C'mon, you already knew it deep down

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 ]