And The Jury’s In – Again – Religion Improves Nothing
27 December 2009 by KA
I rather enjoyed this article by the author (authoress? Is it PC to use that term?) of the Meme Machine.
Popular religious belief is caused by dysfunctional social conditions. This is the conclusion of the latest sociological research (pdf) conducted by Gregory Paul. Far from religion benefiting societies, as the "moral-creator socioeconomic hypothesis" would have it, popular religion is a psychological mechanism for coping with high levels of stress and anxiety – or so he suggests. I’ve long been interested in Paul’s work because it addresses a whole bunch of fascinating questions – why are Americans so religious when the rest of the developed world is increasingly secular? Is religious belief beneficial to societies? does religion make people behave better? I’d assume that there’s a number of variables – it’s likely ingrained into our collective consciousness because of the Establishment cause, appears on our money, and there’s a degree of diversity among the religious that possibly rivals the amount of biological diversity of the coral reefs in Australia. Many believers assume, without question, that it does – even that there can be no morality without religion. They cite George Washington who believed that national morality could not prevail without religions principles, or Dostoevsky’s famous claim (actually words of his fictional character Ivan Karamazov) that "without God all things are permitted". Then there are Americans defending their country’s peculiarly high levels of popular religious belief and claiming that faith-based charity is better than universal government provision. Citing G. Washington is an argument from tradition, and nobody needs the supernatural to be decent folks. Atheists, naturalists and humanists fight back claiming that it’s perfectly possible to be moral without God. Evolutionary psychology reveals the common morality of our species, and the universal values of fairness, kindness, and reciprocity. But who is right? As a scientist I want evidence. What if – against all my own beliefs – it turns out that religious people really do behave better than atheists, and that religious societies are better in important respects than non-religious ones, then I would have cause to rethink some of my ideas. This is where Gregory Paul and his research come in. I have often quoted his earlier, 2005, research which showed strong positive correlations between nations’ religious belief and levels of murder, teenage pregnancy, drug abuse and other indicators of dysfunction. It seemed to show, at the very least, that being religious does not necessarily make for a better society. The real problem was that he was able to show only correlations, and the publicity for his new research seemed to imply causation. If so this would have important implications indeed. In this latest research Paul measures "popular religiosity" for developed nations, and then compares it against the "successful societies scale" (SSS) which includes such things such as homicides, the proportion of people incarcerated, infant mortality, sexually transmitted diseases, teenage births and abortions, corruption, income inequality, and many others. In other words it is a way of summing up a society’s health. The outlier again and again is the US with a stunning catalogue of failures. On almost every measure the US comes out worse than any other 1st world developed nation, and it is also the most religious. Read the rest – it’s a good article, and it illustrates all the nonsense we’ve been discussing here for years. Religion improves nothing and no one. We share morals, none of this ‘borrowing’ folderol. Superstition is the fear of death, dimly cloaked, a ruse and tool of the alpha shamans, who shake their book at us and expect that we shake in fright as a response. It may have served some purpose in centuries past, but our species has evolved to having no need of shadowy wraiths and ghosts of Xmas pasts to keep us in lockstep anymore. It is good to be free. To breathe, to know that our lives are our own, and the shackles of anachronism are broken. Be free. Breathe. Our lives are works of art, to be made beautiful. Be free. Till the next post, then.
Are we better off without religion?
27 December 2009, on 10:16 am
I’ve long been convinced that societies are better off without religion. While the believers and congregants are probably mostly sincere, the leadership of churches and groups of churches tend to be corrupt – and that of course undermines the church’s moral authority.
Perhaps moral authority is a basic societal human need like communication and belonging to a group?
27 December 2009, on 12:17 pm
popular religion is a psychological mechanism for coping with high levels of stress and anxiety
I’ve felt that for quite some time. That is precisely why conservatives especially want to dismantle social safety nets and have churches be the primary provider of social services. They know people are at their most psychologically vulnerable in moments of crisis. “Here, come sit down and have a meal with us, and we can also talk to you about Jesus Christ.”
