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So are these people (a) poor because they're religious, or are they (b) religious because they're poor?
I'll pick b.
I guess when you live in the desert or jungle or wherever and you wipe your butt with your hand and don't have much of anything of the material possession variety, you kinda hafta be religious because you sure as hell don't have anything else to get you through your crappy life.
Thats weird because The United States of America is the most powerful Nation that has EVER existed on the planet. (and is predominetly Christian)
Kind of blows your little hippie theory out of the water
Pales in comparison to the Roman Empire, which also had a much longer run than this country could even hope for. In case you haven't noticed, the US is sinking like a stone.
The arrogance that causes to foolishly try an defend your religion also blinds your to reality. You really should pay more attention, but trust me you won't like what you discover if you actually pay attention.
The countries on the right are/were very religious
Britain - Church of England - state church
Russia - Orthodox Church
Sweden - Lutheran Church - state church
Netherlands - Calvinist Church
France - Catholicism
Japan - Buddhism and Shintoism
Australia - Church of England
Vietnam - Buddhism
Etc. Etc.
Perhaps the religion provided a foundation for morality and prosperity and now people can claim the moral code even though there is no inherent logical reason to do so without the religion. For ex. it is wrong to murder because God said "Thou shalt not kill". This is now accepted law, but absent Gods command there is no inherent reason to forbid or allow the murder of humans
An interesting observation is that there seems to be a significant difference in prosperity in religious worldview that is fatalistic vs. where people are co-workers with God - ie the Protestant work ethic.
Perhaps the religion provided a foundation for morality and prosperity and now people can claim the moral code even though there is no inherent logical reason to do so without the religion.
There's no inherent logical reason to be moral without religion? Really? LOL!
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For ex. it is wrong to murder because God said "Thou shalt not kill".
Except god didn't say it. Some men wrote it down because murder is counterproductive to civilization. Claiming that a god said it just makes it sound more authoritative.
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This is now accepted law, but absent Gods command there is no inherent reason to forbid or allow the murder of humans
Bullshyte.
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An interesting observation is that there seems to be a significant difference in prosperity in religious worldview that is fatalistic vs. where people are co-workers with God - ie the Protestant work ethic.
Funny, every job I've had where I've been backstabbed and/or treated like cattle was at companies run by protestant Christians.
The countries on the right are/were very religious
Britain - Church of England - state church
Russia - Orthodox Church
Sweden - Lutheran Church - state church
Netherlands - Calvinist Church
France - Catholicism
Japan - Buddhism and Shintoism
Australia - Church of England
Vietnam - Buddhism
Etc. Etc.
Perhaps the religion provided a foundation for morality and prosperity and now people can claim the moral code even though there is no inherent logical reason to do so without the religion. For ex. it is wrong to murder because God said "Thou shalt not kill". This is now accepted law, but absent Gods command there is no inherent reason to forbid or allow the murder of humans
An interesting observation is that there seems to be a significant difference in prosperity in religious worldview that is fatalistic vs. where people are co-workers with God - ie the Protestant work ethic.
Perhaps you should heed that first line, "As they say, figures lie and liars figure." If only for a bit, contemplate the irony.
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Originally Posted by Boompa
Wouldn't Saudi Arabia, Iran, Afghanistan and Yemen be among the most religious while Communist North Korea would be among the least
North Korea's religion is the governing body itself. Kim Il-sun is the 'eternal president'.
Isn't there already a thread where people fool around with numbers and come to all sorts of "conclusions?" How do you define religious--is that a country where people are orthodox in their practice of a particular religion...or a country where people answer polls by declaring their practice of a religion? (And how does one determine whether one person is more or less religious than another?)
I suspect that the longer, relatively speaking, periods of darkness found in Scandinavian areas, have more to do with the suicide rate than religion. Although, if I had to put up with religious drivel on a weekly basis, I might consider suicide as a form of self defense.
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