News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:The geography of American left-handedness by ahoy on Wednesday September 23, 2015 @12:44PM (#10266136)
It's certainly not a secular view.
Re:The geography of American left-handedness by travem on Wednesday September 23, 2015 @01:05PM (#10266287)
There appears to be secular reasons behind this view in some cultures as well:

> In some areas, in order to preserve cleanliness where sanitation was an issue, the right hand, as the dominant hand of most individuals, was used for eating, handling food, and social interactions. The left hand would then be used for personal hygiene, specifically after urination and defecation. These rules were imposed on all, no matter their dominant hand. Through these practices, the left hand became known as the "unclean" hand. [1]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bias_against_left-handed_peopl...

Re:The geography of American left-handedness by cgriswald on Wednesday September 23, 2015 @01:13PM (#10266357)
Prejudice against left-handedness is not a scientific view, but it is still a prevalent secular view. For instance, consider skateboarding, where skating left-footed is called "goofy." Or consider the multitude of left-handed children who were (and still are) being forced to write right-handed in the United States and other parts of the world. Also consider the Soviet Union where left-handers were also frowned upon despite atheism being the official view of the state.

Prejudice against the left-handed existed before Christianity. Christianity did not invent the link between left-handedness and evil. Left-handedness did not become evil because the Devil is left-handed. The Devil is left-handed because left-handedness was considered evil.

Re:The geography of American left-handedness by lovich on Wednesday September 23, 2015 @02:41PM (#10267085)
The word sinister used to mean left in Latin. You can still see that in things like optometry where the left eye is called Oculus Sinister. Seems like some sort of connection between left and evil is there for everyone in western culture at least, even if it started as something to do with religion

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/oculus+sinister

Re:The geography of American left-handedness by hackuser on Wednesday September 23, 2015 @01:02PM (#10266264)
> It's certainly not a secular view.

I don't see why not. I don't know that secular people are any less prone to ignorant ideas than people who are religious.