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If your perspective is unpopular with HN readers, my guess would be it's because so many of us have ADD. I could easily believe HN readers are religious at the

If your perspective is unpopular with HN readers, my guess would be it's because so many of us have ADD. I could easily believe HN readers are religious at the same rate as the general population.

User23 4y ago
Indeed. The notion that there is some kind of divide between math, science, and religion is, so far as I can tell, peculiar to a kind of predominantly American form of fundamentalism and, somewhat ironically, its atheist detractors. Catholics, Orthodox, and many Protestant denominations, as well as other world religions, have a rich tradition of studying the natural world objectively. Speaking to the Catholic intellectual tradition since that's the one that I know best, if our understanding of the Bible or Tradition disagrees with our understanding of natural science, then it's not necessarily our understanding of religion that's correct! As an example, while it's not technically dogmatic teaching either way, even though most Catholics used to be young Earth creationists the overwhelming majority now believe in an old Earth including the Popes[1]. [1] https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/proofs-for-the-existence-of-god-in-the-light-of-modern-natural-science-8950 https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/proofs-for-the-exis...
- vouwfietsman 4y ago
  > The notion that there is some kind of divide between math, science, and religion Oh? There isn't a divide? > Catholics used to be young Earth creationists the overwhelming majority now believe in an old Earth Hey! There's the divide, its about 300 years! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_Enlightenment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_Enlightenment And if you feel like the divide is gone now: abortion euthenasia contraceptives sexual orientation
decafninja 4y ago
I could believe that for immigrants who are relatively recent, or still have heavy ties to their original cultures. However my experience has been that for those who are either natives to the US/West, or "gone native", there are disproportionally far more athiests in the tech industry than in the general population. I would also say mentioning that you are Christian at a random tech company or tech conference is likely to be met with more wariness than mentioning you are Muslim/Hindu/Buddhist/other religion.
- lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 4y ago
  > I would also say mentioning that you are Christian at a random tech company or tech conference is likely to be met with more wariness than mentioning you are Muslim/Hindu/Buddhist/other religion. This is unsurprising to me. Most of those conferences (assuming you're talking about those which take place in American cities) will be attended primarily by people who grew up in a Christian culture (America). Many of such attendees who are atheists would still likely have been raised Christian and they're being wary of something they've rejected in the past. This is naturally compounded if it's true that "there are disproportionally far more athiests in the [US/Western] tech industry than in the general population." Not to excuse or condemn, just explaining my perspective.
  - decafninja 4y ago
    Oh, I fully understand. It also doesn't help that especially as of late, the loudest and most vocal contingent of American Christianity has become the face of the religion on media. I say this as a Christian myself.
    - lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 4y ago
      I'm one of those who grew up Christian (Methodist) but would not consider that of myself today. The part of it which people often call "spirituality" is where I do my "backs away slowly" thing. I can be kind to those around me for many of the reasons which a Christian will think is Good but it doesn't mean I'll choose to believe in any sort of physical manifestation of God and The Heavens. (Admittedly, I don't think every Christian believes in these physical manifestations but I've had conversations with some who do, which makes me believe it's common.) I almost think it's accurate to call myself Christian in light of that but it muddies the understanding that other (actual) Christians have. Really, I would only call myself that to mess with the nice people with the ties and the name tags who knock on my door and don't listen the first time when I say, "No, thank you." I know some in the "ex-Mormon" crowd and they... have stronger opinions of religion. I can imagine some rather extreme implementations of "wariness" (read: "outright disdain") from an American in their late 20s to early 30s when it comes to Christianity.

If your perspective is unpopular with HN readers, my guess would be it's because so many of us have ADD. I could easily believe HN readers are religious at the same rate as the general population.

User23 4y ago

Indeed. The notion that there is some kind of divide between math, science, and religion is, so far as I can tell, peculiar to a kind of predominantly American form of fundamentalism and, somewhat ironically, its atheist detractors. Catholics, Orthodox, and many Protestant denominations, as well as other world religions, have a rich tradition of studying the natural world objectively. Speaking to the Catholic intellectual tradition since that's the one that I know best, if our understanding of the Bible or Tradition disagrees with our understanding of natural science, then it's not necessarily our understanding of religion that's correct! As an example, while it's not technically dogmatic teaching either way, even though most Catholics used to be young Earth creationists the overwhelming majority now believe in an old Earth including the Popes[1]. [1] https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/proofs-for-the-existence-of-god-in-the-light-of-modern-natural-science-8950 https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/proofs-for-the-exis...

vouwfietsman 4y ago
> The notion that there is some kind of divide between math, science, and religion Oh? There isn't a divide? > Catholics used to be young Earth creationists the overwhelming majority now believe in an old Earth Hey! There's the divide, its about 300 years! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_Enlightenment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_Enlightenment And if you feel like the divide is gone now: abortion euthenasia contraceptives sexual orientation

decafninja 4y ago

I could believe that for immigrants who are relatively recent, or still have heavy ties to their original cultures. However my experience has been that for those who are either natives to the US/West, or "gone native", there are disproportionally far more athiests in the tech industry than in the general population. I would also say mentioning that you are Christian at a random tech company or tech conference is likely to be met with more wariness than mentioning you are Muslim/Hindu/Buddhist/other religion.

lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 4y ago
> I would also say mentioning that you are Christian at a random tech company or tech conference is likely to be met with more wariness than mentioning you are Muslim/Hindu/Buddhist/other religion. This is unsurprising to me. Most of those conferences (assuming you're talking about those which take place in American cities) will be attended primarily by people who grew up in a Christian culture (America). Many of such attendees who are atheists would still likely have been raised Christian and they're being wary of something they've rejected in the past. This is naturally compounded if it's true that "there are disproportionally far more athiests in the [US/Western] tech industry than in the general population." Not to excuse or condemn, just explaining my perspective.
- decafninja 4y ago
  Oh, I fully understand. It also doesn't help that especially as of late, the loudest and most vocal contingent of American Christianity has become the face of the religion on media. I say this as a Christian myself.
  - lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 4y ago
    I'm one of those who grew up Christian (Methodist) but would not consider that of myself today. The part of it which people often call "spirituality" is where I do my "backs away slowly" thing. I can be kind to those around me for many of the reasons which a Christian will think is Good but it doesn't mean I'll choose to believe in any sort of physical manifestation of God and The Heavens. (Admittedly, I don't think every Christian believes in these physical manifestations but I've had conversations with some who do, which makes me believe it's common.) I almost think it's accurate to call myself Christian in light of that but it muddies the understanding that other (actual) Christians have. Really, I would only call myself that to mess with the nice people with the ties and the name tags who knock on my door and don't listen the first time when I say, "No, thank you." I know some in the "ex-Mormon" crowd and they... have stronger opinions of religion. I can imagine some rather extreme implementations of "wariness" (read: "outright disdain") from an American in their late 20s to early 30s when it comes to Christianity.