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terryfrost at 02:52pm on 01/04/2006
terryfrost at 02:52pm on 01/04/2006At the risk of miffing my religious friends, I advise everyone to point their browsers at This Article about the Myth of Atheist Amorality.
"According to the United Nations’ Human Development Report (2005), the most atheistic societies—countries like Norway, Iceland, Australia,Canada, Sweden, Switzerland, Belgium, Japan, the Netherlands, Denmark,and the United Kingdom—are actually the healthiest, as indicated by measures of life expectancy, adult literacy, per-capita income,educational attainment, gender equality, homicide rate, and infant mortality. Conversely, the fifty nations now ranked lowest by the UN interms of human development are unwaveringly religious. Of course,correlational data of this sort do not resolve questions ofcausality—belief in God may lead to societal dysfunction, societal dysfunction may foster a belief in God, each factor may enable the other, or both may spring from some deeper source of mischief. Leaving aside the issue of cause and effect, these facts prove that atheism is perfectly compatible with the basic aspirations of a civil society;they also prove, conclusively, that religious faith does nothing to ensure a society’s health."
"According to the United Nations’ Human Development Report (2005), the most atheistic societies—countries like Norway, Iceland, Australia,Canada, Sweden, Switzerland, Belgium, Japan, the Netherlands, Denmark,and the United Kingdom—are actually the healthiest, as indicated by measures of life expectancy, adult literacy, per-capita income,educational attainment, gender equality, homicide rate, and infant mortality. Conversely, the fifty nations now ranked lowest by the UN interms of human development are unwaveringly religious. Of course,correlational data of this sort do not resolve questions ofcausality—belief in God may lead to societal dysfunction, societal dysfunction may foster a belief in God, each factor may enable the other, or both may spring from some deeper source of mischief. Leaving aside the issue of cause and effect, these facts prove that atheism is perfectly compatible with the basic aspirations of a civil society;they also prove, conclusively, that religious faith does nothing to ensure a society’s health."
amused
