Are You Religious?

[ManipulatorGeneral]

I looked over James' study somewhat; we critiqued four social psychology research projects as part of our analyses on them in class, and so I'm applying that thought to this. I have found two major weaknesses:

• The study only explores religiously motivated generosity in America, a nation famous for its stingy Christians (wish I could attach the article into a URL with imposed text, like I do in the song thread, but here: http://www.christian...calsstingy.html ) Honestly speaking as an American, we are overall a poor representative of the average self-proclaimed Christian's generosity, and it also remains to be questioned how many of these individuals have been born again, as so termed; though it's usually hard to measure authentic adherence to a religious faith, again with emphasis on Christianity, I'm becoming quite excellent at detecting it within others and (without trying to boast) receive feedback from individuals occupying all spectra of the God rainbow. Many of us have had our fair share of mean, pushy or even hateful Christians, and I can guarantee the proportion will be smaller in poorer countries, as more reliance on God (I think we can both safely assume this), and also each other, will be seen as desirable. How much of this generosity is caused by faith and how much by pure compassion (routinely seeing somebody in need because it happens so often) is difficult to measure, but it's simpler to examine the degree to which an American compared to, say, a Filipino, lives the faith preached; if this study is done in a poorer country, both religious and non-religious will be similarly affected by that same "need to share" and the religious population, with some emphasis on Christians, will be a more accurate representation of religious values. I believe that the more one is committed to Christ and His mission in heart rather than word, the more one's motives, as well as behaviors, will be changed; I find this occurring dramatically in my life over the course of 2012, but that's a digression...
  
  
• Only monetary acts of altruism were considered. Most of us have experienced occasions where emotional, spiritual or other support has meant the world to us and, if we really have hearts, understand that there exist things worth more than money; sometimes I give monetarily, but it's far more valuable to me to lend emotional and spiritual support wherever it's needed. I could also wager that if there were a feasible test of non-material generosity, the results would differ.
  
  

In summation, I find that studying the ulterior and ultimate motives of the religious is difficult, if not impossible, and religiously related behavior and data is even harder, again if not impossible, to quantify and measure scientifically. Researchers have attempted prayer experiments in hospitals, but these have displayed their own weaknesses because introducing God also produces too many variables for a human-conducted experiment to detect. Perhaps the magnitude of experimenting with God may invalidate tests which indicate a positive skew towards the believers, but overall, like our own attitudes towards God, religion and faith, we have to experience and examine this ourselves. For me, a variety of personal experiences lead me to question the results of this research, the same types which have led me to choose God. James, you seem to have your own daily experiences, so let them hit the fan!