Sunday, October 16, 2005

Better Off WITHOUT GOD

It’s The Land Down Under again! – only this time I traveled south to visit them – to the home of one “An Australian Anarchist.” (And, technology being what it is, as I traveled I sat on my New England sun porch and watched pumpkin-orange leaves drift off the trees.)

Turns out that An Australian Anarchist (AAA for short) has read the sizzling Gregory Paul Study – you know, the one that shows god is worse for you than a case of the Asian bird flu? AAA, however, puts a more positive spin on it than I do: he titles his post “Better Off Without God.”

So, without further ado, and for your reading pleasure, here are a few snippets from AAA’s look at the Better-Off-Without-God Study:

Paul’s graphs show far higher rates of death among the under-fives in Portugal, the U.S and Ireland and put the U.S. – the most religious country in his survey – in a league of its own for gonorrhea and syphilis.”

snip

The U.S. is the only rich nation with teenage pregnancy levels comparable to those of developing nations: it has a worse record than India, the Philippines and Rwanda.”

snip

Three sets of findings stand out: the associations between religion – especially absolute belief – and juvenile mortality, venereal disease and adolescent abortion."

MORE >>>

Also, go to my Oct. 11 post to read more about the Paul study, and to get links to the original report in the refereed Journal of Religion and Society.

1 comment:

  1. Anonymous7:04 PM

    Hello Athana, Australian Anarchist here (aka Chris). Glad you enjoyed the post on the effect of religions on society and thanks for the link to me 'umble blog. I'm a committed anthiest myself, so was not really surprised that religious belief has a damaging effect on socviety.

    Best wishes to all and hold onto hope for the future...

    ReplyDelete