| Nov 6 @ 8:48 AM |
Societies worse off 'when they have God on their side'
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yashaenka
Posts: 8,277
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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.” Societies worse with God
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| Nov 6 @ 8:51 AM |
Societies worse off 'when they have God on their side' |
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yashaenka
Posts: 8,277
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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.” What is that saying, oh yes, we told you so! 
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| Nov 6 @ 3:24 PM |
Societies worse off 'when they have God on their side'
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southernlass
Posts: 2,240
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It's interesting that you were able to find one actual human being to refute what mental health professionals already know; that this one human being is atheist is obvious so, so much for a non biased opinion.
This study sounds rather vague to me.
Dr. Andrew Newburg and his brain science research obviously disagrees with your man here, as do many other professionals. You'll have to do better than finding an atheist who did a supposedly valid study based on a survey. Well, your man is a "social scientist." What the heck is that exactly? Sociologist? I hope Joe Kerr can review your source here and give us his take on it.
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| Nov 6 @ 5:36 PM |
Societies worse off 'when they have God on their side' |
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iam01
Posts: 6,294
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Funny how some people are so easily baited.
Bill Maher: Sir, you would agree even if a billion people believe something it could still be ridiculous.
Newberg: Absolutely. How we define what is crazy or not crazy about religions is ultimately up how we define crazy. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdkyLrDpaUg
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| Nov 6 @ 5:58 PM |
Societies worse off 'when they have God on their side'
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southernlass
Posts: 2,240
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Grasp at all the straws you like, Hammer, no matter how pathetic your attempts. If it makes you feel you have achieved some imagined victory, by all means. Your delusions comfort you and that's fine. You lost your credibility somewhere between this thread and your "The Religious are mentally ill" thread but do try and find it again if you can.
 
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| Nov 6 @ 6:03 PM |
Societies worse off 'when they have God on their side' |
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iam01
Posts: 6,294
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Do you often talk to yourself and then give yourself answers too?
If anyone wanted to define crazy, they can follow you around all day with a video.  
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