The destructive myth about religion that Americans disproportionately believe

[DonViejo]

The U.S. is the last remaining highly developed country that hasn't abandoned this problematic belief

CJ WERLEMAN, ALTERNET

This week, Pew Research Center published the results of a survey conducted among 40,080 people in 40 countries between 2011 and 2013. The survey asked a simple question: is belief in God essential to morality? While clear majorities say it is necessary, the U.S. continues to be an outlier.

In 22 of the 40 countries surveyed, the majority says it is necessary to believe in God in order to be a moral person. “This position is highly prevalent, if not universal, in Africa and the Middle East,” says the report. No surprise there, but Asian and Latin countries such as Indonesia (99%), Malaysia (89%), the Philippines (99%), El Salvador (93%), and Brazil (86%) all fell in the highest percentile of respondents believing belief in a god (small G) is central to having good values.

Interestingly, clear majorities in all highly developed countries do not think belief in god to be necessary for morality, with one exception only: the U.S.A.

Only 15 percent of the French population answered in the affirmative. Spain: 19%. Australia: 23%. Britain: 20%. Italy: 27%. Canada: 31%. Germany 33%. Israel: 37%.

So what of the U.S.? A comparatively eye-popping 53 percent of Americans essentially believe atheists and agnostics are living in sin. Despite the fact that a research analyst at the Federal Bureau of Prisons determined that atheists are thoroughly under-represented in the places where rapists, thieves and murders invariably end up: prisons. While atheists make upward of 15 percent of the U.S. population, they only make up 0.2 percent of the prison population.

more
http://www.salon.com/2014/03/18/the_destructive_myth_about_religion_that_americans_disproportionately_believe_partner/

[Warren Stupidity]

1. I'm not convinced that prison populations

are really a good measure of immorality.
One would have to show tha law breaking is always immoral. I think most of us would agree that there are obvious examples of when law breaking and consequent imprisonment is a result of moral rather than immoral behavior.

[pipoman]

2. Even more obvious is that belief among prisoners

Is prevalent because of the lack of hope and guilt. People who have no hope and/or suffer from guilt are far more apt to embrace religion. Religion and faith almost require hope. Religion often promises forgiveness. I wonder how many BoP inmates polled considered themselves religious prior to their arrest. ..guessing not that many. ..

[el_bryanto]

3. Not a great article in my opinion

I do agree that believing that you have to be religious to be a moral person is not a good thing; particularly as for most of those in the US they mean a specific religion. But I think the article takes that premise and tries to build too much of a mountain out of it.

Bryant

[Starboard Tack]

4. Rapists, thieves and murderers?

Very unlikely that there are many of those in the Federal prison system. Unless they are from DC, the US Virgin Islands or an Indian Reservation.
Federal prisons are more likely to house drug smugglers, who are predominantly latino and Catholic, and organized crime members (MAFIA), also predominantly Catholic.
Less than 1% of inmates in federal prison are in for murder. About 4% are bank robbers and 51% are there for drug offences.

Also, the survey asked only one simple question. "Is belief in God essential to morality?"
That does not extrapolate to 53% of Americans believing that atheists and agnostics are living in sin. Many of the 53% believe that faith is essential to their own morality and do not impose judgement on others. Those imposing judgement would be the fundamentalist intolerants.

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. "Many of the 53% ... do not impose judgement on others" - what's your evidence for this?

As you said, this is about one question - whether it is "necessary to believe in God to be moral". That wording implies an opinion about morality in general, not for their 'own morality'. There's nothing there to imply it's about just themselves. And it would be strange to think that people would take it as meaning just whether it's necessary for themselves.

I think those not imposing judgement on others are the 46% who answered 'not necessary'.

[Starboard Tack]

9. Well, having asked the same question of a few born again friends and family members, I disagree

The feedback has been consistent. I'm almost certainly not going to be on the rapture bus with them, but my morality has never been questioned. YMMV

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. The good news is that attitude is on its way down. The bad news: very, very slowly

Education makes a lot of difference in the US.

http://www.pewglobal.org/2014/03/13/worldwide-many-see-belief-in-god-as-essential-to-morality/

[goldent]

7. I don't disagree with the results

but what I found interesting about the poll is that a country is considered highly developed based on per-capita GDP. So this says that the US is easily the most highly developed country in the world, well ahead of laggard countries like Germany and France. And forget about South Korea. Woohoo! USA! USA!

[Jim__]

8. What does it mean to be a moral person?

Does anyone have a definition of what a moral person is?

Back to the trolley problem where the trolley is rolling down the track and will kill 5 people unless you pull a switch that sends it down the track to kill 1 person. Does morality mandate a particular action? Is there general agreement about what demands morality places upon us?