Societies worse off ‘when they have God on their side’

• BanguIzai

  3 Sep 10, 01:04

  Societies worse off ‘when they have God on their side’

  
  

  Times Online, UK -  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.

   

  信仰基�教愈虔誠的國家，社會狀�愈糟糕

  今日出�的學術研究報告指出，基�宗教信仰會導至社會傷害，�昇更高的謀殺�墮胎，性雜交與自殺率�

  �照這研究報告，信仰與敬拜基�教的上�，�但�社會�康是多餘的且實際上更會製造許多的社會�題�

  一般基�教信仰者相信他們的宗教是必�的，且是�供�康社會的�德與倫�的基礎。

  這研究是拿大部份國民相信是神創造世界的美國，與�宗教化(�較世俗化)如英國這類相信�爾文演化論的國家的社會表�相較; 研究顯示，這類基�宗教信仰�但�能促進社會�德�高�而是�害的根��

  而美國許多�守的基�教�音派也相信�爾文主義是惡魔，會鼓�無神論與��德。而一般人則相信宗教信仰會�高�德性，�社會有益�

  這報告在美國的『宗教與社會Journal of Religion and Society�學術期刊發行。

  許多美國人相信，會上教堂的國民是最優秀的，會�上�的��; 他們在愈來愈多的宗教懷疑論者�，就�一座會閃閃發光的�山城�

  一般而言，愈相信與崇拜基�教的富有民主國家，愈有高比率的~『殺人犯��少年與�為�年人的死亡�性傳染病例��幾歲少女懷孕與墮胎�

  美國幾乎是已開發中國家最多�正常�象的，特別引人注目�

  �羅葛列格里Gregory Paul是社會科學家與這研究論文作者，他引用國際間的蓋洛普與 ISSP (the International Social Survey Programme) 與其他研究單�資料，�考社會指標如謀殺率�墮胎�自殺�少女懷孕。得到這�論�

  這研究�論是基�徒多的民主美國有較高謀殺率，而愈是信教�虔的民主國家愈少社會�正常。�以淋病而言，美國�少年的發生率是信教�虔的民主國家的300�，�時梅毒在美國的�少年與�人感染率�與少女的墮胎率也是最高的�

  �羅說如英國這較世俗化國家，在社會指標方�，較美國這基�教國家好太多了。�時法國�日本�斯堪的�維亞(Scandinavian)等世俗化國家 更是�功的減少謀殺率�早死�性病傳染�墮胎。

  他說�這些��研究累�來的証據，顯示基�宗教勢力實際促�社會病態; �洲人也察覺他們愈來愈被�正常社會��的基�教美國排斥。

  除��爾文的演化論在美國被推翻，神的存在能被証明，基�教�有�能更宗教化，�樣，除�美國宗教信仰退燒，演化論�會�多數人支�。

  �這�宗教性，支�演化論的世俗化的民主國家已能�出��論証，表明社會�需信仰基�宗教，狀��會更好�

• hasene

  3 Sep 10, 01:06

  Life goes on with or without God.  

  cheers . . . .  . . .......

• BanguIzai

  3 Sep 10, 01:08

  Originally posted by hasene:

  Life goes on with or without God.  

  cheers . . . .  . . .......

  bingo