Not a lot of meat in the article but the synopsis is damning enough (no pun intended). What many of us have suspected. Religious devotion does not breed morality. Christianity does not lead to ethical behavior.
Societies worse off ‘when they have God on their side’ – Societies worse off ‘when they have God on their side’ RELIGIOUS belief can cause damage to a society, contributing towards high murder rates, abortion, sexual promiscuity and suicide, according to research published today. According to the study, belief in and worship of God are not only unnecessary for a healthy society but may actually contribute to social problems.
(Via Metafilter)
Well…
The conclusion put forth in the article suggests that religion leads to social ills. I don’t see that they’ve put forth any evidence to support that, really. What they do instead is say, basically:
Which obviously doesn’t hold. You could just as easily point out the following:
Now, that said, the conclusion that you draw is valid – Christianity does not lead to ethical behavior. It would be interesting to see a study that correlated "immoral" behavior with professed religious belief. What’s the likelihood that someone who identifies him or herself as a Christian will commit a violent crime, compared to someone who identifies him or herself as a nonbeliever?
Now, if you don’t mind, I’m off to get some fish & chips.
Score one for the athiests, Score one for the athiests, eh?
Actually… it’s true that in America you are free to worship however you see fit… but it is also true that your neighbor will probably not approve if it happens to deviate from their own beliefs.
=/
I am thinking that the extreme non-segregation of multi-religious communities we tend to have in America’s more urban regions probably doesn’t do inter-faith crime rates a favor. Then again, overcrowding the populus doesn’t do crime rates in general a favor either.
*shrug*