studies show: god is bad for society. heh.

i hope all of you have checked out my "about" page before reading this post, so i don't get swamped by a crapload of flames demanding that i explain my religious affiliation. or, ahem, lack thereof.

that said, thank you noah grey for posting the link to this intriguing article. it ran in the uk -- clearly a more enlightened society than our own. *snark* according to the article, societies that are governed by a religious body or that boast a population that is largely devout rather than secular are more likely to have "high murder rates, abortion, sexual promiscuity and suicide."

The paper, published in the Journal of Religion and Society, a US academic journal, reports: “Many Americans agree that their churchgoing nation is an exceptional, God-blessed, shining city on the hill that stands as an impressive example for an increasingly sceptical world.

“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.

pretty thought-provoking article, in my opinion. and definitely one that will piss a lot of people off. but i think the study makes sense: the united states is a predominately christian society. most of the christian faiths that i have studied gloss right over the idea of free will or personal determinism or actualization and instead put everything in an omnipotent, omnipresent god's hands -- "well, if it wasn't meant to be, it wasn't meant to be. i guess god didn't want me to get that job. i guess god intended me to get mugged." etc.

within such a belief system, the principle of accountability and being responsible for your own successes or failures disappears. is it any wonder that more murders, various crimes, sexually transmitted diseases and or pregnancies/abortions occur when people are never taught to be mindful of the consequences of their actions?

just my "guh." thought for the day

Comments

[joepjoe]

Hell yeah now that is what I am talking about, cool post. I reallyt think that people use religion as a crutch for so much shit in their lives. I am not religious at all and the irony is that I grew up at a private catholic school in crappy northern Minn. But, people I feel are afrid to take control of their own destiny and rely on some "higher power" to make the dman decision for them, or to absolve them of their debauchery of sateurday night, by merely attending aa church on sundy, but for the other 6 days of the week living in hedonism. Cool post though gets me stoked on life. BTW: Rah, rah Intellignet design huh!! NOT!!!!

[Chris Boese]

BTW, I am directly descended from the Puritan dude who coined that phrase "city on the hill", setting the "new" world up as some kind of New Jerusalem, so I somehow feel indirectly responsible for the culture of European domination, genocide of a perfectly functioning native society, and perhaps even the sense of entitlement a religion based on predestination instilled into the whites in the North American colonies.

John Winthrop gave the speech on the deck of the Arabella, off the shore of Massachusetts. And then he later became the first governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony.

My deep sense of guilt is moderated somewhat, however, by the fact that I'm also related to Goody Sarah Cloyce, sister to Mary Easty and Rebecca Nurse, who were executed as witches in Salem in the early 1690s. Sarah held out in Boston jail, although she was still outspoken and uppity, but the whole hysteria came to an end before her execution was carried out.

Chris

[wayne]

Of course he doesn't mention Islam, because they've got the murder, raping and beating of women and that teen pregnancy stuff cured. Just another USA and UK and things in the West BAD. Everyone else in the world Good. You can turn stats like that into anything you want to prove.