Why Atheism Will Replace Religion, on the blog The Human Beast by Nigel Barber, Ph.D.
It's a short article if you want to read the whole thing, but he is basically saying that in developed social democracies, such as Sweden and Denmark, people do not rely on religion very much (Sweden is 64% nonbelievers!), while in developing places like sub-Saharan Africa nonbelief accounts for less than 1% of the population.
It seems that people turn to religion as a salve for the difficulties and uncertainties of their lives. In social democracies, there is less fear and uncertainty about the future because social welfare programs provide a safety net and better health care means that fewer people can expect to die young. People who are less vulnerable to the hostile forces of nature feel more in control of their lives and less in need of religion.
Extrapolate these findings, and one can see how religion might eventually be marginalized as more countries are developed.
The United States would fall somewhere in the middle of the spectrum. Obviously religion is much more prevalent here than in Western Europe, but we also do not have the level of social programs they do.
Perhaps increased atheism will be a pleasant side effect of healthcare reform. No? A guy can dream, can't he?
4 comments:
FORFEIT
go look up this word in a dictionary, you f*cking moron...
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/forfeit
you are not going to tell me what I believe...
we're going to play a NEW GAME...... See More
FROM NOW ON:
*******************************************
EVERYTHING YOU SAY I WILL DOUBLE ON YOU...
*******************************************
Atheists,
you are going to learn even to TALK about GOD the way you do is going to cost you your lives...
the writing on the wall...
f*ck you very much!
THE BOOBQUAKE - 911!
see how we take a term and convert it into its AUTHENTIC POLITICAL DIMENSION - THAT OF LIBERATION - not just merely harmless expression...
visit
http://dissidentphilosophy.lifediscussion.net/philosophy-f1/the-boobquake-911-t1310.htm
I love how DM never even attempts to make his comments relevant to the posts they are on.
Anyhow -- this is a great essay. I've long believed that religion can be understood alongside Maslow's hierarchy of needs - it fulfills whatever stage someone's in at the time. If you're struggling to feed your family, you'll love a religion that tells you, "Blessed are the poor," and promises you unending wealth in an afterlife. If you've got all of your basic needs covered, have sufficient leisure time to spend with family and friends, and give some thought to philosophy and the nature of reality ... you're more likely to end up some form of nonbeliever, because you don't need religion anymore.
you cannot SILENCE ME... but we are going to SILENCE YOU...
for the idiot called *
you are not going to tell me what I believe...
*FORFEIT*
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/forfeit
you go look up this word in a dictionary, you f*cking morons
we're going to play a NEW GAME...
FROM NOW ON:
*******************************************
EVERYTHING YOU SAY I WILL DOUBLE ON YOU...
*******************************************
Atheists,
you are going to learn even to TALK about GOD the way you do is going to cost you your lives...
the writing on the wall...
f*ck you very much!
THE BOOBQUAKE - 911!
see how we take a term and convert it into its AUTHENTIC POLITICAL DIMENSION - THAT OF LIBERATION - not just merely harmless expression...
visit
http://dissidentphilosophy.lifediscussion.net/philosophy-f1/the-boobquake-911-t1310.htm
Unbelief is correlated with intelligence which is inherited. Countries with both high prevalence of intelligence and unbelief also have low birthrates. Countries like Sweden are importing folks with lower intelligence, higher belief and higher birthrates. Evolution is on the side of those with higher birthrates. So, it seems the jury is still out.
Post a Comment