In the current (2005) Journal of Religion & Society, one Gregory S. Paul has given us “Cross-National Correlations of Quantifiable Societal Health with Popular Religiosity and Secularism in the Prosperous Democracies” (which for purposes of brevity, I shall henceforth refer to as ‘CNCQSHPRSPD’).
Mr. Paul’s paper purports to show an inverse correlation between what he calls “religiosity,” and what he calls “societal health.” In other words, believing in God and going to church and suchlike behavior will tend to make a society sick. To determine the ‘health’ or ’sickness’ of a society, Paul tabulated some “basic measures of societal health,” like homicide rates, abortion rates, and suicide rates.
Paul does cautiously note (in paragraph 12) that “it is not the purpose of this initial study to definitively demonstrate a causal link between religion and social conditions,” but of course he pretty much assumes a causal link, and hopes you’ll do the same. His hope is not altogether in vain, if “Cookie” is any indication. Cookie happily links to Paul’s treatise with the helpful introduction, “If you’ve always suspected the wingnuts are — well, nuts… here’s your proof.” (But the author of the study himself just admitted it isn’t proof! Oh, well…)
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