Death anxiety linked to acceptance of intelligent design: study

Death anxiety linked to acceptance of intelligent design: study

Research conducted at the University of British Columbia and Union College found that people's death anxiety was associated with support of intelligent design and rejection of evolutionary theory.

Death anxiety also influenced those in the study to report an increased liking for Michael Behe, a prominent proponent of intelligent design, and an increased disliking for Richard Dawkins, a well-known evolutionary biologist.

The findings suggest that people are motivated to believe in intelligent design and doubt evolutionary theory because of unconscious psychological motives.

Read the rest on The Raw Story.

Tags: anxiety, death, death anxiety, evolution, intelligent design, meaning, psychology, religion, superstition

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Joseph P on March 31, 2011 at 8:06pm
Heh, I don't think you're going to get too many responses to this one, beyond "Duh."
Permalink Reply by Grace Fitzpatrick on March 31, 2011 at 8:28pm
What?  Something nice about atheists?  That's a shocker.
Permalink Reply by Steve on April 2, 2011 at 12:33am
Well, it's nice to have a study to site for both the specific finding and the underlying general one, which has broader application.
Permalink Reply by Dallas the Phallus on April 3, 2011 at 9:13pm
Here is the actual paper, though I have not read it:
Attachments:
Permalink Reply by Hugh Kramer on April 4, 2011 at 1:00pm
Correlation but not causation.

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