Religion & Dysfunction

"America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between."

Oscar Wilde


A recent study "Cross-National Correlations of Quantifiable Societal Health with Popular Religiosity and Secularism in the Prosperous Democracies" ( try and say that three times real fast) in the “Journal of Religion and Society” The authors of the study looked at recent statistics from eighteen of the most developed democratic nations giving them a data base of 800 million people to work from. The results of the study showed a direct correlation between religiosity and dysfunctionality. The conclusion of the study, the higher the rate in belief and worship of a creator the higher the rates of homicide, juvenile and early adult mortality, STD infection rates, teen pregnancy, and abortions. And the winner in almost all these categories the United States, let’s have around of applause for a country and its’ people who know how to believe regardless of the reality.
The odd thing is that the more secular rated nations had, a cross the board, lower rates of homicide, juvenile and early adult mortality, STD infection rates, teen pregnancy, and abortions. They might live in safer, healthier communities now but they’ll get their punishment in the after life. Besides our religious leaders, our media, our politicians and even some of our other scientists keep telling us and telling us and telling us that a safer, healthier country needs a strong religious base. I guess if you keep saying something enough times you can make it true or keep saying it until you can’t hear anything else.
Most believer if not all will reject a study like this because they know science is out to get God and religion or worst this is the work of the Devil. Oh wait minute, believers do like those scientists that study the power of prayer except, now again, a recent study paid for by the John Templeton Foundation of 1,802 patients having coronary bypass surgery and being prayed for by strangers found that prayer had no effect. Actually there was one minor effect those patients who knew they were being prayed for had a slightly higher rate of complications.
I don’t get it maybe God has decided he doesn’t want to take part in any more experiments and I suspect that’s the kind of thing we will hear from the religious community, you can’t test God.
But let’s face it neither of these studies will get any play in our media so we can just say it they never happened, okay.