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Yes, it's rhetorical. To this observer there's nothing surprising about it. At this moment thousands of refugees from one of the most religious of regions (the Middle East) are enduring hardships to go to one of the least religious (Europe). Even in that Western outlier of religiosity - the US - the same rule generally applies - the more secular the area, the more developed.
You'd think that for more the proverbial penny might drop. Though perhaps not.
Last edited by modernist1; 09-22-2015 at 08:43 PM..
Yes, it's rhetorical. To this observer there's nothing surprising about it. At this moment thousands of refugees from one of the most religious of regions (the Middle East) are enduring hardships to go to one of the least religious (Europe). Even in that Western outlier of religiosity - the US - the same rule generally applies - the more secular the area, the more developed.
You'd think that for more the proverbial penny might drop. Though perhaps not.
Israel is a religious mecca with holy sites of the three major religions in the world and is quite developed. They even turned a desert into a major exporter of produce. The Bible also predicted that this would happen.
Israel is a religious mecca with holy sites of the three major religions in the world and is quite developed. They even turned a desert into a major exporter of produce. The Bible also predicted that this would happen.
As the poster above points out, the development you refer to is down to secular science. Not the vagaries of some pie in the sky.
Israel is a religious mecca with holy sites of the three major religions in the world and is quite developed. They even turned a desert into a major exporter of produce. The Bible also predicted that this would happen.
Israel is a modern country. t's also war-torn, thanks to disputes btwn Jewish, Christians, and Muslim.
China is a postmodern country. It has a bit of Taoism, very little Islam, some Christians, and some state atheism.
Egypt used to have ancient cultures and Coptic Christians. Then the Muslims defaced many of the landmarks. Now it's a mess.
Much of Africa is Christian or animist. But this is a correlation without a cause. Perhaps you should ask "why do they need to be?" Because the answer to that question is that they are praying for peace an wealth. Many of those countries are essentially slums where tribal hatred goes on. Or where even if we try to help, all money is funneled to a despotism, and only the leader has modern life. Cape Town, South Africa is fairly developed. Bit much of the area nearby is wilderness or slums.
Answer: violent oppressive regimes. Or the religion itself demands absolute obedience (it's tough to develop a country when alot is taboo). Or race warfare. Or straight up poverty. Religion =/= instant solutions.
Yep. They escape to their fantasy rather than face reality and do something about it. Gives them false hope.
To be fair, many people have no real way of improving their lives. They live under oppressive regimes, employers, etc. We should not "blame the victim."
How do you explain countries such as USA, Poland, Malta, Greece and Israel which are very developed and first world countries then as they have a high percentage of people that are religious?
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