Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Hey BBC, Religious Beliefs Have Nothing To Do With Physics

Currently the #1 most shared article from the BBC is titled (in the list)  Physics predicts end of religion.
A study using census data from nine countries shows that religion there is set for extinction, say researchers.

[...]

The result, reported at the American Physical Society meeting in Dallas, US, indicates that religion will all but die out altogether in those countries.

Nonlinear dynamics is invoked to explain a wide range of physical phenomena in which a number of factors play a part.

I don't care how much nonlinear dynamics you invoke, or if you present your results to the American Physical Society, the Screen Actors Guild or the Lord of the Flies, a study based on census data is not physics. It's sociology or psychology. Full stop.

Last I heard, the speed of light wasn't based on a self-reported census of photons. 

Predicting the end of religion has absolutely nothing to do with physics. Nothing. NOTHING!

Pseudo-science, you shall not pass

Addendum: I just noticed they changed the link to say 'extinction threat' to religion.

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