Is religious belief hindering our economic success?

You be the judge...



http://www.secularnewsdaily.com/2011/11/04/new-zealand-in-good-company-pity-about-the-usa/

I'd say so, cleanhippie.

intolerant religion to me, when intolerance is involved by any. We see that across all walks of life anymore IMO. Not all atheists are intolerant and not all religious people are intolerant to me. ... but we sure see/hear a lot of it. Maybe it's just more in the open anymore?

But there IS a connection.

That is a compelling argument you are making.

Isn't that sufficient to answer your question?

... is excluded from the fit.

What can I say?

The US has the highest GDP according to this graph. That's why I think you should have used a different x-axis, something like the Gini coefficient, or something more appropriate. Extreme concentrated wealth in this country affects such things.

This graph shows the US to have the second highest GDPPC of any of the countries on the graph.

What it does show is that the US is out of step with the other countries in terms of belief in evolution NOT correlating with GDP.

It certainly does not show that belief in evolution is hindering economic success. If anything, it would support the argument that belief in evolution is NOT hindering economic success.

:shrug:

They seem like fairly big economies to leave out of the analysis. My guess is that they would be outliers on the other side of the graph.

belief in evolution hinders purchasing power, according to that chart.

I suspect there really is no correlation between these two variables.

believe in evolution? I have no idea.

I think the question should have been clearer. Do you know about Darwin's theory of evolution and do you believe in it.

nt

especially if you include Japan and USA.

Clearly, for the high-tech post-industrial countries of Western Europe, Japan, and USA,
belief in evolution is a hindrance to purchasing power.

Correlation does not equal causation.

Still, the kinds of officials and policies religious people usually support leads to a lack of investment in education, scientific development or other policies that promote economic health.

Ireland was very, very Catholic until its economy started booming in the 1990s.

The same thing happened in Spain, very Catholic until its economy boomed. Italy was the same.

Scandinavian immigrants who came over in the 19th century tended to be religious in a Puritanical way. My paternal grandfather, born in the 1880s, bought a violin when he was in his teens, but his father burned it, because he said it was the devil's instrument, used for (gasp) dancing.

These immigrants came when the Scandinavian countries were very poor, with most of the population being hardscrabble peasants. When I was growing up, there was an old Swedish lady in our church. She said that when kids in rural Sweden in the early 20th century finished elementary school at about age 12 or 13, they were given a choice: find a job or emigrate to America. She herself had come to American alone at the age of 13 to join an aunt and uncle she had never met.

Scandinavia went secular AFTER it began to prosper, starting in the urban areas in the 1920s and 1930s.

I have always heard that religion becomes more important when the economy worsens. If people are rich and doing well, then they dont really "need" the church. However when things get bad, the opposite happens.

Well done.

seeing the name chart but with wealth disparity. As most would agree, religion is often used by the elite to control the lower classes. So in a highly religious society you will have the party that is 'religious' and, at the same time, promotes the economic agenda of the elite.

I imagine that chart would reveal some stuff.