Societies worse off when they have God on their side

[Nomad559]

Societies worse off when they have God on their side

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.

[FloridaPat]

1. Britian is a secular country? Sure. I would say the communist countries

are more secular than others. Russia collapsed. As for the morals of their people during communism, they were great. They had high concern for the welfare of their children (which I don't think exists very much in this country), they are nice people and had very little crime. That's because the Russian gov't put children first and enforced laws against criminals. Also anyone else they didn't like under Stalin. Cuba doesn't sound like a nice place to live, but maybe the sanctions aren't helping. And look at China! Although I don't know any Cubans for communist Chinese personally.

[JDPriestly]

2. The US is obsessively religious.

In contrast, with the exception of Ireland and possibly parts of Italy and Spain, European countries including France and Germany are Catholic or Lutheran Evangelical but not very religious. England is not nearly as fanatically religious as the US. But, then, everything in the UK is low-key compared to the hysterical US. The fanatics in Europe are mostly Muslims, not Christians. Here, it's the born-agains and Catholics who are fanatical.

[Ufour20]

3. I agree wholeheartedly with this article

Religion seems to bring out the worst in people. I can't stand their hypcritical asses, wish they would all meet their maker sooner rather than later!