A recent study found 1 in 5 atheist scientists attended at least one religious service in the last year. Reasons cited: spouses, community, and a desire to expose their children to many ideas.

Not a huge study, but interesting.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elaine-howard-ecklund-phd/some-atheist-scientists-w_b_1133958.html

"Attending more than once a year" is hardly "embracing religious traditions"

When they list the reasons this small percentage has gone to a church, the first two have nothing to do with "embracing religious traditions" a willingness to expose a child to a wide variety of ideas does not mean one embraces all those ideas, it only means that they want their child to be open minded. I would also say that going to church to make a spouse happy hardly qualifies as "embracing religious traditions", more like doing something selfless to make a person you love happy.

Indeed there is only one of the three reasons listed that reasonably could be interpreted as embracing religious traditions" That if going for a sense of community.

So, of the subset of Atheist that have children, a small minority 17% (meaning it is less than 17% of all atheists) have attended a church, but only a subset of the 17% (keeping in mind that the 17% is a subset of all atheists) could be said to be embracing the church in any way.

It seems to me the author is going out of their way to make it seem that Atheists are more accepting of religion than they really are.

Yeah, I thought it was an interesting angle. Not my idea of "embracing", but it caught my eye.

I agree with this: "a willingness to expose a child to a wide variety of ideas does not mean one embraces all those ideas, it only means that they want their child to be open minded.", and I appreciated the quote that was chosen about wanting their kids to be exposed to different ideas.

I wonder how many people of any given religion attended services for another religion within any given year.

...I usually only go when I'm paid to make music. I guess that doesn't count. I did sit through a three hour mass recently for a dear friend's baptism. I may or may not have gone outside with another friend during communion for a stretch break, though. Cannot confirm nor deny...

moonbeam Wrote:
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> I wonder how many people of any given religion attended services for another religion within any given year.

I've done it many times, including visiting a Buddhist temple, the Hare Krishnas (who struck me as acting far more normal on their own turf,) and a Charismatic Christian service, which was beautiful.

It is not unusual for Christian churches to hold exchange services with churches from other denominations.

I was thinking last night that we could increase understanding between different religious groups, including our understanding of Jews and Muslims, by attending their worship services.