Freethought & Rationalism Archive

scombrid · 01-07-2003, 08:40 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Taffsadar

So by comparing Sweden to USA can we assume that religion causes crime, unemployment, low education and teenage pregnancies . So all hail Sweden :notworthy

Teehee, this also works if you compare the Bible Belt to the rest of the US.

ps418 · 01-07-2003, 02:09 PM

Quote:

[i]Originally posted by Cretinist:
I'm not so sure about the validity of those statistics. When I first came across the figures at Adrian Barnett's site, I tried my best to locate the data on a government website. Try as I might, I couldn't find a survey even remotely similar to this.

The statistics come from a federal database that was accessed in 1997, as the article states.

Quote:

This was about a year ago. Reading this post yesterday caused me to try my search again. This time the search brought up an anti-atheist site discussing the validity of those statistics.

http://www.errantskeptics.org/Ancient_Statistics.htm

Also I found huge webpage about these statistics at adherents.com.

The first page does not discuss at all the 1997 statistics I cited. It discusses some very old statistics that I did not cite. The second page does refer to the statistics I cited, and makes some good points about the small sample size (i.e. only federal prisoners), and differing definitions of what is an atheist. On further thought, I do find it hard to belive that 8-16% of the US population is atheist, as opposed to just nonreligious. The second page says that the prevalence of atheists in the general population may be closer to 0.5%, which would still leave atheists under-represented in federal prison, but not by nearly as wide a margin. 16% seems too high, while 0.5% seems too low. I wonder if there are more statistics on the prevalence of atheism in the general population?

Patrick

Cretinist · 01-07-2003, 07:59 PM

Quote:

The first page does not discuss at all the 1997 statistics I cited. It discusses some very old statistics that I did not cite.

You're right, sorry about that. I wasn't looking closely.

openeyes · 01-07-2003, 08:35 PM

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. The thing about nonreligious people being criminals doesn't work either as our crime rates are way lower than the US ones (and our unemployment rate is only 2% lower so you can't blame unemployment either

This quote was made by Taffsadar regarding Sweden. On NPR the other morning there was a story about stem-cell research and the religious differences between England and the USA. They stated in the story that only about 45% of the people in England believed in god. Hmmmm, we Americans don't usually look at the English as uncivilized, impulsive risk-takers, do we?

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One could just as easily explain the phenomenon this way. Women seek secure, stable relationships in which to raise their offspring. Religions tend to impose moral restrictions on marriage--e.g. bans on promiscuity and adultery. Men do not have to go through pregnancy and can even avoid claiming paternity. So they risk less by promiscuous behavior. Therefore, women tend to identify more with religious principles than men do.

This explanation, offered by copernicus, makes more sense to me the "Professor" Stark's.

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