Consider this a follow-up, or part of a series, to this diary.
I've recently come across some research that I found pretty interesting. Some background:
A researcher named Gregory Paul was curious. A common retort from creationists is that support for evolution is destroying society. Another common scream is secularism is destroying American society. Glenn BecKKK sobs like a baby missing his pacifyer about this on and off the air on a very regular basis, the Vicks Vaporub under his eyes notwithstanding.
Paul was curious if these retorts were true. So he did some research. Make the jump if you wish.
The study in particular is: The Chronic Dependence of Popular Religiosity upon Dysfunctional Psychosociological Conditions, published in Evolutionary Psychology, 2009. 7(3): 398-441, which is available for free on the internets. However you can also read a good review by Susan Blackmore at the Guardian
The research examines, compares, and contrasts religiousity in the United States against a number of other nations, most notably most of Western Europe (logical, because much of our culture derives from there) and Japan, thrown in because it expressly doesn't have a Christian heritage. It tests a number of social indicators called the Successful Societies Scale (divorce, marriage rates, acceptence of evolution, STD rates, murder rates, and so on) for all of these nations. In almost every indicator(and the SSS is tested with and without the United States's data being included) the US comes out as an outlying failure.
Now this isn't Paul's first go around at this. A 2005 study found a number of positive correlations between high murder rates like those across the United States and high religiousity, like that in the United States. It's also worth noting where in the United States the highest STD rates are, and the highest divorce rates are, and the highest incidences of teen pregnancy are, and lots of other anecdotal data. Those things go without saying. We've discussed them time and time again before in thread after thread, so I won't rehash what we already know. However, again, correlation does not mean causation and neither the 2005 study or the current one outright states religion causes all of these things. In fact you can't.
But it is enough to wonder what is causing said correlations.
Some of the things he states:
Among the prosperous democracies all but the U.S. have adopted most or all of a set of pragmatic progressive governmental policies that have elevated these nation’s societal efficiency, success and security while reducing personal levels of stress and anxiety. These include reduced socioeconomic disparity and competition via targeted tax and welfare strategies, handgun control, anti-corporal punishment and anti-bullying policies, protection for women in abusive relationships, intensive sex education that emphasizes condom use, rehabilitative incarceration, increased leisure time that can be dedicated to family needs, and perhaps most importantly job security and universal health care that make it difficult for ordinary citizens to suffer catastrophic financial failure. Social ills are correspondingly suppressed. As a member of the 1st world the U.S. is an anomalous outlier not only in its religiosity, but in social, economic and political policies as well. Provided with comparatively low levels of government support and protection in favor of less restrained capitalism, members of the middle class are at serious risk of financial and personal ruin if they lose their job or private health insurance; around a million go bankrupt in a year, about half due in part to often overwhelming medical bills. The need to acquire wealth as a protective buffer encourages an intense competitive race to the top, which contributes to income inequality. The latter leaves a large cohort mired in poverty. Levels of societal pathology are correspondingly high. The evidence indicates that the modulation of capitalism via progressive policies is producing superior overall national circumstances compared to the more laissez-faire capitalism favored in the U.S
The bold is of particular interest, because these things are often why Americans find solace in their faiths. However he also notes that the middle classes of the entire developed world, even the nation 'closest' to ours in dysfunction on the SSS (It was Ireland), are secure in a lot of the indicators that make the United States such an outlier among 1st World nations. A conclusion you can take from the data is that the healthiest nations are the least religious nations. The reasons, however, are probably a lot more complex then "relgion=bad"
I'm certainly not about to make a logical conclusion that religion=bad-ban-it (although I may think that from an illogical point of view) but I think this is an area of important social science research. I mean we could make an argument for our frontiersman heritage for our dysfunction, but Canada and Australia both have similar heritages and do not have the levels of social dysfunction that the US does. They also lack the high levels of religiousity that the US have. Also, like Susan Blackmore (she states this at the end of her review), the copy I read had some spelling and grammar errors that grated me. I would like to see the results replicated by another research. I personally have wondered about the various contradictions about us for a long time--high murder rate/high religiousity--high incarceration rate/high religiousity--and so on.
And one thing we atheists could do to achieve what we'd like, which is a much more secular society, is to encourage the progressive reforms that we talk about here every day by volunteering, running progressive and better Democratic candidates at all levels, and the like. Or at the very least, remember that we have a long ways to go on that regard too.
PDF of the Paper: link. If you have a Kindle it renders rather well on it. Have a read.