Losing our religion? Two thirds of people still claim to be religious
- 63% of people polled say they are religious
- China is the least religious country with twice the amount of convinced atheists than any other nation (61%) followed by Hong Kong (34%), Japan (31%), Czech Republic (30%), and Spain (20%).
- Thailand is the most religious country globally (94%), followed by Armenia (93%), Bangladesh (93%), Georgia (93%), and Morocco (93%).
New research this Easter shows that worldwide six out of ten (63%) citizens say they are religious, while one in five (22%) say they are not and one in ten (11%) consider themselves convinced atheists. In Africa and the Middle East more than 8 out of 10 people (86% and 82% respectively) portray themselves as religious while 7 out of 10 say so in Eastern Europe and America (71% and 66% respectively) and 6 out of 10 (62%) in Asia, say they are.
The above is a poll from WIN/Gallup, International.
I'm not going to claim there is a causal relationship between war/violence and religion because we know that war can have multiple causes, but there is enough anecdotal evidence in hand garnered over a period of several thousand years to at conclude, at the very least, religion does not for peace make!
That's history speaking.
Now to the moment. At this moment, 63% of the world's people claim to be "religious," whatever that means. The most religious people can be found in Africa and the Middle East where a whopping 80% consider themselves religious. The U.S. of A 66%) comes in line with Eastern Europe (71%).
Tom Cotton will love that. We're not only very religious here in the US of A, but we're war-mongers. So maybe he's right when he argued today that Americans don't dislike war, they just don't like losing wars. What a guy! Jesus loves him. But for any sane person, he's an ignorant and very dangerous son-of-a-bitch!
Sorry about that Cotton bit, I got carried away. Actually, I'm not sorry, but back to the moment.
Obviously, religion per se, today, still does not make for peace. In some areas, it is painfully obvious that religion is indeed the cause of violence. Rather than cast stones, however, we need to look at this country: We still have troops in Afghanistan and some in Iraq. We are now providing military resources (and probably troops - consultants, ya know) to help fight ISIS. We are supporting Saudi Arabia's fight in Yemen. We have military bases and troops and ships and missiles everywhere! War is one of our largest American-made products and exports!
Now, while not all Americans are Christians, a large part of the population does claim to worship the "Prince of Peace." It's fascinating to me to see that so many of these so-called Christians really like war. They'd hang their Prince of Peace in a heartbeat! They hate with a passion - just about anybody who is not "one of them," who is different, who believes in other mythologies, or who believes in none.
Evangelical Christianity, after successfully taking over much of Congress, the U.S. Supremes, the state legislatures, city councils, county commissions and school boards across the land, is licking its collective chops at the prospect of taking over the White House for Jesus so they can take this country "back" (whatever that means!) and start more wars! Maybe even bomb, bomb, bomb Iran.
A final note: If I hear one more time some moron tell me you can't be good, have ethics or morals, without religion or believing in some deity, I'm gonna do some bomb, bomb, bombing of my own. Nah. Just kidding. I really don't believe in that violent stuff.
You can read the full article and all about religious belief around the world HERE.
