Lying for the sake of New Atheism

"Atheists have better sex!"

Sounds like a great recruitment tool, especially for a Gnu Atheist like P.Z. Myers trying to recruit cadres of shock troops to fight the evil religionists.

So, when a survey notes such a fact, or apparently does, Greta Christina writes it up at AlterNet and PZ then blogs about it.

But, not so fast, Mr. Cadre Recruiter.

First, the survey says nothing about sex being better for the irreligious, just that they're less guilty about it. Arguably, that means it's more satisfying, but for someone like a Penitente, or a masochist, guilt may be part of the fun, and I mean that seriously.

And, PZ lied, or at least pulled an advertising fudge of incomplete comparisons, anyway. Atheism doesn't top all religions on sexual satisfaction. Per the bottom of the story — Jews and Unitarians are even more comfortable. Per Twain or whomever, never let the facts stand in the way of a good story. But many Gnus, including PZ, like to lump all religions together.

That then points up yet another issue where this survey is unscientific and badly so.

Jews and Unitarians are known, if even stereotyped, for their political liberalism. The majority of Jews are in the U.S. are either Conservative or Reform, and so, along with Unitarians, are also religiously liberal and nonliteralist.

Mormons, who topped the sexual guilt list, are just the opposite. Ditto in general for Baptists. But, folks like Catholics, Lutherans or Methodists run a gamut of religious and political liberalism.

However, the survey didn't appear to do any differentiation with respondents.

So, what we appear to have is a more liberal attitude on life in general being reflected in sexual guilt or lack thereof.

Finally, by being self-reported, it comes close to some of the Pop Ev Psych that PZ rightly deplores.

So, to sum up, the survey is pretty much crap, as is the trumpeting of it.

Beyond that, in terms of percentage of college graduates, or percentage of people making more than $75,000 a year, secularists, perhaps somewhat more broad a term than atheists, are only right around average. I don't P.Z. wil be trumpeting that one any time soon.