Religious Outlier

[don]

Gallup surveyed people in more than 100 countries in 2009 and found that religiosity was highly correlated to poverty. Richer countries in general are less religious.

The exception: the United States.

(the quadrants I found exemplary)



http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/04/op...=1&ref=opinion

[BuckarooBanzai]

Re: Religious Outlier

Another data point in the case for American Exceptionalism.

[Spartacus]

Re: Religious Outlier

I bet the poverty finding only exists as far as poverty is a proxy for education, in which case the US is not that far out of the norm, there being a large less-educated sub-population than in Britain for example.

The exception: the United States.

(the quadrants I found exemplary)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/04/op...=1&ref=opinion

[Raz]

Re: Religious Outlier

"Gallup surveyed people in more than 100 countries in 2009 and found that religiosity was highly correlated to poverty.
Richer countries in general are less religious."

No surprises here. In the New Testament Christ said as much in the story of Dives and Lazarus. (St. Luke: 16:19 and 18:18).

Most people who reject God don't do so after careful evaluation of ancient manuscripts or deep investigation of ecclesiastical claims; they simply don't give it much thought - until their lives become unsettled or in crisis.

C. S. Lewis wrote: "God whispers to us when our lives are going well; he raises His voice when they are not, and He shouts at us when we are in pain".

[aaron]

Re: Religious Outlier

Religion is a tool to keep the masses down. (no pun intended) ... Injustice? That is OK; God will take care of them with 'hell'. Oligarchy got you down? Jesus.

If I were an elite bastard I would throw Jesus at the peeps too. It is certainly cheaper than paying them.

[BigBagel]

Re: Religious Outlier

Religion is a tool to keep the masses down. (no pun intended) ... Injustice? That is OK; God will take care of them with 'hell'. Oligarchy got you down? Jesus.

If I were an elite bastard I would throw Jesus at the peeps too. It is certainly cheaper than paying them.

Religion is more than that but the oligarchs are certainly using it as you say. They use people like Glen Beck to accomplish the task.

[jiimbergin]

Re: Religious Outlier

Religion is a tool to keep the masses down. (no pun intended) ... Injustice? That is OK; God will take care of them with 'hell'. Oligarchy got you down? Jesus.

If I were an elite bastard I would throw Jesus at the peeps too. It is certainly cheaper than paying them.

Actually, as Jesus said in Matthew 5:44, You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’^r and hate your enemy. 44But I say, love your enemies!^s Pray for those who persecute you!

A true Christian would want everyone to believe in Jesus even up to the moment of death no matter how evil they had been prior to that. Your definition is not mine nor my Christian friends and family.

jim

[chr5648]

Re: Religious Outlier

Another data point in the case for American Exceptionalism.

Your probably right, most likely its the protestant work ethic, whereas others work to live, protestants live to work. This has been ingrained into american culture. (P.S. I'm not protestant)


You know, its hard to get to the moon when your praying 5 times a day


More likely its poverty correlated to IQ

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IQ_and_...lth_of_Nations
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IQ_and_Global_Inequality

The data speaks for itself.


Caveat: Its funny how the nytimes and the left will complain about metrics such as GDP calling it a poor metric of economic development and complain about the constitution but, when they can build mosques they run behind the constitution or to mock religious people they run behind GDP.

[RebbePete]

Re: Religious Outlier

Religion is a tool to keep the masses down. (no pun intended) ... Injustice? That is OK; God will take care of them with 'hell'. Oligarchy got you down? Jesus.

If I were an elite bastard I would throw Jesus at the peeps too. It is certainly cheaper than paying them.

If it were a tool to keep the masses down, it is a very poor tool, since wherever the true gospel of Jesus the Messiah has come to a land, people have done the most extraordinary things. They give up their own selfish comforts to help the poor, they work to overturn tyranny and bring freedom to the land, they bring corrupt government to task, and so on. The founding fathers of this country were propelled by economics, but also by their deep religious faith.

The elites of our day are anything but the friends of Christianity, rather its enemy. They mock it, they try to stamp it out, they try to keep it out of the public eye.

They will not succeed. The leaders of the churches are starting to realize that we've been had by both political parties. Once the pulpits begin thundering with condemnation for the current system, the fun will really start.

[GRG55]

Re: Religious Outlier

Religion is a tool to keep the masses down. (no pun intended) ... Injustice? That is OK; God will take care of them with 'hell'. Oligarchy got you down? Jesus.

If I were an elite bastard I would throw Jesus at the peeps too. It is certainly cheaper than paying them.

Picking up on Raz's post above, you could do worse than reading a little C. S. Lewis...there's no risk that you might suddenly become spiritual [or heavens, "born again"], but it might provide some interesting perspective.

Then again, it may also persuade you that the elites [in this case the "intellectual" elite] really are keeping the great unwashed "down".

[pksubs]

Re: Religious Outlier

Hmm...I tried looking for China on this chart and didn't find it. Not sure about a chart with a billion+ people sized hole in it...

[ThePythonicCow]

Re: Religious Outlier

Hmm...I tried looking for China on this chart and didn't find it. Not sure about a chart with a billion+ people sized hole in it...

Apparently Gallup was unable or chose not to run their survey in China. I don't see Iran or North Korea either. I suspect that it is more difficult to run surveys in these countries.

[snowman111]

Re: Religious Outlier

The founding fathers of this country were propelled by economics, but also by their deep religious faith.

The founding fathers were propelled by their Deism beliefs which are in contrast to christianity or other theistic philosophies. First Amendment, Jefferson's bible, Article 11 of the Treaty of Tripoli....etc

[chr5648]

Re: Religious Outlier

people have done the most extraordinary things.

The religious rebirth imho is akin to a reaction, almost a natural reaction to the cultural marxist policies of the elites. When eastern europe was under communist control, people were highly religious, then as the left/cultural marxists were discredited and communism fell the peoples want and need to go to church vanished, so did the level of religiousness. Now as the cultural marxists are slowly trying to take apart traditional values and such, religious topics and influence are also increasing in eastern europe, like a reaction to more than organic religious feelings.

I think it may be the same here in the states. As the culture, values, traditions, have been attacked by the cultural marxists there is a sort of reaction, the formation of the evangelical religious right. I wasn't alive 30-40-50 years ago but, from my info it seems as if the level of religiousness and religion in politics was not as high as it is now and the past 20 years.

[oddlots]

Re: Religious Outlier

I kind of liked this version of Jesus:

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/c0c...-rashida-jones

And was kind of alarmed by this story:

Turkey is the Muslim world's centre of creationism and opposition to Darwin. In another irony, it may have been fostered by US Christian creationists who came to Turkey to look for remnants of Noah's ark on Mount Ararat.

The movement's leader, a Turk named Adnan Oktar who writes and distributes expensive tomes under the name Harun Yahya, portrays evolution as a "scientifically" disproved theory propped up by European powers to discredit Islam and keep Muslims down. Unbelievable? No, he actually claims this.

Turkish school texts feature creationism, not evolution, in ways they can only dream of in Kansas. Scientists say the Turkish creationist organisation BAV has intimidated those who speak out against it - allegedly with tacit official approval, at least enough to win a court order banning Richard Dawkins' website in the country.

The governing party, as Islamist as parties get in officially secular Turkey, was quick to distance itself from the censorship at Bilim ve Teknik - but has also been careful not to state its acceptance of evolution.

That is also not surprising. A 2006 survey of 34 western countries ranked Turkey 34th - just behind the US - in popular acceptance of evolution.

http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/sh...islamic-c.html