This being Sunday, I thought I would point out a study and related article regarding the role of religious belief in several present-day liberal democracies. The study found that the more secular a society is, the more likely it is to have lower rates of violent behavior and teenage pregnancy. In other words, despite the claims of the faithful that religion exerts a positive influence on society, this study purports to offer evidence to the contrary.
Of course, other factors might also be at work that can explain the differences in violence and other social ills among democratic nations. But I sometimes wonder if America, in its current state, bears more resemblance to some of those theocratic regimes in the Mideast than we care to admit. And I think about how the European expulsion of the Puritans all those centuries ago and how it might have been better for everyone in the long run if the Puritans had been allowed to remain a minority in their homelands rather than being shipped off to a whole new country where they could plant the seeds of their future dominance.
