Interestingly, every one of the anti-vax people I know is religious. Mixed bag of mono and pan-theistic with a few ‘spiritual’ types thrown in for good measure.
For sure I do know religious people who are strongly pro-vax, but I don’t know any hard core non-believers or scientists who are anti-vax.
As a contrary anecdote, the only hardcore anti-vaccers I know are a couple of atheists. By “hardcore” I mean refusing all vaccines for their kids and actively encouraging others to skip them. They see other people as having “blind faith” in vaccines and will exhaustively quote “scientific” studies that supposedly support their cause.
Maher is also an example of why it’s so easy for the religiously inclined to insist that atheism involves just as much faith as religion. I’ve rarely encountered such vacuous defenses of rationality.
And the comments above neatly demonstrate why reality (and our perception of it) is not defined by anecdotes or personal experience alone. Follow the evidence.
Interestingly, every one of the anti-vax people I know is religious. Mixed bag of mono and pan-theistic with a few ‘spiritual’ types thrown in for good measure.
For sure I do know religious people who are strongly pro-vax, but I don’t know any hard core non-believers or scientists who are anti-vax.
Did the SPLC object to this cartoon? I can’t find anything about it on their site.
Oops, my bad maybe I should read these in chronological, rather than reverse chronological order.
As a contrary anecdote, the only hardcore anti-vaccers I know are a couple of atheists. By “hardcore” I mean refusing all vaccines for their kids and actively encouraging others to skip them. They see other people as having “blind faith” in vaccines and will exhaustively quote “scientific” studies that supposedly support their cause.
Yeah, for the record, I too know an atheist who is anti-vax. Buys into other conspiracy theories, too.
Bill Maher is a well-known example of an anti-vax hard-core atheist.
Maher is also an example of why it’s so easy for the religiously inclined to insist that atheism involves just as much faith as religion. I’ve rarely encountered such vacuous defenses of rationality.
And the comments above neatly demonstrate why reality (and our perception of it) is not defined by anecdotes or personal experience alone. Follow the evidence.