq -- Some interesting coverage of the law.
Career Police Officer
Gun Law News
Georgia Right-to-Carry
Darnell's The Independent Conservative Blog
Robert Stacy McCain's Blog
Clayton Cramer's Blog
My hidden mathematical ability (a math professor with the same name)
geekwitha45
My Old AEI Web Page
Wrightwing's blog
Al Lowe's blog
St. Maximos' Hut
Dad29
Elizabeth Blackney's blog
Eric Rasmusen
Your "Economics" Portal to the World by Larry Low
William Sjostrom
Dr. T's EconLinks.com
Interview with National Review Online
Blog at Newsmax.com
Pieces I have written at BigGovernment.com
Updated Media Analysis of Appalachian Law School Attack
Journal of Legal Studies paper on spoiled ballots during the 2000 Presidential Election
Data set from USA Today, STATA 7.0 data set
"Do" File for some of the basic regressions from the paper
6 Comments:
John,
Of course he understands the point he just doesn't agree with it. Its an argument that gets thrown up by believers all the time - its bogus and its insulting.
It is a lot like saying; "The only reason I don't abuse children is because I am fearful of hell".
Would you be comfortable with a close friend making that admission?
Furthermore, do believers really think we were all murderous adulterers before the 10 commandments were delivered to Mount Sinai? If so, why didn't God take more care to design a different species?
It's an interesting point, but it assumes that people don't model god's wishes precisely onto their own. History suggests they do. Christopher Hitchens put it better than I can, but it was something along the lines of, "it's people who think they have God on their side who give themselves license to do anything."
Does Religion put a constraint on bad behavior?
Criminals tend to be ignorant and thus superstitious, though an "Insured by Smith & Wesson" sign might have more spook value than a cross, Jesus being vastly less scary than the prospect of catching a bullet, and what with Jesus being such a nice guy and all.
Completely disagree. The fear of "something more powerful out there" is the same reason a nutcase like Osama Bin Laden was able to recruit so many followers.
I agree with Bruce, I wouldn't start killing people because there's no God. Even if murder was suddenly legal, I wouldn't kill anybody - neither would most people.
Regrettably, atheism is usually code for "environmentalist" (another religion). I usually prefer to describe myself as "not religious".
Presumably, fear of hell -- which doesn't even exist in many religions, acts as a deterrent in the same way that the death penalty does. Oh, wait! Maybe it acts as a deterrent in the same way that gun control laws do! Sounds like a research project!
So, is there a statistically significant difference in the percentage of atheists in prison populations around the world relative to the general population? Without correlation, there can be no cause and effect. How would someone go about studying something like this?
I would refer O'Reilly to the Treaty of Tripoli of 1797, Article 11, which starts with the phrase, "As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion, ...". But hey, what did Presidents Washington and Adams and the first U.S. Senate know about the principles on which our country was founded anyway? Besides, most of them were deists, not Christians.
I would also invite O'Reilly to recite the 10 commandments (the Catholic catechism version that he was raised on would be perfect) out loud, one at a time, and explain what they have to do with the principles on which our country was founded. I count 5 out of the 10 -- and these, as Christopher Hitchens points out, are universal human values. Christianity has no exclusive claim to them. The other 5 are the typical values of religious fundamentalism and religious intolerance. Again, Christianity has no exclusive claim to them.
Frankly, I find the arrogance and conceit of religious zealots of any stripe offensive. And the unfounded presumption that belief in God or hell would keep anyone in line certainly strikes me as arrogant.
I was going to respond to this but so many did such a good job I'll just say: Thank you! to them. I find it disturbing that such educated and reasonable people Like O'Reilly and Lott) still beleive that religion is even real say nothing about needed.
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