U.S. Most Dysfunctional
note: correlation is not necessairly evidence of causation, that said
further update: pdf of the study
Societies worse off 'when they have God on their side'
By 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.”
Comments
It's nice to finally see some documented evidence to support an opinion I have held for years.
The author of the study about the role of religion in democracies draws some interesting correlations. Their publication in "Religion & Society" make them quite delicious ones, at that. But I wonder, don't social structures and economic conditions have more to do with prosperity than whether or not one believes in a moral creator, an unmoved mover, or even a loving god? Correlations are not causes.
What a ridiculous article. It implies that ALL of USA citizens are practicing Christians. This is obviously not true.
Also, just because someone claims to believe in God does not mean they follow the teachings of the Bible. Some people just claim to believe in a creator and stop at that point.
How can a study prove that "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"??? You would have to go to every violator of these kinds and show that they are practicing Christians! No way did this study go that far in depth.
Saying that the USA is the "most dysfunctional democracy" is absurd. What standard of functional is the USA being compared to here?
It's a silly study made to prove zilch to silly people.
This is an interesting study, but as skeptics we always have to interpret correlations carefully. What would be the mechanism that accounts for that pattern? I would say that at a local level religious states,counties or cities tend to be less educated and more poor than more educated, rich and atheistic locales. This would explain some of that pattern which is not through religion but through education. Certainly as you move down south in the US you get poorer and poorer places with less education (that also happened to be more religious)..
Anyway, my grain of sand.
They never leave their name.
The article does not imply that all U.S. Citizens are christians.
They do correlate, whether it also shows causation is the question
The standard they are being compared to is that of other Western Democracies.
What is silly is that anon's reading comprehension is so poor.
I agree with anon -- the study seems extremely shallow to me. I found it hilarious. It's as if the researcher had the conclusion in mind then went and got some data to back it up. He tried to find the ways in which the US compared least favorably to Europe, then blamed it on the subpopulation of evangelical christians.
If the author is serious in determining religion's effects on society, why limit it to democracies? Basically he only compares the US and Northern Europe. If the US isn't "relatively secular" than neither are Ireland, Spain, or Italy. Those godless Russians (and they're a democracy to boot) fare worse than their European brothers in all manner of categories, but escape mention. The murder capital of the world, South Africa, isn't exactly devout, but that hasn't saved them from high murder rates.
His conclusion is particularly laughable (this is really funny): "The non-religious, proevolution democracies contradict the dictum that 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." Notice the "proevolution" phrase. If there was any doubt before this that this study is a politically motivated sham, that phrase shatters it. For one thing the US is a pro-evolution democracy, in deed if not in word. We've taught evolution in our schools for decades. ID is right now on trial -- it's hardly a pattern of national indoctrination (not yet anyway, it'd surely like to be). For another thing, what exactly is the correlation between teaching a kid evolution and his predisposition to murder, fornicate, or commit suicide?
On the other part of his conclusion, he was rather vague on what "societal disasters" that Europe is avoiding despite their godlessness. A "societal disaster" is in the eye of the beholder. One man's societal disaster is another man's Gay Pride Parade. Kids growing up to think it's normal for dudes to marry dudes; well that's a disaster in to some less-enlightened-than-the-people-who-are-likely-to-flame-me folks. If you accept that people can define their own disasters, then his conclusion is invalid.
Properorus democracies it says, with regard to, “... rates of homicide, juvenile and early adult mortality, STD infection rates, teen pregnancy and abortion ..."
Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil. Ecclesiastes 12:13-14
I’m going have to agree with Mike on this one. This piece is pretty far-fetched, especially its conclusions.
Yes the US performs poor in many, if not most, societal measurement indicators. The reasons for this performance should definitely be studied, but I feel that blaming everything on any one factor to be naïve. I suspect it has something to do with the extremeness of the US… we have some of the world’s best athletes, yet have an obesity problem. We have the world’s best system of higher learning, yet our ignorance levels are astounding. Might pure capitalism not be perfect? Is there something to be learned from – gasp – other countries? But I digress…
Norm, didn’t your mother teach you not to believe everything you see on TV? Just because you’ve read something on the internet doesn’t make it true. Even if an article claims to be from The Journal of Something or Another doesn’t make it the truth; there are lot of shady “Journals” out there, as any researcher will tell you. You correctly call out the bile of the Administration, Fox News, GOP-ville USA, etc., but you fail to cast such critical eye on items that support your pre-conceived views. Now that's silly.
The review above (where was this published?) provides a rather limited description of the journal article, which is actually very interesting. The authors don't say religion causes anything. They just say that societies that are very religious, as defined by a set of criteria, also have a higher incidence of certain societal problems. This paragraph, taken directly from the article, sums up the conclusions.
"Indeed, the data examined in this study 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 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. Contradicting these conclusions requires demonstrating a positive link between theism and societal conditions in the first world with a similarly large body of data - a doubtful possibility in view of the observable trends."
Harry,
I assume you saw the note at the top of the post where I pointed out that correlation is not necessairlly evidence of causation. Further I didn't say I drew the same conclusions the author did, though I do think much of what he says is probably true. For example I recall a recent article that provided some evidence that those receiving abstinence only education were more likely to become pregnant than those that were educated in the use of birth control. It seems that you are guilty of what you wrongly accuse me of.
simply, life guiding superstitious belief structures (whether they be christian or not) promote a loss of personal responsibility, the fabrication of a pseudo moralism, and a reliance on faith as opposed to more rational methods of problem resolution. you'd have to be an idiot not to see the potential for a correlation with many kinds of dysfunction. as this dysfunction occurs with people, it shouldnt be surprising that it shows up in the societies those people live in.
regarding the exclusion of russia (a so-called atheistic state), i'd first off that the oppressive communist regime didnt actually kill off the prexisting religious impulse, and if that assertion doesnt work so well, i'd argue that no-one is arguing that societal dysfunction is solely caused by religious/superstitious beliefs. obviously there are other factors. religious belief, at least to the extent that it permeates a society, and creeps into government, is a pretty strong indicator of some pretty fucked up social dynamics. i mean, has anyone seen Iran lately?
cmon...
that's just how i see it.
