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Study Shows God Is Bad

The Times (UK) reports,

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.

Full story.

8 thoughts on “Study Shows God Is Bad

  1. this is one of the most bullshit stories ever caried by a major paper: it’s really a us bashing story, comparing non religious uk (supposed low crime rate) with religious us (high crime rate); anyone with 1/8 of an ounce of brain would note there are hundreds of differences between the us and the uk that might contribute to diferent crime rates having nothing to do with religion. simple exercise, you’re walking down a dark alley late at night, would you rather meet someone just coming out of a church meeting, or anyone else?

  2. I’m also calling bullshit. There are good people and there are evil people. Religiosity (or the lack of it) isn’t an a priori indicator of which is which.

  3. yeah, and it also seems to equate religiosity with fundamentalist Christianity, from which one cannot prove a rule about any other religious/secular society. hey, i’m all for evolution in schools, but this study, or at least the article, didn’t even seem to try to lower the bullshit factor.

  4. did anyone happent o notice that the countries set as the shining examples of secular tolerance and social progressiveness are all almost completely ethnically homogenous? Europe does not have the best record of dealing with minorities well, especially ones with different colors of skin. The US, with all of it societal ills, is the most ethnically diverse nation in the world. Of course there are conflicts, especially with the oppressive social structure that we have regarding our own minorities, so we have to look at the article critically and say, “gosh, is there really a correllation… at all?!?!”
    ps: this is not to say that ethnic diversity causes conflict and violence, but rather to show a factor that the study completely missed. there are tons of others, such as gap between rich and poor, social safety nets, education, etc.
    ~invisible

  5. personally, i think if you have some sort of spirituality in your soul, and do your damndest to live a decent, honest life, then you’ll be fine. it’s when we start arguing specifics that we get into trouble. aren’t all religions, at their very core, basically the same? be good and kind, love thy brother. you don’t need an organized religion to understand that.

  6. Actually, not all religions (or sects within a single religion) are “basically the same at their core.” Sufism (in general) teaches “love your neighbour,” but Wahabism sure as hell doesn’t. Or rather, it defines “neighbour” as “fellow *Wahabi* Muslim”–anyone else is fair game for shunning at best, blowing up at worst. Just so I’m not seen as picking on Islam, a few haredi rabbis have issued halakhic rulings to the effect that the “saving life overrides keeping Shabbat” principle, or the laws of returning lost objects, do not apply to non-Jews. But most would rule that they apply to all human beings.
    Now, all organized groups of believers in some sort of deity are religions, be they moderate or extremist. But are they “all the same at their core”? Not by a long shot.

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