Can anybody disprove my suspicion that much of that money went into BigBox Churches-on-Steroids?

BUT how the might have fallen. Two years ago, five of the behemoths were being completed every month. Now? Revenues have fallen and they’re late with their payments! And the construction bond-holders are worried.

Hah!

Actually there was an article in Free Inquiry magazine about this–and I’ve heard it hypothesized in other places. In nations that are more atheistic, such as the Northern European nations named in this article, there is a stronger social safety-net. People feel safer and more secure. In nations, such as the US, where there is no guarantees of social welfare, people tend to, the hypothesis goes, turn to whatever “next-best thing” they can grasp to–for many people, that is the hope that religion offers them.

In my opinion, of course, it is a second option that pales in comparison–truly an “opiate of the masses.” It eases anxiety to a certain extent, but certainly not the source of that anxiety. Religion treats the symptoms while social safety nets attack the problem itself.

There is a weirdness about xian truckers — blowing down the road at 75mph or more, cutting in and out of traffic, taking chances saner drivers won’t. And what does it say on the door? “Safety is of the Lard” Huh? Jeebus is not only their co-pilot, he’s their security blanket and lucky rabbit’s foot. Of course, if they get into an accident, Jeebus won’t know them. And neither will their employers and/or their insurers. Hah! They deserve to be crucified!

*deep breaths*

I’m okay now…

It is hard to say which is the cause and which is the effect, since you could of course argue that the headline might just as well have been the other way around: “Peaceful nations are more atheist”. Since it could also go like this:

A nation lives a long peaceful period with no unrest and wars that would tear the nation down -> prosperity grows and the nation gains wealth, health and education -> well educated people are more likely to be atheistic.

Granted, it could also go in the direction the headline suggested, since an atheistic and naturalistic worldview prevents a lot of tension and aggression that is faith-originated. So atheism can also cause peace. I would reckon that it is a two-way feedback loop, one empowering/enabling the other and vice versa. Hence the statistical correlation mentioned in the article.

Another political factor which drives conflict is the degree to which religion plays an important role in national life. The variable does not measure whether a country’s population is devout or actively practising a religious faith, but rather whether religion is intertwined with politics thereby leading to religiously driven laws and government policies. The factor’s importance does not imply that religion creates violence; rather that violence occurs when the state uses religion to its own ends or when organized religion takes over the state and then uses the state to fulfill its own ends.

And if we had peace? If we could stifle the MIC, the bankers and Wall Street, those greedy bastards, our readily available cash worldwide? To spend on disease and poverty, housing and clean water, education and more…

$7.2tr ($7,200,000,000,000). Annually.

But what do I know…I’m just another Dirty Fucking Hippy

When they die and “go to their reward” they become “ass-haloes”.

So you admit there IS a possibility that this all occurs by chance! A .1% chance at that! That’s way more than god needs! Because with god, anything is possible! Just read your bibbles and you’d no that. And besides, that’s way more of a chance than the chance of evolution, and you stupid Stan worshipping atheists believe in that–it’s your religion.

Sorry, just channeling an asshat there. Figured I’d get a leg up on the trolls. Actually, no surprises in this article. Too bad my country is so full of asshats

Yea, reason!