Having God on your Side Makes You a Loser
“In general, higher rates of belief in and worship of a creator correlate with higher rates of homicide, juvenile and early adult mortality, STD infection rates, teen pregnancy and abortion in the prosperous democracies.
“The United States is almost always the most dysfunctional of the developing democracies, sometimes spectacularly so.”
Gregory Paul, the author of the study and a social scientist, used data from the International Social Survey Programme, Gallup and other research bodies to reach his conclusions. He compared social indicators such as murder rates, abortion, suicide and teenage pregnancy.
The study concluded that the US was the world’s only prosperous democracy where murder rates were still high, and that the least devout nations were the least dysfunctional. Mr Paul said that rates of gonorrhoea in adolescents in the US were up to 300 times higher than in less devout democratic countries. The US also suffered from “ uniquely high” adolescent and adult syphilis infection rates, and adolescent abortion rates, the study suggested.
Mr Paul said: “The study shows that England, despite the social ills it has, is actually performing a good deal better than the USA in most indicators, even though it is now a much less religious nation than America.”
He said that the disparity was even greater when the US was compared with other countries, including France, Japan and the Scandinavian countries. These nations had been the most successful in reducing murder rates, early mortality, sexually transmitted diseases and abortion, he added.
Source: Times
If religion were socially beneficial, as both conservative and liberal religious believers like to insist, shouldn't be find exactly the opposite correlation? Even if there is no causal relationship — that is to say, even if social dysfunction isn't caused by religious belief or if they aren't both caused by the same underlying issue — shouldn't the correlation be much weaker if religion is such a positive force in social life? How can there be so much "spiritual capital" created by religious belief, past and present, if nations with the lowest religious beliefs also tend to be the nations with the happiest, healthiest societies?
If religious believers really cared about facts, reality, and truth, data like this should be very worrying to them. Correlation may not be causation, but the existence of a causal relationship here is very possible and if there is one then it would be strong evidence that religion is ultimately harmful, at least once society reaches a sufficient level of technological and social advancement. If that's the case, it would be difficult to continue arguing for religion in light of how weak the evidence on behalf of it is. Even if there isn't a causal relationship here, the failure of religion to make up for social problems that less religious societies don't worry so much about is at least as much of a problem.
So, regardless of what the underlying causes are, it's a serious problem for religion and religious believers. Then again, maybe comparing faith-based rhetoric to real-world data is only of interest to people who live in the reality-based community.
Comments
You’re ridiculous you bastard. Abusing the beliefs of others is not the way to convert people to your beliefs. God is real…you’re a fake.
Care to support that assertion?
What beliefs are being “abused”? Indeed, how can a belief be “abused” anyway?
I’m not trying to convert anyone to my beliefs. You’re projecting.
How can I be a “fake”? A fake what? I’m not a fake atheist. I”m not faking what I say I believe. Please, do explain what you mean here.
And, after that, perhaps you can prove your god is real… and explain how it is, if your god is real, people are so much better off without it?
Yeah, it’s a tricky dance to bring up correlation rather than declaring causation, and even trickier finding people who grasp the difference, without becoming defensive about it (if they are among the religious, that is). Many religious in America would say the high rates of crime, teen pregnancy, and all the other ills of society, would be an indicator that America is not praying enough and they continue to call for revival to get more people “right with God”! Such is the twisted logic of the entrenched religious mind who cannot view the data and extrapolate a rational interpretation nor develop a reasonable course of action.
Superstitious people like Von are frightened people. I’m glad I don’t fear the supernatural like they do.
Aren’t they pitiful?
I was wondering about what underlying cause this correlation might represent. Then along came Von with his Christ-like vituperations and all was revealed.
At the heart of religion there is a deliberately entrenched intolerance for fact and reason. To consistently maintain this doublethink is burdensome and stressful.
Von’s immoderate outburst is a clear symptom of the agonizing pain of his own cognitive dissonance. He deserves our sympathy (if not our prayers.
HA HA!
“Abusing the beliefs of others is not the way to convert people to your beliefs.” But calling people bastards is perfectly acceptable.
You’ve got to love it.
Von’s comment again shows how religion sometimes can bring out the worst in people.
“Mr Paul said: “The study shows that England, despite the social ills it has, is actually performing a good deal better than the USA in most indicators, even though it is now a much less religious nation than America.” ”
Why are the words “actually” and “even though” in this sentence? Here’s a less-biased way of presenting the same information:
“Mr Paul said: “The study shows that England, despite the social ills it has, is performing a good deal better than the USA in most indicators. It is now a much less religious nation than America.””
Never mind whether or not you are an atheist or a theist, if Mr Paul wants his results to be seen as being unbiased, he should express himself with unbiased language - either pro or anti religion. A minor, but important, point on an excellent and useful study.
Having a supernatural skygod on your side makes you an ignorant weak bully. “Pride goeth before a fall.”
Xians (like Von) are so funny sometimes! They have the mentality of needing to convert (con) people into their beliefs so they assume that conversion is everyone’s purpose for discussing their beliefs.
The correlation between secular and less social ills is not surprising to me at all. The devoutly religious like to use their god as a scapegoat instead of taking responsibility for their actions. It seems to me in my own observations that the secular people/nonbelievers spend their time making the here and now better rather than neglecting it while waiting for some grand reward in the afterlife in exchange for believing in some absurd myth.
I can’t speak to the study, but I can speak to my own experience. In High School, not too many years ago we had a ‘Christian Abstinence Program’ at our school.
It was quite good albeit a little corny. Someone decided to call them out on not mentioning condoms, one of the preformers replied with, “Condoms don’t always work, but abstinence is guarantied.” Not a bad argument, but really condoms should be mentioned as they are important later in life.
However during this performance, the staff was patrolling the halls, as students tend to skip to explore each other. This year was no exception and 3 ‘pairs’ or students were caught and suspended. More in the week(s) following.
One of the students caught was forced by his parents to be tested for STDs and the results came back positive; not fun for him, having to tell everyone he had been sleeping with.
I’m a little timid to mention this, but a few students tried the “Backdoor Loophole,” the custodians were not pleased. Again, no condoms, which is sad, as the Public Health dept gives them out free.
I live in Southern Michigan for those curious.
GOD IS LOVE I HAVE PROOF ITS CALLED HOLY BIBLE
Meh…. That’s nice. A wise Girl once told me To Question everything, and i Will always Question Everything Including your bible