Apparently being very religious does not necessarily make you a better person. CLS over at Classically Liberal has done some analysis which shows that the highest rates of poverty, murder, rape, divorce , teenage pregnancy as well as the lowest life expectancy can be all found in the the Bible Belt of the United States. This of course runs counter intuitive to what organized religion wants you to believe. This just goes to show that we do not need organized religion to create a better society. If you would like to read more about this story please go here: http://tiny.cc/3NT6K
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
While I would agree with you that religion does not necessarily improve people in-and-of itself, I believe you may be putting the cart before the horse a bit here. After all, maybe the Bible Belt would be a WORSE place without it’s prevalence of organized religion. This isn’t to say that I’m pro-religion; if anything I would assume that the ubiquitous existence of religion in the Bible Belt represents a desperation of the people who live there in trying to improve the quality of their lives.
While the Bible Belt may not be the economic nirvanah of the United States, life there is still not like living in a third world country either. I find it hard to believe that for most people in this area that the economic conditions are desperate and they need religion to make their life more bearable. I would argue religion is a way of life in the Bible Belt and it hard to change old habits……….and by clinging to old habits their society ends up lagging behind more modern areas of the US in every area.
It would be interesting to see what would happen if all of a sudden a majority of people became non-religious in one of the those Bible Belt states. Of course this is next to impossible to arrange in real life so I will offer up a historical case study of something similar to this happening in Canada. Let’s take a look at the Province of Quebec; Canada’s 2nd most populous province with 8 million people. Quebec also has the largest French speaking population outside of France.
Quebec underwent a radical transformation in the mid 20th century. Before 1960, Quebec was a backward, priest ridden society that was economically depressed and dominated by outsiders. The Catholic Church had a stranglehold on the French (Francophone) society. Quebec was not the place you wanted to go if wanted to think creatively. In many ways the backwardness of Quebec society resembled that of many Bible Belt states……..very conservative, economically depresses and reactionary.
However, during the 1960’s, Quebec underwent a radical transition. In the space of 10 years the province went from a conservative backwater to becoming one of the most progressive provinces in Canada. During the 1960’s church attendance collapsed. Politically, the society went from stern conservatism to embrace socialism in a huge way. There was an explosion of creativity in Quebec that led to Quebeckers taking control of their destiny and remaking their society. This upheaval also created a strong independence movement that nearly lead to their separation Canada. This new Quebec certainly added a lot of new tensions to governing Canada, but the country has survived.
Today, Quebec is a culturally vibrant society, their culture flourishes. Their province is one of the economic engines of Canada. None of this would have been possible had its society kept itself chained to religion and the Catholic church. Quebec went from the highest rates of religiosity in Canada to the lowest today. Religion in Quebec has been relegated to shadows and corners.
So what would happen if this occurred in the Bible Belt? Who knows but there is a good chance that the people will focus their energy on solving their real life problems instead of hoping for God to fix it for them.