27 December 2009, on 1:51 pm
I hope that in this case correlation does equal causation, but in the second-to-last paragraph, Blackmore states some reservations about Paul’s research. Enough to make enthusiastic acceptance seem premature.
Anyway, it will be nice if this turns out to be correct, but religious leaders and sheeple have been denying or ignoring science for a very long time.
27 December 2009, on 4:07 pm
John – true enough she voices reservations @ the end, but this is the latest in ongoing studies over the last few years.
28 December 2009, on 3:56 am
There’s no doubt that religion is superfluous, I myself am a member of NA where the belief in a higher power is essential, this can be anything, one member has Luke Skywalker, no kidding, others nature, some a God of Judeo making, Me??? mine is the group itself and it’s wisdom, my point is that organised religion is totally unnecessary, it’s all a power trip isn’t it, I’ve seen people whose lives were totally shite and with a bit of love and support and a dose of humility they, including myself have great lives without the need for a Jesus trip or Mohammered, now theres a fruit if ever there was one, I’ve just watched a dvd on a gang called the Patrick Henry College a most disturbing bunch of freaks, now that was scary, they were as evil as the Zionist and the Mohammerdites just in sheeps clothing but the blood stains around their mouths were a dead give away LOL all the studies and thesis will never take away the fact that the majority of the worlds people have the intellect of a tennis ball and they will always be gullible to those who have the gift of the gab and a touch of mania for good measure, religion is an anathema to pinch what is essentially a word that stems from religious observation, damn good word though, an accursed thing, sums it up, regrettably we will always be having to listen to their self righteous nonsense that gives their dreary empty vaccuous lives some sort of life raft for their psyche, all the studies in the world will never change that, still their fun at times aren’t they……………..
28 December 2009, on 6:23 pm
For this atheist, the answer to the question whether the World would be better without religion comes easily. One only needs to point to the overwhelming data from the, IMO, totally bonkers and vicious historical record…in every area of the world…to demonstrate the inherent danger of, totally irrational, superstitious thinking.
Of course it poses a somewhat interesting exercise for speculating how the World, indeed, would have evolved WITHOUT all the mythologically based bullshit of religions.
Morality…TRUE morality, that is…has nothing to do with the often IMmorality contained in the often monstrous passages of both the Bible and Quran. Actually, basic morality, as Dawkins, Hitchens, et. al…and Science…demonstrates that even very young children already know, intuitively, the basic difference between “Right & Wrong”. Add to that, the recent Scientific observations of the evolved existence of basic morality amongst many animal species.
Speaking of Christopher Hitchens…
From a debate (December 2, 2009) between Christopher Hitchens & Rabbi David Wolpe at The College at Brockport on the question:
“Why Does God Matter?”…two relevant segments:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=–CiMMA3FgU&annotation_id=annotation_125752&feature=iv
continued in this segment:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rbCVcRpnF0
Yes…I think, especially considering the World’s already huge collection of Nuclear weapons, the sooner humans wake up and jettison, ESPECIALLY, I’d say, the Abrahamic variety of, insanely dangerous, Armageddon ridden religious beliefs, the better chance the human race has for continued Planetary survival.
Then, of course…
there’s those friggin’ random asteroids roamin’ around out there in the Cosmic void.
What’s that?…
“Too late, ChuckA…we rather cockamamee humans may be doomed, no matter what!”…?
Ummm…”with all due respect”…my response to that might be something like:
“Koo-cooh-Kee-kee-caca…neenooh-nah-nooh…squawk…henya, henya?”
