The Roman Catholic Jesuit Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska, in its Journal of Religion and Society recently published a report by social scientist Gregory Paul. The report is entitled “Cross-National Correlations of Quantifiable Societal Health with Popular Religiosity and Secularism in the Prosperous Democracies.”
The study contradicts a commonly held belief that religion is necessary to provide the moral and ethical foundations of a healthy society. Belief in and worship of God are not only unnecessary for a healthy society, but may actually contribute to social problems.
Mr. Paul’s report is based on a decade long, cross-national collaboration on social science surveys of 38 nations and 23,000 interviews. The study assessed such issues as societal health and dysfunction, measuring rates of homicide, youth suicide, sexually transmitted disease, teen pregnancy, and abortion data. This data was analyzed relative to the nations that had the highest rates of absolute belief in God as creator, attendance at religious services, frequency of prayer, and Biblical literalism.
The report concludes, “The populations of secular democracies are clearly able to govern themselves and maintain societal cohesion. Indeed, the data demonstrates that only the more secular, pro-evolution democracies have, for the first time in history, come closest to achieving practical ‘cultures of life’ that feature low rates of lethal crime, juvenile-adult mortality, sex related dysfunction, and even abortion. The least theistic secular developing democracies such as Japan, France, and Scandinavia have been most successful in these regards.”
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. Rates of gonorrhea in adolescents in the US were up to 300 times higher than in less theistic pro-evolution secular democracies. The US also suffered from “uniquely high” adolescent and adult syphilis infection rates, and adolescent abortion rates.
The report is confirmed by US experience. Those states with the highest degree of religiosity (red states) have markedly worse rates of societal dysfunction as measured by rates of homicide, STD, youth pregnancy, divorce and spousal abuse. Those states with the lowest levels of religiosity (blue states) have the lowest measures of societal dysfunction. Northeastern states in the US duplicate the European results in both lower religiosity and lower societal dysfunction.
The report states, “The non-religious, pro-evolution 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.” In contrast, “The United States is almost always the most dysfunctional of the developing democracies, sometimes spectacularly so.”
Though Mr. Paul does not state the reasons for the disparity, a strong possibility is that secular education teaches problem solving with an emphasis on credible evidence, rational thought, and continual re-evaluation. Whereas, religious faith-based problem solving is inherently non-rational, utilizing fabricated evidence as a basis for absolute, irrefutable once-and-for-all conclusions, which often leads to irrational destructive actions.
It must be remembered that correlation is not causation. It could be that high levels of social dysfunction fuel religiosity rather the other way around. Regardless of what motivates religiosity, we must face the fact that religion, especially fundamentalism (whether Muslim or Christian) can be very dangerous to society. In spite of the overwhelming evidence, America’s highly vocal religion lobby will propagandize with blood and tears for its premier myth of religion’s societal benefits.
Also, a few more fresh cans of ether for religious people:
9 out of the top 10 states in divorce rate are heavily religious red states. Nevada is #1 because of people go there for quickie marriages and divorces. Liberal D.C. is last, followed by godless heathen Massachussets.
I thought religious people were all about "family values." Why do they get divorced so much?
Damn atheists. Stop promoting your evil, immoral ideology.
Burn in hell infidels.
cosign
we get it lukecage u hate religion you dont see me posting threads daily about christianity
REPENT
__________________
Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, "VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY," says the Lord.
It's so funny to me that the southern and heartland religious states which have the most people who vehemently support the "Protection of Marriage Amendment" and think that gay marriage is going to destroy the institution of marriage and tear apart the foundations of society have the highest rates of divorce while Massachussets, the state which first okayed gay marriage consistently ranks last, or next to last in divorce.
Further prove that the "values voters" are full of shyt.
__________________
"There's something I like about the clitoris but I can't quite put my finger on it"-George Carlin
It's understood that a lot of people don't practice what they preach. At the same time, I think most people still believe religious ideology is the best. Some of these stats just don't correlate.
If you live in the South, you are religious.
If you live in the North, you aren't religious.
If you are a Republican, you are religious.
If you have an STD, you are religious.
If you beat your wife, you are religious so on.....
This is basically an article trashing the South's moral character in regards to the North/West's moral character. Nothing more....And some very nice cherry-picking.
And I KNOW this article didn't use Mass. as the moral standard for his conclusions.
Hate Crimes > Sexual orientation related (per capita) (most recent) by state
Further prove that the "values voters" are full of shyt.
No. The values voters just might actually believe in values.
Quote:
Those states with the highest degree of religiosity (red states) have markedly worse rates of societal dysfunction as measured by rates of homicide, STD, youth pregnancy, divorce and spousal abuse.
See what I mean? This fukkin article already takes the assumption that if you commit a crime in the South, you are religious.
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I guess the definition of a lunatic is a man surrounded by them.
