[Vision2020] Satanism Was: Of, By

[Chasuk]

This particular thread ( sub-thread?) started when you asserted the following:

"[Atheists] have made God very unpopular in this country."

I pointed out that God is significantly more popular in this country
than He is in
any country in the Western world.  In other words, I was saying that
God isn't unpopular in this country at all, especially if we are only
comparing countries in the Western World.  Relative to all countries
in the Western World, God is very popular indeed.

You replied:

"Most countries and people in the world celebrate and include God to a
greater extent then the US and Western World."

I agreed with you.  Outside of the Western World, there are many
countries in which God is more popular.  I then tried to point out
that that this  was hardly a good advertisement for belief in God, as
most countries (outside the Western World) which have increased levels
of religiosity are worse places to live, rather than better.

You responded:

"So are the Athiests of China, better of than the Christians of America?"

This confused me, and I asked for clarification.  You provided this
clarification:

 "My understanding is that you are saying that Atheist oriented
Western World is better than most the rest of world which believes in
God. I disagreed."

I then wrote this response, retracing the thread and amplifying
anything that I had apparent;y left unclear.

To respond, finally, to your clarification, yes, I believe that the
atheist-oriented Western World is better than most of the rest of the
world which believes in God.

"Better" is a troublesome word, so I will elaborate  bit.  By
"better," I mean simply that the US (and the rest of the Wester World)
is a safer, more comfortable place to live than the rest of the world
which more fervently believes in God.

Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Syria -- all countries in which belief in God
is more profound than it is in the US or the rest of the Western
World.  I posit that any Western country is "better" than my example
countries.

My belief has some backing.  In a complex study of prosperous, Western
World democracies, comes this conclusion:

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."

And:

"A striking example of this is the US, which has the highest degrees
of religious faith and the highest rates of homicide, abortion, STD
infection and teenage pregnancy. The least religious countries -
Japan, France and Scandinavia - have the lowest rates of violent
crime, juvenile mortality and abortion."

http://moses.creighton.edu/jrs/2005/2005-11.html
http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/correlation-of-christian-ethics-social-ills-knocks-advocates-fromknees-to-backside/2005/10/03/1128191653994.html

Another relevant study:

(least religious countries of the world)
http://www.gadling.com/2007/08/23/least-religious-countries/

And:

(the US as one of the most religious countries in the world)
http://www.ur.umich.edu/0304/Nov24_03/15.shtml

Chas