Thursday, September 29, 2005
Societies Worse Off When They Aren't Religious?
So to sum up the article: Europe has less problems in some areas even though Europe is less religious as a whole.
Two things:
1) Just because you are religious doesn't mean you have the life-changing Spirit of God in your heart. Going to church doesn't necessarily mean you are a Christian. Does sitting in your garage make you a car?
2) Did they control for other factors besides religious belief? Income? Drug use? Fatherless households?
And, to be fair, let's look at societies which aren't very religious through history. I'll give you Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and Moa's China.
So to sum up the article: Europe has less problems in some areas even though Europe is less religious as a whole.
Two things:
1) Just because you are religious doesn't mean you have the life-changing Spirit of God in your heart. Going to church doesn't necessarily mean you are a Christian. Does sitting in your garage make you a car?
2) Did they control for other factors besides religious belief? Income? Drug use? Fatherless households?
And, to be fair, let's look at societies which aren't very religious through history. I'll give you Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and Moa's China.
Comments:
<< Home
Magic Statistics has two posts up on the study and its (lack of) statistical validity: see here and here.
It has been weighed in the balance by a professional statistician and found wanting. Which is not surprising, since the author appears to have no real grounding in social scienes research and statistical method.
It has been weighed in the balance by a professional statistician and found wanting. Which is not surprising, since the author appears to have no real grounding in social scienes research and statistical method.
Yes, it's true that there have been religous societies that have thrived, and ones that have not. I think the real point we need to consider here is that while this does not prove that an areligious society tends to do better, it's evidence against the idea your side uses saying that religion bolsters a society. Religion in and of itself rarely has an effect on society. The effect is on how people then manipulate the tenents of that religion for unrelated purposes.
Hwang
Post a Comment
Hwang
# posted by 
: 11:12 AM
: 11:12 AM << Home