It's understood that a lot of people don't practice what they preach. At the same time, I think most people still believe religious ideology is the best. Some of these stats just don't correlate.
If you live in the South, you are religious.
If you live in the North, you aren't religious.
If you are a Republican, you are religious.
If you have an STD, you are religious.
If you beat your wife, you are religious so on.....
This is basically an article trashing the South's moral character in regards to the North/West's moral character. Nothing more....And some very nice cherry-picking.
Obviously you didn't read the article. The article was juxtaposing heavily religious democratic nations vs. not very religious democratic nations more than it was "red states" in America vs. "blue states" in America.
No, if you read the article, you would see that it clearly states that correlation doesn't equal causastion, which every good researcher knows. It's not saying "if you have an STD you're religious," etc., etc,. It's a comprehensive study which uses hard statistical data to firmly reject the hypothesis that religiosity is necessary for good morals.
__________________
"There's something I like about the clitoris but I can't quite put my finger on it"-George Carlin
No. The values voters just might actually believe in values.
Everybody believes in values. The self-righteous religious crowd speak as if they have a lock on values and their values are superior to everyone else's neither which is true, as evidenced by the fact that states with the highest numbers of so-called "values voters" have the highest rates of divorce, teen pregnancy, crime, STDs.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Quarters
See what I mean? This fukkin article already takes the assumption that if you commit a crime in the South, you are religious.
No it doesn't. Read the goddamn article, then comment. It's obvious you haven't. It just simply compares heavily religious populations to non-heavily religious populations and concludes that people of a heavily religious persuasion overall do not fare better in the given indicators of healthy ethical function. American is more religious than any of the western European nations by far, but America has far and away the highest murder rate in the industrialized world.
Again, correlation doesn't equal causation, but heavily religions populations tend to have higher rates of crime. That doesn't mean if you're religious you're going to commit crime. It just means that more religion doesn't mean less crime, less STDs, less teen pregnancy, etc. as religious people would have you believe. Religion may actually contribute to these problems but that is not proven. What is proven is that more religion doesn't = a better moral society.
__________________
"There's something I like about the clitoris but I can't quite put my finger on it"-George Carlin
I developed a theory on why this happens a while back, an dits pretty simple: churches and schools in the bible belt only teach abstinence, religious people frown upon contraceptives being given out to their children saying it promotes sexual activity
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I spring train in the winter... round early december
I developed a theory on why this happens a while back, an dits pretty simple: churches and schools in the bible belt only teach abstinence, religious people frown upon contraceptives being given out to their children saying it promotes sexual activity
Yeah, it's pretty much well documented that teaching abstinence only doesn't do anything. I think there was a government study not that long ago that finally said what everyone knew on that front. But I saw this religious lady on TV who said that abstinence only teaching wasn't failing, it was just that we weren't teaching it enough.
__________________
Turn your tux red, I'm far from broke, got enough bread
And mad hoes, ask Beavis I get nuttin Butt-head
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Oct05/Salisbury1011.htm The Roman Catholic Jesuit Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska, in its Journal of Religion and Society recently published a report by social scientist Gregory Paul. The report is entitled “Cross-National Correlations of Quantifiable Societal Health with Popular Religiosity and Secularism in the Prosperous Democracies.”
The study contradicts a commonly held belief that religion is necessary to provide the moral and ethical foundations of a healthy society. Belief in and worship of God are not only unnecessary for a healthy society, but may actually contribute to social problems.
Mr. Paul’s report is based on a decade long, cross-national collaboration on social science surveys of 38 nations and 23,000 interviews. The study assessed such issues as societal health and dysfunction, measuring rates of homicide, youth suicide, sexually transmitted disease, teen pregnancy, and abortion data. This data was analyzed relative to the nations that had the highest rates of absolute belief in God as creator, attendance at religious services, frequency of prayer, and Biblical literalism.
The report concludes, “The populations of secular democracies are clearly able to govern themselves and maintain societal cohesion. Indeed, the data demonstrates that only the more secular, pro-evolution democracies have, for the first time in history, come closest to achieving practical ‘cultures of life’ that feature low rates of lethal crime, juvenile-adult mortality, sex related dysfunction, and even abortion. The least theistic secular developing democracies such as Japan, France, and Scandinavia have been most successful in these regards.”
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. Rates of gonorrhea in adolescents in the US were up to 300 times higher than in less theistic pro-evolution secular democracies. The US also suffered from “uniquely high” adolescent and adult syphilis infection rates, and adolescent abortion rates.
The report is confirmed by US experience. Those states with the highest degree of religiosity (red states) have markedly worse rates of societal dysfunction as measured by rates of homicide, STD, youth pregnancy, divorce and spousal abuse. Those states with the lowest levels of religiosity (blue states) have the lowest measures of societal dysfunction. Northeastern states in the US duplicate the European results in both lower religiosity and lower societal dysfunction.
