Religion and god is not something that is acquired overnight. A lot of organized thoughts and action goes through while the process of metamorphosis takes place for a new born baby to someone who follows a religion or has a belief in a god.
Likewise one does not turn into an atheist overnight. Most atheist are born under a concept of god and religion. Then they generally begin to evolve.
It is amazing to learn that countries which were potentially thought of being religious have the highest % of people identifing themselves as atheist, agnostic, or non-believers in God
Here is a list with a % of the Population
Sweden 85%
Vietnam 81%
Denmark 80%
Norway 72%
Japan 65%
Czech Republic 61%
Finland 60%
France 54%
South Korea 52%
Estonia 49%
Germany 49%
Russia 48%
Hungary 46%
Netherlands 44%
Britain 44%
Belgium 43%
Bulgaria 40%
Slovenia 38%
Israel 37%
Canada 30%
Latvia 29%
Slovakia 28%
Switzerland 27%
Austria 26%
Australia 25%
Taiwan 24%
Spain 24%
Iceland 23%
New Zealand 22%
Ukraine 20%
Belarus 17%
Greece 16%
North Korea 15%*
Italy 15%
Armenia 14%
China 14%*
Lithuania 13%
Singapore 13%
Uruguay 12%
Kazakhstan 12%
Mongolia 9%
Portugal 9%
USA 9%
Albania 8%
Argentina 8%
Kyrgyzstan 7%
Dominican Republic 7%
Cuba 7%*
Croatia 7%
These figures do not necessarily represent the number of people who are identifying themselves as “atheists.” For example, in Estonia in 2004, 49% of people surveyed said they did not believe in God. At the same time, only 11% of people in the country identified themselves as atheists.
In USA a person who doesn’t believe in the Christian God wouldn’t be elected president. In Sweden, being religious would lower your odds.
Several months ago, another ground-breaking study on religious belief and social well-being was published in the Journal of Religion & Society. Comparing 18 prosperous democracies from the U.S. to New Zealand, author Gregory S Paul quietly demolished the myth that faith strengthens society.
Drawing on a wide range of studies to cross-match faith – measured by belief in God and acceptance of evolution – with homicide and sexual behavior, Paul found that secular societies have lower rates of violence and teenage pregnancy than societies where many people profess belief in God.
As per this report top of the class, in both atheism and good behavior, comes the Japanese. Over eighty percent accept evolution and fewer than ten percent are certain that God exists. Despite its size – over a hundred million people – Japan is one of the least crime-prone countries in the world. It also has the lowest rates of teenage pregnancy of any developed nation.
(Teenage pregnancy has less tragic consequences than violence but it is usually unwanted, and it is frequently associated with deprivation among both mothers and children. In general, it is a Bad Thing.)
Next in line are the Norwegians, British, Germans and Dutch. At least sixty percent accept evolution as a fact and fewer than one in three are convinced that there is a deity. There is little teenage pregnancy , although the Brits, with over 40 pregnancies per 1,000 girls a year, do twice as badly as the others. Homicide rates are also low -- around 1-2 victims per 100,000 people a year.
At the other end of the scale comes America. Over 50 percent of Americans believe in God, and only 40 percent accept some form of evolution (many believe it had a helping hand from the Deity). The U.S. has the highest rate of teenage pregnancy and homicide rates are at least five times greater than in Europe and ten times higher than in Japan.
All this information points to a strong correlation between faith and antisocial behavior -- a correlation so strong that there is good reason to suppose that religious belief does more harm than good.
At first glance, that is an outrageous suggestion, given that religions preach non-violence and sexual restraint. However, close assessment reveals a different story. Faith tends to weaken rather than strengthen people’s ability to participate in society. That makes it less likely they will respect social customs and laws.
All believers learn that God holds them responsible for their actions. So far so good, but for many, belief releases them of all other responsibilities. Consciously or subconsciously, those who are "born again" or "chosen" have diminished or moderate respect for others who do not share their thought, sect or their faith. Convinced that only the Bible or the Koran offers "truth", they lose their intellectual curiosity and their ability to reason. Their priority becomes not the world they live in but themselves.
The more people prioritize themselves rather than those around them, the weaker society becomes and the greater the likelihood of antisocial behavior. Hence gun laws which encourage Americans to see each other not as fellow human beings who deserve protection, but as potential aggressors who deserve to die. And hence a health care system which looks after the wealthy rather than the ill.
As for sex… Faith encourages ignorance rather than responsible behavior. In other countries, sex education includes contraception, reducing the risk of unwanted pregnancies. Such an approach recognizes that young people have the right to make their own choices and helps them make decisions that benefit society as a whole. In America faith-driven abstinence programs deny them that right -- "As a Christian I will only help you if you do what I say". The result is soaring rates of unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.
Abstinence programs rest on the same weak intellectual foundation as creationism and intelligent design. Faith discourages unprejudiced analysis. Reasoning is challenged to rationalization that supports rather than questions assumptions. The result is a self-contained system that maintains an internal logic, no matter how absurd to outside observers.
Despite all its fine words, religion has brought in its wake little more than violence, prejudice and sexual disease. True morality is found elsewhere.
The flip side may be that God could be an atheist !
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