[extropy-chat] The Bible Belt Paradox

[MB]

> I just put up an extended version of my analysis on my blog,
>
> http://www.aleph.se/andart/archives/2007/01/criminal_because_of_god_or_godly_because_of_crime.html
>
> so you can actually see the GSS results and check them. I also added an
> analysis of how fearful they were, and it supports my hypothesis that the
> fundamentalism-crime correlation is caused by fundamentalism being a
> coping mechanism towards a dangerous environment.
>
>

That was interesting, Anders!  :)

Like all such surveys, though, I have questions. When I think about how secure and
safe I am in my home or whether there are places I would not walk alone at night, I
am forced to answer in a way I think you do not mean.

I am afraid of forest fire here - and of trees falling in storms. This makes me feel
insecure in my home rather often. :(

I do not walk outdoors much at night, there are coyotes, bears, feral dogs, and
venomous snakes here. Not to mention rabies in the raccoon population, IIUC.

I've had a traffic ticket for "incomplete stop at a stop sign" - 35 years ago, so
I'd have to say yes, I've had a ticket.  Yet I consider myself to be law abiding.

Considering that many of the fundamentalist communities are rather tight-knit, I
wonder what kind of overlap one has in these "murder" numbers? I mean, if a church
family was killed, then everybody in that congregation and probably several
neighboring ones knows the same family.

I've not ever designed a survey, though, and perhaps this kind of thing is somehow
weeded out?

Regards,
MB