Possible Evidence Fundamentalism Might Do Real Damage
According to a recent study, people raised in religious homes (especially when fundamentalist) are less likely to become scientists … at least at “elite” universities. If we need more scientists, that might mean fundamentalist religion is undesirable.
On the other hand …
This might be limited to “elite” universities. (Maybe universities with a higher proportion of irreligious faculty get better press.) This might be due to the fact that religious people tend to marry and reproduce at younger ages (which interferes with grad school and tenure). Most important of all, the difference might be going away. (Younger faculty are more likely to be religious.)
By the way, has there ever been a twin study on this? It might be interesting to find a pair of identical twins raised in religious and irreligious homes, one a Creationist and the other a Deep Ecologist.
Addendum: It is limited to “elite” universities.