28 December 2009, on 7:29 pm
Mankind, from the beginning, like so many other animals is a pattern seeker and by natural selection those who survived, more likely were good at discriminating between dangerous and benign patterns. Because of our unique intellectual capacity mankind evolved “agenticity” (Shermer ) “the tendency to believe that the world is controlled by invisible intentional agents” contributing to these patterns. With prominent thinking of this type it is easy to conclude that the meme for religion found good soil for growth. This delusional thinking becomes disastrous in our modern society where the knowledge of agents is based on science. An example of how agenticity affects the outcome of disease is clear in this actual occurrence that took place in a hospital a few years ago. Two Catholic Nun’s went on a trip to parts of Africa where Malaria is endemic; sadly they returned with malaria and were hospitalized, whereupon they were questioned as to whether they took the recommended prophylaxis for Malaria before leaving on their trip. They stated that they didn’t need it because they prayed to God to keep them safe. Multiply this error in patternicity and agenticity a thousand times over and you can see how delusional thinking can have a causative affect on medical statistics.
29 December 2009, on 1:14 am
EXCELLENT blog…of course the godless choir already knows this sermon. What I don’t understand is the unwillingness to see what is right under believers’ noses. The evidence is so overwhelming and undeniable that religion a mental poison, along with politics/patriotism, and finance. Very few people in this country seem comfortable enough to think. If they had the fortitude to ponder the implications of their belief structure, I bet superstition and ancient mythology would crumble. But alas, people are emotionally immature and intellectually dishonest so I’m not going to hold my breath for it. I guess maybe I do understand it, lol.
31 December 2009, on 11:23 am
The late, great George Carlin nailed it perfectly. Americans have a tough time facing the truth. Religion is one of the things our society uses to hide from it.
Of all the industrialized nations, we are, by any measure, the most religious. Yet, we have the highest rates of crime, divorce, violence, addiction and incarceration. Now ex-president Bush, who describes himself as a man of faith, stood at the helm of this country for two terms and what do we have to show for it? Our economy is in ruins. We’re involved in two wars. Nearly 50 million of our citizens have no health insurance. Our schools are failing.
So it seems that the harsher our reality becomes, the less our citizenry wants to face it. I’m not going to hold my breath either.
31 December 2009, on 3:43 pm
Brooklyn Boy’s comment reminds me that the annual Times Square, ball drop, countdown…erm…looms?
I’ll probably watch CNN on that…featuring, admitted atheist, Kathy Griffin with Anderson Cooper.
That, in turn, always reminds me of my very enjoyable month of April, 1967, playing trombone with a ballroom big band at the Roseland Ballroom; when I stayed at a [then VERY cheap] hotel right across from the CBS(?) studios, and very near Times Square.
(Now called, I’m guessing: “The Best Western President Hotel”, at Times Square)
Anyhoo…
Happy New Year everyone!
Yeah…another whole (extremely weird-ass?) decade bites the dust…?
What’ll the next decade be like?
[I feign plugging in my 'Maestro' brand Theremin; adding mucho echo/reverb into the mix.]
“oooEEEooo”
31 December 2009, on 9:26 pm
Hey, happy yew near, everybody!
(That a spoonerism or a malapropism, I wonder?)
31 December 2009, on 9:58 pm
I believe humans do, actually, have a gene that causes us to feel pain and therefore care for others. When we show that sympathy, humans naturally gravitate towards us. Over our evolutionary timeline, we have genetically learned to care for one another to survive.
To say that atheists have no moral background is ridiculous, for in some ways it is even inherent in everyone’s own genes. Morality has nothing to do with religion, rather (at least in my opinion) religion has used morality (or whatever skewed view of morality those at the top have) as a tool to unite populations and gain followers.
I also believe religion creates a mental struggle between the concept of “good” (what “God” wants) and “bad.” And, in my opinion, it’s impossible to find peace within yourself in such a mental struggle.
1 January 2010, on 8:02 pm
Perhaps there is a positive aspect to religious belief. As humans we are subject to a not well understood phenomena called the Placebo effect; the idea that if one believes in a an innocuous substance or idea the body processes this and may insures a positive result. The opposite of this the Nocebo effect occurs when a harmless substance or idea believed by an individual can be associated with harmful effects due to negative expectations, It appears that fundamentalist religious individuals are prone to think that their belief is superior to non-believers and therefore they tend to have Placebo effect experiences during their lives. Of course they are subject to the opposite Nocebo effect also which can be devastating to them and others in their environment.