Religion, the world's - and our nation's - great divider...

george monbiot, writing in alternet today, makes this statement...

If you want people to behave as Christians advocate, you should tell them that God does not exist.

he bases his comment on the results of a recently-published study...

[I]n the current edition of the Journal of Religion and Society, a researcher called Gregory Paul tests the hypothesis propounded by evangelists in the Bush administration, that religion is associated with lower rates of "lethal violence, suicide, non-monogamous sexual activity and abortion." He compared data from 18 developed democracies, and discovered that the Christian fundamentalists couldn't have got it more wrong.

"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 ... None of the strongly secularized, pro-evolution democracies is experiencing high levels of measurable dysfunction."

Within the United States "the strongly theistic, anti-evolution South and Midwest" have "markedly worse homicide, mortality, STD, youth pregnancy, marital and related problems than the Northeast where ... secularization, and acceptance of evolution approach European norms."

Three sets of findings stand out: the associations between religion -- especially absolute belief -- and juvenile mortality, venereal disease and adolescent abortion. Paul's graphs show far higher rates of death among the under-5s in Portugal, the U.S and Ireland and put the U.S. -- the most religious country in his survey -- in a league of its own for gonorrhea and syphilis.

Strangest of all for those who believe that Christian societies are "pro-life" is the finding that "increasing adolescent abortion rates show positive correlation with increasing belief and worship of a creator ... Claims that secular cultures aggravate abortion rates (John Paul II) are therefore contradicted by the quantitative data."

it's unfortunate that, after reading monbiot, one could reasonably confuse religiosity with spirituality... they are not the same... i consider myself very spiritual but i have no truck with religion... religion, i agree, is perhaps the most divisive force on the planet but i would fiercely defend that belief in a god, higher power, whatever you might choose to call him/her/it is not a precursor to the devastation that has been wreaked in the name of religion or, perhaps better-termed, rigid pseudo-spiritual dogma...

equally unfortunately, this issue is playing out on the national stage and is one that bushco has continually used to stake out his political territory to the great detriment of our country...

President Bush said yesterday that it was appropriate for the White House to invoke Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers's religion in making the case for her to skeptical conservatives, triggering a debate over what role, if any, her evangelical faith should play in the confirmation battle.

no, it's not appropriate... it's precisely her religion that draws the dividing line between her and everyone who does not share her views... it also presents us with the prospect of a supreme court justice of the united states of america who, because of her deep RELIGIOUS beliefs, will be compelled to cast her decisions in that light in order to not put herself at odds with those beliefs...

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