Filed under: News
In my older age I have learned to refrain from getting into a lot of discussions concerning religion, because it is an ultimately pointless exercise. Debating religious belief is one of the biggest wastes of time imaginable, because of the nature of belief; it isn't (despite what many would like to think) provable or disprovable, or based on logic or reason. It is a personal and emotional issue. And that goes to the heart of these findings.
I don't think it's coincidental at all that there is usually a correlation between the wealth of a country and the importance given to religion. Aside from having more money, wealthier countries also have higher education levels, less unemployment, less crime, drugs, etc. All of this equals less stress, and fewer reasons for people (paraphrasing President Obama) to cling to their Bibles (or other holy book). In short, people in good circumstances are generally not in any big hurry to get to a heaven in the sky; they have heaven right here on earth. This is the case regardless of the particular religion in question. In any religion, you are far more likely to find fundamentalist, extremely devout followers among the poor.
The U.S. was given as an exception to the rule of citizens of wealthy countries giving less importance to religion. This can be explained numerous ways. Despite being one of the wealthiest countries on the planet, the U.S. also has one of the highest wealth disparities on earth, with the majority of wealth being held by less than 10% of the population. And, despite having a large middle-class, the ability to reach and maintain middle-class status has grown increasingly more difficult over the past several decades. This is particular the case for black Americans, who have average wealth levels far below that of whites. We also struggle with higher unemployment (and thus higher stress from lack of money) even in good economic times.
Most obvious of all, is the residual impact of slavery on the socioeconomic status of many black Americans. Even black Americans who have "made it" deal with various forms of discrimination and injustice. All of this (in addition to the condition of many Native Americans, and the poverty and poor living conditions for many Hispanic immigrants) goes to explain the high attachment many in the U.S. give to religion. And I won't even go into the effect of the history of the slave master teaching us the "wait for your reward in heaven" form of Christianity -- which many of us still cling to.
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Don't get me wrong. I am not saying that a person must be ignorant or uneducated to be religious. What I am saying is that generally, when people are suffering, religion goes from being an important part of a person's life, to being the focal point of that person's life. When people feel they have no control over their condition or are hopeless, their dependence on religion grows. And there are many people like that in the United States, especially now, as the economy remains stalled.
Have you turned to religion more during these trying economic times?