Rationality and the "Religious Mind."

Laurence Iannaccone (), Rodney Stark and Roger Finke

Economic Inquiry, 1998, vol. 36, issue 3, 373-89

Abstract: The social-scientific study of religion has long presumed that religious thought is 'primitive,' nonrational, incompatible with science, and, thus, doomed to decline. Contemporary evidence, however, suggests that religious involvement correlates with good mental health, responds to perceived costs and benefits, and persists in the face of advanced education and scientific training. Although professors, scientists, and other highly educated Americans are less religious than the general population, the magnitude of this effect is similar to those associated with gender, race, and other demographic traits. Moreover 'hard' science faculty are more often religious than faculty in the humanities or social sciences. Copyright 1998 by Oxford University Press.

Date: 1998
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oup:ecinqu:v:36:y:1998:i:3:p:373-89

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://academic.oup.com/journals

Access Statistics for this article

Economic Inquiry is currently edited by Preston McAfee

More articles in Economic Inquiry from Western Economic Association International Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP, UK. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Oxford University Press ().