The report states, “The non-religious, pro-evolution 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.” In contrast, “The United States is almost always the most dysfunctional of the developing democracies, sometimes spectacularly so.”
Though Mr. Paul does not state the reasons for the disparity, a strong possibility is that secular education teaches problem solving with an emphasis on credible evidence, rational thought, and continual re-evaluation. Whereas, religious faith-based problem solving is inherently non-rational, utilizing fabricated evidence as a basis for absolute, irrefutable once-and-for-all conclusions, which often leads to irrational destructive actions.
It must be remembered that correlation is not causation. It could be that high levels of social dysfunction fuel religiosity rather the other way around. Regardless of what motivates religiosity, we must face the fact that religion, especially fundamentalism (whether Muslim or Christian) can be very dangerous to society. In spite of the overwhelming evidence, America’s highly vocal religion lobby will propagandize with blood and tears for its premier myth of religion’s societal benefits.
Also, a few more fresh cans of ether for religious people: http://www.statemaster.com/graph/lif...e-divorce-rate
9 out of the top 10 states in divorce rate are heavily religious red states. Nevada is #1 because of people go there for quickie marriages and divorces. Liberal D.C. is last, followed by godless heathen Massachussets.
I thought religious people were all about "family values." Why do they get divorced so much? http://www.statemaster.com/graph/hea...-syphilis-rate
11 out of the top 15 states for syphillis are heavily religious red states.
You can see pretty much the same trend with gonorrhea: http://www.statemaster.com/graph/hea...gonorrhea-rate
and chlamydia: http://www.statemaster.com/graph/hea...chlamydia-rate
Most of the southern and heartland states rank high for per capita homicide rate, and most of the blue states are at the bottom. http://www.statemaster.com/graph/cri...ims-per-capita
Most of the better educated states are the least religious ones. http://www.statemaster.com/graph/edu...educated-index
So where are the least amount of stds, crime, teen pregnancy and abortion? In athiest democracies?
So where are the least amount of stds, crime, teen pregnancy and abortion? In athiest democracies?
Quote:
The populations of secular democracies are clearly able to govern themselves and maintain societal cohesion. Indeed, the data demonstrates that only the more secular, pro-evolution democracies have, for the first time in history, come closest to achieving practical ‘cultures of life’ that feature low rates of lethal crime, juvenile-adult mortality, sex related dysfunction, and even abortion. The least theistic secular developing democracies such as Japan, France, and Scandinavia have been most successful in these regards.
The Japanese in particular are one of the least religious (over 80% believe in evolution) and coincidently have the lowest crime rates, std infections, teen pregnancy, and as a group, are one of the most highly educated people. Just proves religious heads wrong again that you need religion to live a productive life.
Yeah, it's pretty much well documented that teaching abstinence only doesn't do anything. I think there was a government study not that long ago that finally said what everyone knew on that front. But I saw this religious lady on TV who said that abstinence only teaching wasn't failing, it was just that we weren't teaching it enough.
Yeah, all the studies show that kids who take abstinence vows end up having sex just as early as everyone else and they end up contracting higher rates of STDs and are more likely to get pregnant because they don't plan on it happening and thus don't keep prophylactics and contraception.
Also, they are more likely to have oral and anal sex because they don't think that's really losing their virginity. It's seems to absurd that chicks would be so fervently against losing their vaginal virginity because that's such a huge sin, so they just take it up the ass instead, but it happens a lot apparently.
My personal experience with this one super-Christian chick I used to fukk with in high school validates this information. She was crazy about me but wouldn't let me hit because she planned on never having sex until she got married. She never did, but I ended up convincing her to give me dome one night. After a while, she was addicted to sucking dyck. She used to suck me off every time I saw her and her technique became impeccable. She was swallowing my loads on a daily basis and loving it, but wouldn't let me hit because that would be a sin, lol. I got bored with her eventually and had to cut it off because she was mad worrysome and got too attached.
__________________
"There's something I like about the clitoris but I can't quite put my finger on it"-George Carlin
It's all bullshyt. Crime rates, teen pregnancy...etc are higher in this nation because of society moving away from religion.
Why doesn't this study differentiate between kids in public schools(where God has been kicked out) to kids in religious private and homeschools? The kids in the latter do much better.
Why do people keep referring to america as a religious democracy when it is clearly secular? How can you define and broadbrush a group of people as religious when most people consider themselves either non-religious or non-practicing? There's a noticable difference between liberal christians and conservative christians.
If america was a true religious democracy shyt like abortion would be illegal.
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I guess the definition of a lunatic is a man surrounded by them.
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Higher rates of STDs, crime, teen pregnancy, and abortion among religious democracies
