Visual proof that God loves you and wants you to be free of traffic tickets April 24, 2009
Posted by Niels in : Personal , trackbackI took a break from the sex data this week to play around with religion instead. It turns out that religious people get fewer traffic tickets than nonbelievers (See data visualization here.) But you can’t half-ass it - the correlation only holds for people who believe the Bible is the literal word of God. People who think it’s just the inspired word of God get just as many tickets as people who think the Bible is a merely a collection of ancient fables and legends.
Yes, the post confuses correlation and causality a bit. Isn’t it fun?
(And of course, if you enjoy the post and would like to Digg/Reddit/Twitter/Facebook it, it’s always appreciated…)
Comments»
This doesn’t surprise me at all. Knowing the love of Jesus forces people to love others, and thereby drive safer because of it. Plus, the Bible teaches to obey authority… even traffic laws. Do all Christians obey all traffic laws? Absolutely not. But a true believer will try to whenever possible. I believe, and I’ve gotten a few tickets in my day. But as my faith grows stronger, I’m more conscious of my actions, even on the road.
Hey niels, i’m from brazil and i just saw beauty and the geeks at multishow here. the final was very nice but i was very sad that u and jennylee couldn’t get. well, i was looking something about the reality at google when i found your site, very nice.
goog luck with everything in your life
bye,
natália
I never stop to think about this relation. To tell you the truth, I don’t think that it really have any correlation.
And believe the Bible is the literal word of God don’t make you more faithful, the faith have to face the truth to be strong and real.
Well, I’d love to talk if you, send me an e-mail if you can. You seems to be really interesting.
It’s probably that verse in one of the books of Peter that says “for the Lord’s sake, obey every ordinance of man”. Someone that takes the Bible in a literal fashion is going to latch on to a verse like that more tightly than a reader that takes everything as more of an allegory.
But the literalists have their work cut out for them. I think they have about 20,000 pages of tax code the need to memorize.
Hey Neil,
I’m Kelley’s brother.
I’ve been there (you may recall that Kelley grew up in Alabama). The thing is, people who believe in the “literal word of god” actually go the speed limit.
Hey, send me your e-mail so that I can get you a resume for Playdom.
Best,
-Dave
hey niels,
I think i agree with jamie up there. People who believe the bible are the true words of God would obey what is taught, which would include obeying authorities. Even paying taxes, when people asked Jesus whether or not they should pay taxes, Jesus told them to give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s. Well, multiple meanings to that, but one of them is to obey authorities. I think that’s where your direct correlation comes in. Interesting fact you posted up though!