Board index ‹ Christianity

[Newbie]

Religious belief doesn't seem to be required to make society better for humanity. In fact, there does seem to be evidence to the contrary.

Some Christians seem to think that religious belief is necessary to keep psychopathic tendencies under control, that it is needed to from a moral base for living. (Yes, not all!)

However, there is no evidence that society needs religious guidance to function well as a society:

Germany, Norway, Sweden seem to show that religious belief is not a required component for society to function well.
In fact, there seems to be substantial evidence that lack of religious guidance is more effective for running a society well.

One study on lack of belief in a god or gods:
http://www.pitzer.edu/academics/faculty ... theism.pdf

Theist vs atheist countries;
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2012/08 ... countries/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/2 ... 40033.html

[jimwalton]

I would say that the point of Christianity is not to make society better to humanity (though that is one consequence), but to affirm what is true and live in relationship with God. I agree that society doesn't necessarily need religious guidance to function well as a society; I would also argue that the Bible never says that it does. And while we have examples of societies functioning well without religion (Germany, Norway, Sweden), there are also example of atheistic societies that did not function well (Stalin's Russia). Though Christians perpetrated the Crusade atrocities, atheists such as Lenin, Hitler, Stalin, Mao Zedong and Pol Pot tortured, starved and murdered more people in the 20th century than all the combined religious regimes of the world during the previous 19 centuries—as many as 110 million people.

I'm not convinced that it's legitimate statistical and cultural analysis to say that the religious practice or non-religious practice is what makes a society run well. It is true, however, as Jeffery Russell writes, that "Christians have a notable record of social constructiveness, including the creation of orphanages and universities; abolition of slavery; developments in science, natural law, women's rights and civil rights; advocacy for the rights of the poor; growth of democracy, and the struggle against poverty and oppression.... Christians have always expressed...charity in hospitals, schools, famine relief and many other ways."