C'mon, you already knew it deep down

[miriam_e]

A new study which checks out a whole range of indicators in about 20 western countries proves that religion damages society, and not just slightly -- it directly correlates with everything from murder and shorter lifespan to teen pregnancy, abortion, and broken marriages. All the things religion says it helps, it actually worsens. The more religious a society is, the more socially dysfunctional it is.

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/lnl/

Gregory Paul, who presents his findings, says that he is surprised that nobody had put the figures together before. They are all there, readily available, for anybody to see.

The good news is that religion is declining worldwide. This has been evident for some time. As people become smarter and more knowledgeable it becomes more difficult to use superstition to control them.

Religion masquerades extremely effectively as good morality, but it is clearly a very bad thing. Let's hope its claws are extracted from humanity's psyche soon enough to avoid the next round of religious wars.

[additional: link to a short piece about it in the Times in UK: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1798944,00.html ]

Comments

[slave-driver.livejournal.com]

I was raised as a Roman Catholic, and while I don't follow the faith anymore, or any faith for that matter, I have to say that one of the things I've discovered to be true in my 40 years on this planet is that nothing is all good, and nothing is all bad. I recieved a fantastic education in a Catholic school, and I'm not ashamed to admit it. I even tell people the church gave me such a good education that they actually helped me develope the inellectual tools I needed to doubt my faith. The church has also done a lot of good work with the poor. My mom couldn't really afford to send us to catholic school, but they let her do some work serving lunches and let me get my education anyway. I also saw how they helped many other poor people who were struggling as well, and at least with the catholics(I can't say the same for some of the other religions)the help was freely given, they didn't try to convert those they were helping.

In the long run, I do agree with you that as we become more educated, we really don't need religous doctrine. It's very true that religion has been the cause for more wars than any thing else. A lot of terrible harm has been the result of religion. You may even argue that more harm than good has been done as result of religion, but there has been some good that has come from it too.

[miriam-e.livejournal.com]

Very few things are unrelentingly evil. I know a lot of good people who are, unfortunately, religious. That doesn't mean I think they are the enemy, though I would be careful of them in extreme situations, because for most religious people the idea ends up being more important than people and they might have a "moral" battle with themselves, but if they thought you'd crossed some religious morality you'd lose out even if it wasn't immoral from a humanist standpoint. That is probably the reason for the finding that marriages break up more among more strongly religious people. More secular people have longer, less rocky relationships.

The church points to the help they provide for the poor, but secular organisations and individuals do too. They down blow their own horn about it so you rarely hear about it, and they generally don't have an agenda. I know you say the church doesn't necessarily ram religion down the throats of those they helped, but the trappings are always there. They say "grace" over the meals they give away, they invite people to their sermons, they often even give sermons while the people are eating, they give out pamphlets about the church and religion at the helpings and have signs up. I have been involved in secular help for the poor and the source of the help is almost never advertised; it is just help, quite literally with no strings. I don't think I've ever seen religious organisations deliver help without any strings at all. Remember that their payment is in souls, and that is what they want. Generally they are even happy to admit that, thinking that that is quite alright.

[miriam-e.livejournal.com]

I should add that it really makes little difference if religious groups do some good. The result of the study is to clearly show that effect of religion on society is a damaging one. The more religious a society is, the more dysfunctional it becomes.

If a person is walking backwards and takes an occasional step forwards they can't claim to be moving ahead.

By the way, one of my best childhood friends went to a catholic school. His parents, though not rich, paid enormous amounts for his education. I went to a free public school. I think I probably got a better education than he did and avoided most of the propaganda too.