Least and most religious nations

[denuseri]

Ive been following the thread for some time but reserving comment and doing some reaserch on the subject.

One interesting point that I think bears looking at was a corolation, not between a countries direct prosperity level and low precentage rates of religious responcers so much as an inverse relationship between precentages of religious respondants and the level of comprehensive social welfare that was employed by each country.

Not all countries catagorically fit into a relationship where the more money was made the less religion was practiced, notable exceptions like the United States and others stood out.

A much higher degree of social welfare being employed by a given nation did apply in far more cases as the cuasitive agent.

In that regard then...is one not simpley replacing religion with something else in one's life?

Is such a replacement most often a headonisitc one?

[Thorne]

One interesting point that I think bears looking at was a corolation, not between a countries direct prosperity level and low precentage rates of religious responcers so much as an inverse relationship between precentages of religious respondants and the level of comprehensive social welfare that was employed by each country.

An interesting point, and one which doesn't surprise me. Religious organizations seem to be more interested in helping people get to heaven than in helping them get a job.

In that regard then...is one not simpley replacing religion with something else in one's life?

Simply? There's nothing simple about it. But yes, you would replace religion with something else. Hopefully it would be rationality, but there's no guarantees.

Is such a replacement most often a headonisitc one?

In some people it probably will be, I'm sure. It doesn't have to be. At one point I replaced religion with bowling, hardly a hedonistic activity. Unfortunately the Christian powers-that-be in this county decided that actually doing something enjoyable on a Sunday morning was a threat to our culture and forced the business to remain closed until after 1:30 PM. So much for worshiping at the Church of Earl Anthony!

[leo9]

One interesting point that I think bears looking at was a corolation, not between a countries direct prosperity level and low precentage rates of religious responcers so much as an inverse relationship between precentages of religious respondants and the level of comprehensive social welfare that was employed by each country.

Not all countries catagorically fit into a relationship where the more money was made the less religion was practiced, notable exceptions like the United States and others stood out.

A much higher degree of social welfare being employed by a given nation did apply in far more cases as the cuasitive agent.

Sounds like it confirms my guess at the start of this thread: it's about security rather than prosperity. If the state makes you feel secure, you don't need to get it from the church.

And contrariwise, this probably also explains why rising prosperity in Africa and the Middle East has in many cases led to more, not less religiosity. Between neoliberal advisers, and the direct influence of the corporations, very little of the new money has been spent on any sort of welfare, and people's jobs and status are at the mercy of unpredictable corrupt officials. So the new middle classes, for all their money, are actually more insecure than their parents back in the villages.