SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Researchers report in areas with greater numbers of Christian fundamentalists, infant mortality rates are higher than in areas with more mainstream Christians. The study reveals external factors such as lack of social support, birth defects, poverty and lack of insurance, in addition to religious conviction, are the main reasons for the increased mortality rates.
The odds of an infant dying before their first birthday are higher in counties with greater proportions of conservative Protestants, especially fundamentalists, than in counties with more mainline Protestants and Catholics, according to a new Portland State University study The study, published online in May in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, supports the idea that the more insular, anti-institutional culture of fundamentalists can lead to poorer health outcomes.
Ginny Garcia-Alexander, a sociology professor in PSU's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the study's lead author, examined the influence of religion on postneonatal infant mortality rates, or the number of deaths from four weeks through the first year, using data from 1990 through 2010. Garcia-Alexander said a leading cause of infant death in the first 28 days is birth defects, which can be heavily influenced by advances in medical knowledge and technology. By contrast, deaths in the next 11 months of life are more often linked to external factors such as poverty, lack of insurance, social support networks and religion.
Garcia-Alexander said the findings mirror trends seen in adult mortality rates, where areas with more mainline Protestants and Catholics had better health outcomes than areas with more conservative Protestants.
The study's findings build on previous research that says that Catholicism and mainline Protestantism are civically minded, externally oriented faiths that emphasize community-level care. For example, church-affiliated hospitals and social-service providers such as Catholic Charities can bolster the health infrastructure of local communities.
Source: https://neurosciencenews.com/infant-mortality-fundamentalism-9165/
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 19 2018, @08:39PM (3 children)
Additionally, there is no Islamic fundamentalist movement in the United States to be reflected in these statistics and have anything to compare to. "Christian fundamentalists" are the only fundamentalists we have in any sort of significant number, so they're essentially being compared to non-fundamentalist Christians and a handful of non-religious millennials. Expand the dataset to somewhere with a high population of first generation immigrants from a fundamentalist Islamic country like Europe and the picture changes.
You seem to be under the impression that I'm arguing with their conclusion based on their dataset. I'm criticizing the entire concept that studying this dataset can ever tell us anything other than "people who believe the Christian God made the Earth 6000 years ago are better at surviving than people who just believe the Christian God made the Earth."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 19 2018, @08:41PM
worse at surviving*
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Tuesday June 19 2018, @09:38PM (1 child)
We are not arguing about 'first generation fundamentalist Muslims' - you are trying again to change the argument to one that you think you can win. This study is comparing regions in America with other regions in America.
So what? When the comparison is made then there appears to be different outcomes between the two groups being compared. Both groups are in America so the study asks 'Why should there be different outcomes within the one country?". And it has found several contributory factors which it clearly states - religion being just one of them.
No, I am under no such impression. Furthermore, it doesn't matter to me which of the invisible beings that you want to worship you choose. But, if you do make a choice, then the study finds that it can affect the life expectancy in ways that you wouldn't have imagined, and that "that the more insular, anti-institutional culture of fundamentalists can lead to poorer health outcomes." If you feel that this is an insult to your own religion let me assure you of two things. Firstly, I am debating this issue based on the findings in the study and secondly, your right to worship who you choose has absolutely no influence on how I have to respect your religion.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 19 2018, @09:48PM
Yep, here's the part where you take the factual statement they made and twist it into an implication they only hinted at.
"affect" is a term of causation. Nothing in this study finds anything affects anything. What it finds is a correlation, which scientific illiterates run with and assume causation.