|
|
|
|
Abdul Alhazred
Skeptic Friend
USA
58 Posts |
 Posted - 08/02/2007 : 19:41:38
|
It's a study, so I'm skeptical.
But it goes against what the conductor of the study expected, and that gives it some plausibility.
Atheist doctors more likely to care for the poor than religious ones
Atheist doctors are likely to practice medicine among the underprivileged than religious physicians, even though most religions call on the faithful to serve the poor, according to the results of large cross-sectional survey of US medical practitioners published in Annals of Family Medicine.
Researchers from the University of Chicago and Yale New Haven Hospital report that 31 percent of physicians who were more religious—as measured by "intrinsic religiosity" as well as frequency of attendance at religious services—practiced among the underserved, compared to 35 percent of physicians who described their religion as atheist, agnostic or none.
"This came as both a surprise and a disappointment," study author Farr Curlin, MD, said. "The Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist scriptures all urge physicians to care for the poor, and the great majority of religious physicians describe their practice of medicine as a calling. Yet we found that religious physicians were not more likely to report practice among the underserved than their secular colleagues."
... |
It's a bit more complex, so read the whole thing.
I'm posting this "around" so I'll report back if anything interesting develops.
|
The lack of a rational explanation is not evidence for an irrational explanation. |
|
|
HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 08/02/2007 : 20:00:58 [Permalink]
|
I liked this at the end of the article:| "No one knows how to select medical students in a way that would actually increase the number of physicians eager to serve the underserved," Curlin said, "but our findings suggest that admissions officials should ignore both the general religiousness of candidates and their professed sense of calling to medicine." |
To my mind, this implies that atheists may have been, or still are, discriminated against by medical schools on a systematic basis.
|
“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
 |
|
|
marfknox
SFN Die Hard
USA
3739 Posts |
Posted - 08/02/2007 : 21:17:31 [Permalink]
|
| To my mind, this implies that atheists may have been, or still are, discriminated against by medical schools on a systematic basis. |
Doesn't necessarily mean that, but it does read that way, doesn't it. |
"Too much certainty and clarity could lead to cruel intolerance" -Karen Armstrong
Check out my art store: http://www.marfknox.etsy.com
|
|
|
|
Boron10
Religion Moderator
USA
1266 Posts |
Posted - 08/02/2007 : 21:38:12 [Permalink]
|
I don't think there is a meaningful difference between 31% ("religious" doctors) and 35% ("atheist" doctors) in a sample of 1,144. Hardly a "large cross-sectional survey of US medical practitioners." Out of the half a million practicing Medical Doctors in the US, is 0.2% of random surveying a relevent sample? From the article:
Researchers from the University of Chicago and Yale New Haven Hospital report that 31 percent of physicians who were more religious—as measured by "intrinsic religiosity" as well as frequency of attendance at religious services—practiced among the underserved, compared to 35 percent of physicians who described their religion as atheist, agnostic or none.
.
.
.
Curlin and colleagues surveyed 1,820 practicing physicians from all specialties of whom 1,144 (63%) responded. |
That means there were 45 more people who didn't answer their questions in a "religious" manner. I would be interested to see a full list of questions asked in their surveys and a breakdown of the answers....
And then of course, even if the claim that "Atheist doctors [are] more likely to care for the poor than religious ones" were true, that could mean that working with the underpriveleged causes somebody to question religion .... |
|
|
|
HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 08/03/2007 : 02:41:15 [Permalink]
|
Originally posted by Boron10
And then of course, even if the claim that "Atheist doctors [are] more likely to care for the poor than religious ones" were true, that could mean that working with the underpriveleged causes somebody to question religion ....
|
Or it could mean that being religious causes some people to care less about the poor.
But seriously, I agree that this looks like a dead heat, statistically. I'm just glad that once again, there is no proof that atheism makes people evil.
|
“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
|
|
|
moakley
SFN Regular
USA
1888 Posts |
Posted - 08/03/2007 : 04:47:31 [Permalink]
|
Yeah. But I suspect that those religious doctors are much more willing to pray for the poor and underserved than an atheist doctor.
 |
Life is good
Philosophy is questions that may never be answered. Religion is answers that may never be questioned. -Anonymous |
|
|
|
HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 08/03/2007 : 07:37:40 [Permalink]
|
Originally posted by moakley
Yeah. But I suspect that those religious doctors are much more willing to pray for the poor and underserved than an atheist doctor.
|
To many doctors (going by that study, more than 60% of both theist and atheist), time donated to the poor can be seen as money lost, and also cuts into time on the greens. Prayer is a cheap substitute available to the religious doctor, something he quickly can do between appointments with pharmaceutical reps and investment brokers.
|
“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
|
|
|
Abdul Alhazred
Skeptic Friend
USA
58 Posts |
Posted - 08/03/2007 : 07:56:09 [Permalink]
|
Originally posted by moakley
Yeah. But I suspect that those religious doctors are much more willing to pray for the poor and underserved than an atheist doctor.
|
 |
The lack of a rational explanation is not evidence for an irrational explanation. |
|
|
|
 |
|
Atheist doctors more likely to care for the poor
