Author Topic: New Study : Religious Societies are Worse Off Socially  (Read 306 times)

Ant

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New Study : Religious Societies are Worse Off Socially
« on: September 28, 2005, 03:48:30 PM »
The Times

Societies worse off 'when they have God on their side'
By Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent

RELIGIOUS belief can cause damage to a society, contributing towards high murder rates, abortion, sexual promiscuity and suicide, according to research published today.

According to the study, belief in and worship of God are not only unnecessary for a healthy society but may actually contribute to social problems.

The study counters the view of believers that religion is necessary to provide the moral and ethical foundations of a healthy society.

It compares the social peformance of relatively secular countries, such as Britain, with the US, where the majority believes in a creator rather than the theory of evolution. Many conservative evangelicals in the US consider Darwinism to be a social evil, believing that it inspires atheism and amorality.

Many liberal Christians and believers of other faiths hold that religious belief is socially beneficial, believing that it helps to lower rates of violent crime, murder, suicide, sexual promiscuity and abortion. The benefits of religious belief to a society have been described as its “spiritual capital”. But the study claims that the devotion of many in the US may actually contribute to its ills.

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.

“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.

Mr Paul delayed releasing the study until now because of Hurricane Katrina. He said that the evidence accumulated by a number of different studies suggested that religion might actually contribute to social ills. “I suspect that Europeans are increasingly repelled by the poor societal performance of the Christian states,” he added.

He said that most Western nations would become more religious only if the theory of evolution could be overturned and the existence of God scientifically proven. Likewise, the theory of evolution would not enjoy majority support in the US unless there was a marked decline in religious belief, Mr Paul said.

“The non-religious, proevolution democracies contradict the dictum that a society cannot enjoy good conditions unless most citizens ardently believe in a moral creator.

“The widely held fear that a Godless citizenry must experience societal disaster is therefore refuted.”
 

King Tech Quadafi

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Re: New Study : Religious Societies are Worse Off Socially
« Reply #1 on: September 28, 2005, 04:19:52 PM »
Go marry a faggot u athiest
"One day Alice came to a fork in the road and saw a Cheshire cat in a tree. "Which road do I take?" she asked. "Where do you want to go?" was his response. "I don't know," Alice answered. "Then," said the cat, "it doesn't matter."

- Lewis Carroll
 

Ant

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Re: New Study : Religious Societies are Worse Off Socially
« Reply #2 on: September 28, 2005, 04:43:48 PM »
 

Real American

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Re: New Study : Religious Societies are Worse Off Socially
« Reply #3 on: September 28, 2005, 07:13:14 PM »
This is the dumbest article that Ant has ever posted, which is really saying something. Do you really think that the people who are in church every Sunday are the ones who are killing people, doing drugs, aborting babies, etc? There is no correlation between people going to church and doing those things. Actually it is the exact opposite.

This article, just like Ant, is full of shit.
 

Sikotic™

Re: New Study : Religious Societies are Worse Off Socially
« Reply #4 on: September 28, 2005, 07:51:48 PM »
I'm not even remotely close to being religious like I was in the past, but this article is ridiculous.

and wtf, I've been agreeing with CWalker lately lol
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ωεεźγ ғ

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Re: New Study : Religious Societies are Worse Off Socially
« Reply #5 on: September 28, 2005, 08:52:27 PM »
I'm not even remotely close to being religious like I was in the past, but this article is ridiculous.

and wtf, I've been agreeing with CWalker lately lol

same  ???
 

Ant

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Re: New Study : Religious Societies are Worse Off Socially
« Reply #6 on: September 28, 2005, 09:29:43 PM »
This is the dumbest article that Ant has ever posted, which is really saying something. Do you really think that the people who are in church every Sunday are the ones who are killing people, doing drugs, aborting babies, etc? There is no correlation between people going to church and doing those things. Actually it is the exact opposite.

This article, just like Ant, is full of shit.

This is news, not an argument.  Newspapers report news, the Times is a well-known newspaper covering a story about a newly released study.  The study is stastical, not subjective.  Do you know the difference? 

You're opinion is religion is good for society, great, I don't really care one way or another. There are plenty of people that use religion for evil... Osama, Hitler, and plenty of hypocritical americans and politicans democrat and republican that use religion for political gain.  I know plenty of Church going people and plenty of aethists... My parents happen to go to church every weekend, some of my friends go to temple, and one goes to Mosque.  I really don't give a shit one way or another, and the argument is really moot anyways since religion is obviously here to stay... 

The study, which this story didn't even really cite much argues the opposite using stastical information.  Is it true?  I don't know, its just something to consider.  Either way tho, I'm sure you wrote your entire post knowing almost nothing about the contents of the study your criticizing. 

Is it really so absurd to recgnize a basic premise that intelligent people don't argue against things they haven't even read?
 

J Bananas

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Re: New Study : Religious Societies are Worse Off Socially
« Reply #7 on: September 30, 2005, 11:29:18 AM »
As much as I cant stand this fag who just copies and pastes his way into looking like an intellectual Im glad he jacked this article and put it up. u churchies may not like it, but it's true. Its true, bottom line, ITS TRUE! it strikes a nerve cuz its so fuckin obvious and I shouldnt even have to explain it, you religious fucks know, and it pisses u off huh?
« Last Edit: September 30, 2005, 11:32:04 AM by J Bananas »
 

Don Seer

Re: New Study : Religious Societies are Worse Off Socially
« Reply #8 on: September 30, 2005, 01:56:08 PM »

u get why its true? people are naughty by nature.. if they're told in church not to do it.. some of the congregation will then _want_ to do it even if they didnt care before...
 

Ant

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Re: New Study : Religious Societies are Worse Off Socially
« Reply #9 on: September 30, 2005, 03:56:42 PM »
Happened upon this quote recently and it seemed to apply...

"Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from a religious conviction."   Blaise Pascal

 

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Re: New Study : Religious Societies are Worse Off Socially
« Reply #10 on: October 02, 2005, 01:24:40 PM »
cant u believe in god an be against organized religions?
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