I think the point of the article wasn't so much "religion causes XYZ" but rather "religion does not prevent XYZ". Many Christians in the U.S. (including some at my otherwise liberal-minded church) think that if only more people followed God's Word™ and Found Jesus™ we wouldn't have "all these murders and wars and crime". Even the mere corellation seems to lend credence to the point that even when a majority of the population claims to be Christian, the society is not automatically better off than the godless democracy.
Of course, one of Those Christians™ would simply refute it by saying, "well that's just because this country isn't Christian enough!" ::rolleyes::
My buddy Brownie knows how to put the "fun" in dysfunctional.
probably not a good time to bring up pediophiles in the catholic priesthood-- huh???
I live part-time in Japan, and I can vouch for this. The other day, someone said to me: " you carry THAT kind of cash around with you?!". Yeah, I do. Even in one of the most densely populated cities in the world, I feel safer than anywhere in America.
Just how much cash do you carry with you? And why not a bank card, since we're talking techno-Tokyo?
YOU HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS! YOUR BUSINESS HAS NOW BECOME OUR BUSINESS!
oooo Norm, I'm so ashamed of my reading comprehension (hint norm: that was sarcasm). The article states that "The United States is almost always the most dysfunctional" and if that isn't lumping everyone in the USA together and degrading them as a whole, then what is? The writer is trying to slam the USA and using religion as a whacking stick.
And what do you know about me anyway, my name may truly be 'anon' =p
Your the one proving how silly a person can be to believe the article has much merit:
"The standard they are being compared to is that of other Western Democracies."
Here you are supporting that the USA is the "most dysfunctional" because of the negative things the article points out that US citizens do. So you believe that the USA is the worst in adultery? murder? STDs? HAHAha. Get a clue man. All the things listed are followed by the human race as a whole, not just the USA. Show me a democracy without these issues. What? You can't? Oh well.
Silly Norm. Silly article.
Yes that is exactly what I'm saying, according to the article the USA is most dysfunctional in those areas. That is a nice straw man you've constructed, but no one ever claimed others didn't have the same problems only that they were not as bad. How sad, you are still suffering from a lack of reading comprehension. If you have some facts that contradict those in the article, present them, otherwise give it a break.
The study seems very doubtful... The most interesting thing that I noticed was that they linked religion to higher rates of suicide, I haven't read the actual study, but that particular assetion is very contrary to what is generally accepted as a fact in sociology. The greater your intergration into society the lower the risk of suicide, some religions are better at integration than others, but most of them have some kind of affect that brings people together.
While some of the assertions seem obviously true, if you don't talk about birth control and condoms for religious reasons, stds and teen pregnancy seem to be a consequence. Things like murder rates being so high in the US as a person who studies criminology has a lot more to do with the nature of the justice system than religion.
Facts to contradict? I'm still waiting on facts that support the article Norm-my-man. hehe. What a house of cards you are leaning full weight on there. If the USA was such a crappy dysfunctional place to live because of all the wicked/sinning Christians that this article claims are here in the USA, then why are people dying to get here from other countries? So that they too can bask in our Christian dysfunctions? Get real. =) People that follow the teachings in the Bible are a positive aspect, not negative, in any country.
America can do no wrong. I know, because I am a dog barking, in my own yard, and my yard is the best yard in the f--king world. And my yard is IN AMERICA!
Everyone knows dogs are the most well-informed of all animals, on account of their nose.
So, Woof Woof Woof Woof Woof!
to anyone who walks by, and I mean YOU.
I know that every other dog wants to live here too, how I know is because when they get off their leashes and run away, and I'm not out there defending the border, I seen 'em in the yard, in MY yard, Dog damn it.
Dog bless America! My own sweet home. Dog bless America! My own, my own.
I even seen the eatin' my food, and MY food is the best f__king food IN THE WORLD!
That's how come they're eatin' it.
Wow, people are dying to get ther from other Western Democracies. We must have missed somthing! When can we move in to your lovely and supereior country?
Ps. pleas stop refering to U.S.A. as america its just ignorant.
Get out!
Sweden is an infernal hell hole.
A pit of Socialist dysfunction.
And thanx to global warning, it doesn't even have a decent climate!
Mike, "societal disaster" has been defined in this study. It is comparatively high "rates of homicide, juvenile and early adult mortality, STD infection rates, teen pregnancy and abortion in the prosperous democracies." What counts as societal disaster may be in the "eye of the beholder" as you say, but I would imagine these sorts of things would be on most people's lists.
There are two conclusions you might try to draw from a study like this. One is that there is a causal relation between religious belief and societal problems. This one is not warranted by the study.
The other conclusion you might draw is that having lots of religious belief in society isn't necessary for that society to avoid the social ills listed above. The study does offer very good evidence for that.
This second conclusion is one the author explicitly draws. "The non-religious, proevolution democracies contradict the dictum that 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."
Mike I agree the author reveals a bias by sticking the the description "proevolution democracies." That reveals a bias on the author's part, but it doesn't invalidate the evidence and it doesn't invalidate that idea that "godless" societies can avoid the social ills listed above.