What would society be like without religion?

Question

Some data worth considering:

93% of the National Academy of Sciences is Atheist

1% of the prison population is atheist.

On August 18, 2001, Dr. Younis Shaikh was sentenced to death in an Islam Court for teaching students that the Prophet Mohammad wasn't a Muslim until he invented the religion himself.

Ann Coulter said regarding Islamic countries, "we should invade their countries, kill their leaders, and conver them to Christianity"

Ronald Raegan's Secretary of the Interior said, "We don't have to protect the environment, the Second Coming is at hand."

Kinda spooky, isn't it?

Any speculation on how awesome it would be if atheists had their very own country? I hear Sweden is nice.

Answer 1

The Times September 27, 2005

The Times


Societies worse off 'when they have God on their side'
By Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent



RELIGIOUS belief can cause damage to a society, contributing towards high murder rates, abortion, sexual promiscuity and suicide, according to research published today.



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.

The study counters the view of believers that religion is necessary to provide the moral and ethical foundations of a healthy society.

It compares the social peformance of relatively secular countries, such as Britain, with the US, where the majority believes in a creator rather than the theory of evolution. Many conservative evangelicals in the US consider Darwinism to be a social evil, believing that it inspires atheism and amorality.

Many liberal Christians and believers of other faiths hold that religious belief is socially beneficial, believing that it helps to lower rates of violent crime, murder, suicide, sexual promiscuity and abortion. The benefits of religious belief to a society have been described as its “spiritual capital”. But the study claims that the devotion of many in the US may actually contribute to its ills.

The paper, published in the Journal of Religion and Society, a US academic journal, reports: “Many Americans agree that their churchgoing nation is an exceptional, God-blessed, shining city on the hill that stands as an impressive example for an increasingly sceptical world.

“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.

He compared social indicators such as murder rates, abortion, suicide and teenage pregnancy.

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. Mr Paul said that rates of gonorrhoea in adolescents in the US were up to 300 times higher than in less devout democratic countries. The US also suffered from “ uniquely high” adolescent and adult syphilis infection rates, and adolescent abortion rates, the study suggested.

Mr Paul said: “The study shows that England, despite the social ills it has, is actually performing a good deal better than the USA in most indicators, even though it is now a much less religious nation than America.”

He said that the disparity was even greater when the US was compared with other countries, including France, Japan and the Scandinavian countries. These nations had been the most successful in reducing murder rates, early mortality, sexually transmitted diseases and abortion, he added.

Mr Paul delayed releasing the study until now because of Hurricane Katrina. He said that the evidence accumulated by a number of different studies suggested that religion might actually contribute to social ills. “I suspect that Europeans are increasingly repelled by the poor societal performance of the Christian states,” he added.

He said that most Western nations would become more religious only if the theory of evolution could be overturned and the existence of God scientifically proven. Likewise, the theory of evolution would not enjoy majority support in the US unless there was a marked decline in religious belief, Mr Paul said.

“The non-religious, proevolution democracies contradict the dictum that a society cannot enjoy good conditions unless most citizens ardently believe in a moral creator.

“The widely held fear that a Godless citizenry must experience societal disaster is therefore refuted.”

Answer 2

Napoleon was an atheist but he believed that religion was good for the country.There is no doubt that the USA is a great country because of religion.Now some might say what has religion done for Mexico?Education complements religion.
Atheists had their country the Soviet Union it was a failure.People should be allowed to worship freely.

Answer 3

You've obviously never lived in a counrty that only has 4 months or less of summer. Sweeden is damned cold right now! However, I think the world would be a much safer, quieter place if there was no religion. And for those who say religion gives us laws to follow, nice try, the rules were in place long before any religion reared its ugly head. it has always been wrong to kill your neighbour, and it has always been wrong to do any of the things the scriptures of all religions say it is

Answer 4

How about these supporting facts.

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 (Figures 1-9). The most theistic prosperous democracy, the U.S., is exceptional, but not in the manner Franklin predicted. The United States is almost always the most dysfunctional of the developed democracies, sometimes spectacularly so, and almost always scores poorly. The view of the U.S. as a “shining city on the hill” to the rest of the world is falsified when it comes to basic measures of societal health. [ref]

Answer 5

Considering that most of the basic laws of Western Society are derived from Hebraic Law and other religious moralities, it is likely that, if the human race never had religious belief systems, then there would be lawlessness. On the other hand, we would not have religious extremists blowing up bus loads of children; and there would never have been the crusades or jihads or any other wars over who's God is the right God.

Answer 6

I think you would have a very lost society if that were the case. it would be all "to each his own", with everyone encrouching upon everyone else's lives in an effort to live their own lives...yes, religion creates lots of conflict. that's inevitable. but no religion creates even more conflict.

oh, and i would like to see man from utopia's actual legitimate website backing up his facts before i choose to believe them. because this contradicts what i've always been taught - that those with religion have lower rates of depression and suicide than those without religion. but it's 3AM here and i don't have the effort to look up a website to back it up :)

Answer 7

There'd be less pain and suffering in the world. Nothing has caused worse behaviors than religion.

Answer 8

We need some man living in a cloud to straighten out the mess.

Answer 9

Maybe all of the atheists in the world should work together and migrate to their own land where we can live in peace.

Answer 10

Alot less people would die and their wouldn't be those annoying old men always knocking on your door trying push you into their religions.