god IS NOT DEAD . . .

. . . He . . . Is . . . DEATH.

See these graphs? People, these dudes are chilling. They might as well be labeled “gods `R` Homicide & Suicide.” They come close to scientifically proving that god is not dead -- HE’S DEADLY!

These graphs come from a study published in the current issue of the highly respected and refereed Journal of Religion & Society. In a nutshell, they say this: Of all the developed countries in the world, the U.S. has the highest rate of god worship, along with – by a runaway mile -- the highest rates of homicide. (See below the list of countries in the study, as well as their graph letter-names. “U” is United States.)

Unfortunately, there are more graphs in the JR&S study. Suicide, abortion, sexual promiscuity, juvenile mortality, early adult mortality, STD infection, and teen pregnancy rates are also graphed. Americans flunk in those areas too. Yep.

The country boasting the lowest “religiosity”? Japan. And guess who also ranks among the lowest re: the above dysfunctions. You guessed it – Japan.

People, happiness is not god.

I look at these graphs, and I wanna zip out and start passing laws banning god worship. Not out of religious fervor, but to keep my friends and family safe from this pestilence. The Constitution separates church and state, but since Bush has his wrecking ball out knocking down the wall between the two, I say, goody! Let's pass laws banning god worship! It’s killing us! Don’t we still have laws against killing? Or did I miss something?

“Religiosity” in this study was based on belief in Bible literalism; frequency of prayer; frequency of “service” attendance; and belief in a “higher power” (p. 4-5). Were Goddess worshippers included in this study? The research report doesn’t say, but wanna bet me on it? Not!!!

Countries in the study:
A = Australia
C = Canada
D = Denmark
E = Great Britain
F = France
G = Germany
H = Holland
I = Ireland
J = Japan
L = Switzerland
N = Norway
P = Portugal
R = Austria
S = Spain
T = Italy
U = United States
W = Sweden
Z = New Zealand

See how, on the graphs above, the “U”s (symbolizing the United States) stand all alone by their little itsy-bitsy selves or in a corner? That corner is the god-and-death corner. It’s where you go if you’re high on the graphs' Y axes (“godly”), and also high on the X axes (“homicidal”). (Don't hold it against me if I have Y and X mixed up here, it’s been a while since I took Y & X stuff in school).

Yep, that’s us. Homicidal godly-acs. In fact, WE HAVE THE GOD AND HOMICIDE RATES OF A THIRD WORLD COUNTRY. Looking at our murder and god rates, we resemble third-world countries more than we do the “civilized” nations on our planet.

That “P” that veers off in our direction on all the graphs? It’s the one country not in the “1st-world” gang – Portugal. Portugal’s considered a “2nd-world” country – not quite as spiffy as the “first world,” but not as sad and sooty as the 3rd. And we fall below Portugal!!!

Here, from the London Times, are some snippets about this earth-shaking study:

"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.

SNIP

“In general, higher rates of belief in and worship of a creator correlate with higher rates of homicide, juvenile and early adult mortality, STD infection rates, teen pregnancy and abortion in the prosperous democracies.

“The United States is almost always the most dysfunctional of the developing democracies, sometimes spectacularly so.”

“Gregory Paul, the author of the study and a social scientist, used data from the International Social Survey Programme, Gallup and other research bodies to reach his conclusions.

SNIP

“The study concluded that the US was the world’s only prosperous democracy where murder rates were still high, and that the least devout nations were the least dysfunctional….”

Oh, and to add a time element to this study, as Europe’s god-worship has fallen off over the past two hundred years, so has its homicide rate (p. 6).

Go HERE to read the London Times story on this monumental study, and HERE to the Journal of Religion & Society to read the actual study report. Don’t forget to check out the graphs. They’re presented as a horizontal list (“Figure 1,” “Figure 2,” etc.) and to open them, you have to click on them one at a time.

Oh, and while you’re web surfing, check out this review:

“In Greek mythology, the intrusion of the divine into the human world was invariably portrayed as rape. The sexual appetites of Zeus, the king of the gods, were insatiable, and there is nothing in the whole catalogue of his adulteries with mortal women but a series of often literally animal violations.”

Do we really need to wonder why gods R suicide???

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Thnx to joatklipa for the foto