With the ongoing hyperventilating by the Christofascists over the series of federal court rulings striking down same sex marriage bans and deranged claims that God will smite America for "embracing homosexuality," it is worth revisiting a story from last year which again documents that it is the godly Christian folks themselves who are the gravest threat to marriage. As noted before, the Bible Belt has the highest divorce rate, the highest teen pregnancy rate and the highest obesity rate (gluttony is one of the seven deadly sins, not that the godly folk seem to have noticed). But even more damning for those who whine about the "sanctity of marriage" is the fact that godless atheists divorce less frequently than evangelical Christians. Here are highlights from The New Civil Rights Movement:
An Evangelical Christian pollster finds that atheists commit less crimes, divorce less, and are better educated than their fellow Christians. “It is obvious that you do not have to believe in a higher power in order to live a moral and successful life. Quite the opposite,” the Knoxville News‘ Al Westerfield writes of the study, adding that “the groups with the highest crime rate, the poorest marriages and the lowest education continually strive to force their beliefs on the nonreligious. And the politicians pander to them. Why else would they pass laws to put religion in the schools and on courthouse facades? And then they wonder why the godless could possibly be upset.”“According to a Barna Research Group report, fundamentalist Christians have the highest divorce rate, followed by Jews and Baptists,” Westerfield writes:The godless are tied with Catholics and Lutherans for the lowest divorce rate. It seems that some groups that claim to follow the Bible most strictly are not putting their money where their mouths are. The godless who are thought to be without morals seem to take their vows more seriously.
According to a Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life Survey, the least-educated Americans are Jehovah’s Witnesses, followed by black Protestants and fundamentalist Christians. The most highly educated are reformed Jews, followed by Unitarian Universalists and the godless.Some groups seem to like their flocks ignorant so that pastors’ interpretations of God’s edicts are not questioned. Other groups prize scholarship and achieve more in their lives here on Earth.In fact, a review of worldwide studies found that criminality and religion go hand in hand. The countries with the most religious people have the highest crime rates, highest sexually transmitted diseases and the highest teen pregnancy rates.This is also true in the United States. The more religious a state’s population, the higher the crime, STD and teen pregnancy rates.
Indeed, it would appear that if we really want to increase morality and reduce crime and many other social ills, the best thing we could do is reduce the number of fundamentalist Christians. P.S. Yes, the image above is a bit mean, but the hypocrisy of these "godly folks" drives me to distraction.
