Well, Whaddya Know?
4 June 2009 by Bob
Atheist nations are more peaceful
The 2009 Global Peace Index has just been released. It’s basically a ranking of how turbulent and warlike a country is. They put it together by assessing 23 criteria, including foreign wars, internal conflicts, respect for human rights, the number of murders, the number of people in jail, the arms trade, and degrees of democracy (Guardian). You can see a world map of peace at the Vision of Humanity website, and also take a look at country rankings for 2009, as well as earlier years. New Zealand came top this year. Hmm, New Zealand is a pretty secular country. In fact, if you eyeball the rankings, the top few countries are all pretty secular. What I’ve done in the figures here is to take data from the World Values Survey on the percentage of people in each country who say they are a committed atheist, and also on the percentage of people who say that they go to a religious service at least once a month. Then I split the sample into two equal groups, based on their score on the Global Peace Index. The ones in the ‘Peaceful’ group are countries with a GPI score less than 1.8. Sure enough, peaceful countries have more atheists and fewer regular worshippers. The difference is highly statistically significant (P=0.001 or less) – in other words it’s real, not just a chance finding.
5 June 2009, on 12:09 am
Its probably got more to do with the correlation between atheism and education levels, and education levels and improved politics (less chance of entering wars on obvious lies…)
5 June 2009, on 12:17 am
“The difference is highly statistically significant (P=0.001 or less) – in other words it’s real, not just a chance finding.”
So you admit there IS a possibility that this all occurs by chance! A .1% chance at that! That’s way more than god needs! Because with god, anything is possible! Just read your bibbles and you’d no that. And besides, that’s way more of a chance than the chance of evolution, and you stupid Stan worshipping atheists believe in that–it’s your religion.
Sorry, just channeling an asshat there. Figured I’d get a leg up on the trolls. Actually, no surprises in this article. Too bad my country is so full of asshats
Yea, reason!
5 June 2009, on 7:04 am
Fritzy:
When they die and “go to their reward” they become “ass-haloes”.
5 June 2009, on 10:11 am
Fritzy, buried in Vision of Humanity’s Global Peace Index, under Methodology, is this gem:
And if we had peace? If we could stifle the MIC, the bankers and Wall Street, those greedy bastards, our readily available cash worldwide? To spend on disease and poverty, housing and clean water, education and more…
$7.2tr ($7,200,000,000,000). Annually.
But what do I know…I’m just another Dirty Fucking Hippy
5 June 2009, on 12:08 pm
“Atheist nations are more peaceful”
It is hard to say which is the cause and which is the effect, since you could of course argue that the headline might just as well have been the other way around: “Peaceful nations are more atheist”. Since it could also go like this:
A nation lives a long peaceful period with no unrest and wars that would tear the nation down -> prosperity grows and the nation gains wealth, health and education -> well educated people are more likely to be atheistic.
Granted, it could also go in the direction the headline suggested, since an atheistic and naturalistic worldview prevents a lot of tension and aggression that is faith-originated. So atheism can also cause peace. I would reckon that it is a two-way feedback loop, one empowering/enabling the other and vice versa. Hence the statistical correlation mentioned in the article.
6 June 2009, on 1:00 am
Excellent, Sebastian! Since throwing off the burden of pretending to be a xian and admitting that I had NEVER believed in gord, heaven/hell, etc., I’ve been more at peace with myself. However, the tension comes from living here in Tennessee. Even on the road, I encounter the same shit: in-your-face flaunting of delusional disorder.
There is a weirdness about xian truckers — blowing down the road at 75mph or more, cutting in and out of traffic, taking chances saner drivers won’t. And what does it say on the door? “Safety is of the Lard” Huh? Jeebus is not only their co-pilot, he’s their security blanket and lucky rabbit’s foot. Of course, if they get into an accident, Jeebus won’t know them. And neither will their employers and/or their insurers. Hah! They deserve to be crucified!
*deep breaths*
I’m okay now…
6 June 2009, on 12:03 pm
Sebastian;
Actually there was an article in Free Inquiry magazine about this–and I’ve heard it hypothesized in other places. In nations that are more atheistic, such as the Northern European nations named in this article, there is a stronger social safety-net. People feel safer and more secure. In nations, such as the US, where there is no guarantees of social welfare, people tend to, the hypothesis goes, turn to whatever “next-best thing” they can grasp to–for many people, that is the hope that religion offers them.
In my opinion, of course, it is a second option that pales in comparison–truly an “opiate of the masses.” It eases anxiety to a certain extent, but certainly not the source of that anxiety. Religion treats the symptoms while social safety nets attack the problem itself.
7 June 2009, on 12:29 am
This may be minor (except in MY book!), but we should also consider the destruction of the “social safety net” which has morphed into “faith-based initiatives”, thank you very fucking much, George Walker Bush. Of course, he didn’t think of it — he just implemented it. What a tool!
Can anybody disprove my suspicion that much of that money went into BigBox Churches-on-Steroids?
BUT how the might have fallen. Two years ago, five of the behemoths were being completed every month. Now? Revenues have fallen and they’re late with their payments! And the construction bond-holders are worried.
Hah!
7 June 2009, on 1:14 am
And I still maintain that one gets more realistic life guidance when one leaves gord and jeebus out of it. After all, it’s a huge conflict of interest, isn’t it? How do you keep brand-loyalty if you give the best advice? I always resented my pastor throwing Ephesians and Philipians at me. I just wasn’t made in the meek-wife modality.