Read the whole article closely. It will surprise you, coming from a well known conservative.
Read the whole article closely. It will surprise you, coming from a well known conservative.
Yes, the first paragraph or two were a bit misleading--you need to read the whole thing! I'm pleased to read his opinions and am glad that the NYT op-ed page now has a greater diversity of commentary.
The one point I disagreed with, strongly, was his notion that god-belief is a plus. The fact is that nonbelievers make up a tiny number of prison inmates (fewer than one in a thousand, despite being ~~20% of the general US population); and theists are overrepresented in prisons.
http://wp.production.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/files/2013/07/uq3hYhp.jpg
Yes, immigrants are generally law-abiding (more so than native-born Americans), but apparently would be even less likely to commit crimes if more of them were atheists.
Ana Theist wrote:
Yes, the first paragraph or two were a bit misleading--you need to read the whole thing! I'm pleased to read his opinions and am glad that the NYT op-ed page now has a greater diversity of commentary.
The one point I disagreed with, strongly, was his notion that god-belief is a plus. The fact is that nonbelievers make up a tiny number of prison inmates (fewer than one in a thousand, despite being ~~20% of the general US population); and theists are overrepresented in prisons.
http://wp.production.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/files/2013/07/uq3hYhp.jpgYes, immigrants are generally law-abiding (more so than native-born Americans), but apparently would be even less likely to commit crimes if more of them were atheists.
1. That chart is not very helpful as it does not present the data in terms of percent frequency or something similar. Further, I think a lot of prisoners suddenly "get religion" after arrest or incarceration.
2. Atheists are highly over-represented on the lists of tyrants and dictators that killed innocent people in waves of millions in the 20th century or in great numbers in the French Revolution.
Bret Stephens is a NYT conservative (aka a progressive). He's an open borders guy and a never-Trumper who believes in global warming.
who knows?? wrote:
Bret Stephens is a NYT conservative (aka a progressive). He's an open borders guy and a never-Trumper who believes in global warming.
Bret Stephens is not a progressive...
One can accept that global warming is occurring and that humans play some role and still be a conservative. The difference to me is when it comes what to do about it. Many conservatives do not like the restrictions the "Greens" want because it will keep people impoverished. Lonborg has run analyses that shows that deaths from global warming pale in comparison to deaths from poverty.
Those on the left want to spend trillions to reduce CO2 yet for a fraction of that cost providing clean water would save many times more lives.
Also, most of the plans to reduce CO2 emissions (like the Paris one) require the US to pay billions into a fund for less developed countries. No wonder so many countries back the plan when they see $$$$$ in perpetuity.