Missed this one: In “Science and religion do mix” (9/22/2011), we learn from a Rice University media release written by Amy Hodges that sociologist Elaine Howard Ecklund’s research shows that
– more than 20 percent of atheist scientists are spiritual. Presumably, these aren’t the people who are trying to get the Salvation Army Christmas charity Santa banished from shopping malls.
– many top US scientists want more children. If these people are scientists, surely they know what they can, um, do about that … Seriously, they say they want to spend more time at home, less in the lab, which shows that they are well on their way to solving the problem. 😉
– Study: Atheists and Agnostics Negotiate Religion and Family. We assume that includes not saying rude things at a baptism, bris, wedding, or funeral, where one’s opinion was neither asked nor expected.
That last point demarcate the “new atheists” from the (we hope) majority who can live in a civil society peacefully.