According to this article, a recent study indicates that countries with the highest percentage of Christians also tend to be the countries with the highest crime rates. The study, which was conducted by Gregory S. Paul, looks at the connection between levels of religiosity in a country and various social problems. Eighteen democratic nations, including the United States, were included in the survey.
The study ranked countries based on the percentage of their population expressing belief in God and regularly attending religious services. This ranking was then correlated with a measure of social dysfunction based on homicide rates, teenage pregnancy, sexually propagated diseases, abortion and child mortality.
The study found that “the most religious democracies exhibited substantially higher degrees of social dysfunction than societies with larger percentages of atheists and agnostics.” In particular, the United States, which has a much higher percentage of regular church-goers than any of the other countries in the study, also has far higher levels of homicide, teen pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and abortion.
To read the full article, go to Religion’s Dark Side.
Tags: Religion
March 20, 2010 at 9:15 am |
nice article