I apologize for succumbing somewhat to the headline writers' disease of misrepresenting the story. ;)
"Older men with higher levels of sex hormones could be less religious, study suggests" |
ScienceDaily (https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/05/180530113238.htm)
QuoteThe level of sex hormones such as testosterone in a man's body could influence his religiosity. A new study by Aniruddha Das of McGill University in Canada in Springer's journal Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology now adds to the growing body of evidence that religiosity is not only influenced by upbringing or psychological makeup, but physiological factors could also play a role.
[. . .]
From the analysis of over 1000 men, Das found that men with higher levels of the sex hormones testosterone and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) in their bodies had weaker religious ties.
"Religion influences a range of cultural and political patterns at the population level. Results from the current study indicate the latter may also have hormonal roots," says Das. "There is therefore a need for conceptual models that can accommodate the dynamic interplay of psychosocial and neuroendocrine factors in shaping a person's life cycle."
[Continues . . . (https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/05/180530113238.htm)]
Full paper: "Are Men's Religious Ties Hormonally Regulated?" |
Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology (https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs40750-018-0094-3)
Somewhere in the back of my mind that finding makes sense. Though it is too easy to think of the testosterone charged, egotistical, "I am God" types in gangs, armies, industry and politics, even religion. Lip service to a deity is one thing, the actions tell of the real man.
So that's my problem!
Must be something we're eating :smilenod:
Food is related to mental health and hormone production. I particularly am partial to fish myself but I can have burgers as well. And of course my people are well known for tacos :grin:
But then there are all those accusations against men of the cloth. Banging the teeny boppers in the congregation is not an uncommon practice. Then of course there are the RCC fathers who may consort with the nuns or violate the altar boys. Roy Moore is not a preacher but is on the surface a religious freak. He is plausably accused of molesting little girls. Can it be that evangelicals are also horny?
One would be led to believe, at least according to conventional wisdom, that preachers and other church leaders are the least likely to indulge in "Lust in their heart", or their pants, as the case may be..
We could observe the premise from the opposite direction. That is to infer that atheists or less devoted believers have more than average sexual desire. On that one.... I call bullshit.
Correlation does not mean causation. I bet older man are more likely to be atheists as they have more life experience. Some older men have higher hormone levels. But it's not the higher hormone levels that cause the atheism.
QuoteBut it's not the higher hormone levels that cause the atheism.
You ssy that rather confidently, Tank. :grin:
Must read the article to see if there are comparisons of testerone : estrogen : religiosity in a significant number of individuals over a significantly long period from peak sexual maturity to dotage. There used to be the idea that religiosity returned or strengthened closer to death - or a cynicsl pseudo-version as in Pascsl's wager.
I am guesing extreme examples really paid little more than lip service to religion, their real addiction was power and later in life sexual power rises (as it were) to the top. Politicians may express religiousity as a toll in their rise, get the priests (and therefore, presumably, flocks of
sheep people) on their side. Though in Trump's case looks more like the priests recruited the power hungry one!
Quote from: Tank on June 04, 2018, 07:58:44 AM
Correlation does not mean causation. I bet older man are more likely to be atheists as they have more life experience. Some older men have higher hormone levels. But it's not the higher hormone levels that cause the atheism.
Ditto.
Religious people have a repressed sexuality maybe.
Quote from: Arturo on June 04, 2018, 03:23:08 PM
Religious people have a repressed sexuality maybe.
Evidence suggest that social pressure just means they are probably hypocritical rather than physically any different from the non-religious people :D
Quote"An' some I'd baptize to bring 'em to. An 'then- you know what I'd do? I'd take one of them girls out in the grass, an' I'd lay with her. Done it ever' time. Then I'd feel bad, and I'd pray an' pray, but it didn't do no good. Come the nex' time, them an' me was full of the sperit, I'd do it again"
Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath.