Are Astrology Devotees SubHuman?

[David Sklansky]

I was castigated for making that statement on another thread and quickly backtracked to avoid a side issue being debated.

Subhuman or not, they are complete imbeciles. At least if I understand the subject correctly.

Although I have implied otherwise at times, the fact is that believing in astrology is even worse than believing in a specfic religion. One reason of course is that religions usually come with moral implications while astrology doesn't. The other reason is that, if I'm not mistaken, astrology makes specific claims and those claims have been completely refuted.

I believe that statistical studies have been made about the validity of any predictions made by astrologers and the results are no better than chance would predict. When astologers are asked to guess what sign a person is based on meeting them and assessing their personalities, they are right one in twelve. The underlying thoery of astrology, the change in gravity due to the alignment of the planets and the stars, is nonsensical since that gravity has less force than the computer you are sitting in front of.

Now if someone just has a sort of fun time with astrology while never being told about the scientific refutations they are not subhuman or even necessarily stupid. But what about those who seriously cling to these beliefs in spite of the overwhelming evidence against it which they are aware of? (Again I stress that I am not an expert on astrology or its researchers. So if there is a serious factual error, this whole post is irrelevant).

A serious devotee of astrology, who is aware of the science and the statistics, deserves contempt and a bad name. Perhaps subhuman is not the right word. But something similar is, in my opinion. To show how strongly I feel about this subject I will say that I would never marry someone who fully believed in astrology regardless of the evidence. To make it even more clear, if I had to choose between my son being an astrology believer all his life or a heroin addict all his life, I would choose the latter. (Anticipating your next question I would choose Catholicism over heroin for him, but not Born Again Christianity).