Reference Research Paper: The Chronic
Dependence of Popular Religiosity upon Dysfunctional
Psychosociological Conditions
The link is above for those interested in reading this in-depth.
But to summarise it:
In recent years, it had been claimed and assumed by multiple
researchers that humans were innately religious, because of the
prevalence in religion in human societies since time immemorial,
and that the rising secularism in human society since the 19th-20th
century is but a recent phenomenon.
On the same tangent, plenty of religious people contend that
their religion, be it Christianity, Islam or Buddhism (but I don't
consider Buddhism a 'religion' per se) provides a strong moral
compass for whichever society it resides in, and is generally
beneficial to society. I disagree with both contentions.
Since the dawn of time throughout the history of the Homo
Sapien, he has always been curious of his environment,
and those that captivate his mind are the mysteries
of the unknown matters in his time and space.
From ignorance, the Homo Sapien first worshipped
Lightning and Thunder - then the Fire, the Sun, the
Moon, the Stars.
When the faculties of the Homo Sapien became developed and
able to grasp the origins of lightning, thunder, fire - it led to a
redefiniion to all these elements as no longer being
God.
It has always been the power of the mysterious unknown shrouded
by superstition that has kept in check the wayward
ways of the Homo Sapien.
Religion has also similar influential powers through its
teachings of the Final Justice that will need to be faced.
The data gathered in this paper suggest that increased religiosity
in society does not correlate at all with a more stable or
harmonious society in both social and economic factors. The top
five ranked nations, Sweden, Denmark, Japan, Norway and Holland are
all noted for their secularism, and strong values in a stable
society indicated by low rates of homicides, suicides,
incarceration (number of people put in jail), STD rates, life
satisfaction index, marriage duration and abortions, and economic
equality.
The United States, on the other hand, has a very strong culture
of publicly declared religiosity (no American politician could hope
to be elected to office unless they were publicly declared
Christians, or were Jews), and has indications of high social and
economic instability at the same time.
Has "religion" any relations to the "social /
economic dysfuntion" of any society ?
While the author attempts to compare the "intensity of
being religious" to affect the results in the statistics of the
social ills observed, there are erroneous conclusions in
the claims made.
Firstly, how was the conclusion made in determining
that - "the top five ranked nations, Sweden, Denmark,
Japan, Norway and Holland are all noted for their secularism"
?
Is "secular" intended to be a distinct
separation of Church and State; or allowing the Church to
co-exist without the need for any patronage from the State
?
If by "secular" it is meant that the general
population are non-religious, then nothing can be more wrong as
seen from the gems that correct the wrong claims made as displayed
below :-
‘One
fifth of Swedes chose to describe themselves as believing in God,
while the majority (78 percent) of the population belongs to the
Church of Sweden – the Lutheran Church that separated from the
State in 2000’ (*1);
‘In
Denmark, the Evangelical Lutheran Church is state supported, and
accounts for 83 per cent of Denmark’s reglious affiliation’.
(*2);
‘Shinto
and Budhism are Japan’s two major religions, and have been
co-existing for several centuries – with most Japanese considering
themselves Buddhist , Shintoist or both’ (*3).
‘The
Lutheran Church of Norway is the state church with 86 per cent of
Norwegians being Lutherans, 3.5 per cent being Protestants, and 1
per cent being Catholics’ (*4)
‘In the Netherlands (Holland) - the largest group of her population
consist of 26.6 per cent being Roman Catholics, while the rest is
distributed over a multitude of Protestant Church in the
Netherlands forming 16.8 per cent as Protestants, and 43.4 per cent
as Christians – with no religious affiliation forming 42.7 per cent
of her citizenry’(*5).
If the above shows the flaw in the claim to secularism in
the top five nations, then this will lead to
the second flawed claim in
the conclusion that the intensity "of secularism and
social values will be seen in the low rates of homicides,
suicides, incarceration (number of people put in jail), STD rates,
life satisfaction index, marriage duration and abortions, and
economic equality".
Was it correct to compare the low indices in social ills
found in these top five nations compared to the USA - when it
is obvious that population size will affect the statistics with an
increased potential to higher frequency of social ills
occurring compared to a smaller size population ?
Is it correct to place the cause of social dysfunction
being caused by higher rate of religiousity ?
My contention out of all this, is that the more evolved humans have
proven themselves to not need God any longer. They have made for
themselves, societies which have benign social and economic
environments that do not create much stress to the point that
people need to turn to the irrational supernatural (religion) for
comfort or solace. It is true that humans have always relied on
religion until very recently, but only because civilization was
still very much in flux until the 21st century in a select few
nations when its inhabitants have decided for themselves that God
was no longer needed.
Man's need for answers to the unknown - the supra-natural
- has resulted in the creation of religious worship to placate
his superstitious being.
When the Homo Sapien becomes more learned with scientific
and philosophical discoveries and thinking, he should be less
superstitious and will develop a higher intellect to seek
the abstract quality in a God that is worthy of his developed
intelligence.
Will the Homo Sapien ever reach the point in its intellectual
development to decide that he will no longer need a more
Superior Being ?
Societies and Religions are the hallmark of the intellect of the
Homo Sapien - can it be anything less ?
Social stresses appear in a society of Homo Sapiens not due to
poor planning but due to environmental factors beyond the control
of the Homo Sapiens.
Weather can play havoc to agriculture produces that result in
increased breakdown of the social system unless there is a strong
communal bond in self-help that will need supplementing from higher
authorities.
Is the modern civilisation that we know today abandoning God
?
If it is so, how should one conclude the increase numbers of new
found religious groups that are not from the main stream churches,
and prefer to worship in small groups in the outdoors, or in
rented ballrooms, or rotating through members' homes ?
Even in Islam, there are groups being accused of preaching
or following deviant forms of Islam.
Is Civilization in the 21st Century no longer in flux ?
Has it come to a halt in its progress into the future ?
