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Dude
SFN Die Hard
USA
6891 Posts |
 Posted - 09/26/2005 : 23:37:36
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According to one study anyway:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1798944,00.html
quote:
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.
quote:
“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.
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Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
-- Thomas Jefferson
"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin
Hope, n.
The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth |
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moakley
SFN Regular
USA
1888 Posts |
Posted - 09/27/2005 : 04:04:01 [Permalink]
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quote:
Mr Paul said that rates of gonorrhoea in adolescents in the US were up to 300 times higher than in less devout democratic countries.
Does this mean that the abstinence program is not working ?  |
Life is good
Philosophy is questions that may never be answered. Religion is answers that may never be questioned. -Anonymous |
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pleco
SFN Addict
USA
2998 Posts |
Posted - 09/27/2005 : 05:25:45 [Permalink]
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I had read that because of the abstinence programs kids were having much more oral sex since that isn't intercourse and therefore still getting STDs.
Kids are pretty smart aren't they (at least at finding loopholes)! |
by Filthy
The neo-con methane machine will soon be running at full fart. |
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Subjectmatter
Skeptic Friend
173 Posts |
Posted - 09/27/2005 : 07:19:13 [Permalink]
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It sounds a lot like an oversimplification.
It seems more likely to me that social problems and religion both stem from poor education than from each other. I should like to see how the quality of education corresponds to these finding in all of these nations.
Of course, whatever theory produced must be a gross oversimplification of the state of things considered.
I would criticize the false dichotomy, however, of religion vs. the theory of evolution. It would be more fair to compare extreme forms of religion vs. sanity... |
Sibling Atom Bomb of Couteous Debate |
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Robb
SFN Regular
USA
1223 Posts |
Posted - 09/27/2005 : 09:42:38 [Permalink]
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| I would like to read the study. It seems too simple to blame our problems solely on religion. I agree that the fundies as they are called contribute to some of these problems such as STD's. But there are many factors in our society such as poverty and lack of education that needs to be looked at as contributing factors to the differences. The lack of education I think falls on the shoulders of parents most of the time. Most religious people I know do teach sex education along with abstinence. To only teach abstinence without also teaching the positives and negatives of sexual intercourse is morally wrong. |
Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master. - George Washington |
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Dude
SFN Die Hard
USA
6891 Posts |
Posted - 09/27/2005 : 10:08:21 [Permalink]
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quote:
To only teach abstinence without also teaching the positives and negatives of sexual intercourse is morally wrong.
Tell it to the president Robb.
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Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
-- Thomas Jefferson
"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin
Hope, n.
The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth |
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H. Humbert
SFN Die Hard
USA
4574 Posts |
Posted - 09/27/2005 : 13:33:36 [Permalink]
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"Chastity...the most unnatural of all the sexual perversions." --Aldous Huxley.
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"A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true." --Demosthenes
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool." --Richard P. Feynman
"Face facts with dignity." --found inside a fortune cookie |
| Edited by - H. Humbert on 09/27/2005 13:35:48 |
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trishran
Skeptic Friend
USA
196 Posts |
Posted - 09/27/2005 : 13:40:41 [Permalink]
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Subject matter says:It sounds a lot like an oversimplification.
It seems more likely to me that social problems and religion both stem from poor education than from each other. I should like to see how the quality of education corresponds to these finding in all of these nations.
One way to test whether religion and crime are popular with less educated people, or religious belief is the catalyst in bad behavior, would be to do a study comparing the crime rates among people with equal educational attainment, but divided into believers/nonbelievers.
I suspect that it will turn out that religions is a serious factor influencing people to commit crimes. First off, religion can inspire people to spectacular acts of violence that seem unlikely given their lack of criminal history - the 9/11 hijackers, for example.
In addition, religion is very popular among criminals, many of whom expect to be forgiven by courts and victims because they feel that they have been forgiven by God, or they are "making things right with god" [which seems to entail reading some portions of the Bible, maybe wearing a cross and going to church]. Dr Stanton Samenow, who has worked with people judged "criminally insane" at St Elizabeth's Hospital for decades, says that religion doesn't prevent criminals from comitting new crimes, but instead is the way the criminal convinces himself/herself that s/he's a good person. More from Dr Samenow: http://members.cox.net/samenow/conceptmay_05.html |
trish |
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GeeMack
SFN Regular
USA
1093 Posts |
Posted - 09/27/2005 : 14:37:57 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Robb...
I would like to read the study. It seems too simple to blame our problems solely on religion. I agree that the fundies as they are called contribute to some of these problems such as STD's. But there are many factors in our society such as poverty and lack of education that needs to be looked at as contributing factors to the differences. The lack of education I think falls on the shoulders of parents most of the time.
Before you read the study it might be a good idea to actually read the article. Nobody has even remotely blamed our problems solely on religion. In the opening post the quotes were (with my emphasis)...quote:
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.
And...quote:
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.
Also in the article you'll find phrases such as, "can cause damage to a society," but not a single mention of religion being the singular cause of society's ills. The condensed conclusion of the research apparently shows that...quote:
The widely held fear that a Godless citizenry must experience societal disaster is therefore refuted.
It seems to be saying that religion doesn't contribute to the general state of good in society, and infers that encouraging superstition and belief in bogeymen is probably a bad idea, but it doesn't suggest society would be perfect without it. So don't worry, Robb, they're not picking on you this time.
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