Any religious person who thinks that their religion is necessary for a good, civilized society, or that only belief in an ultimate judging deity leads to moral behavior, should check out Society Without God, by Phil Zuckerman. It’s a study of what are probably the two most atheistic societies in the developed world: Sweden and Denmark. And what do we find there? Pretty much the nicest places to live on Earth. They beat the very religious America in essentially EVERY indicator of a happy and healthy society (crime, education, life expctancy, literacy, etc.). And all without God.
Dan Turner
DOC# 767569
Hi Dan – you seem to be on something of a religious crusade! People do have some weird ideas about God while considering themselves to be Christian or religious or atheist. But to honestly search for the reality about God is never futile or senseless. Some of the people Jesus praised for their faith were not recognisably religious but recognised goodness when they met it. Good people are out there and can’t be typecast as religious or atheist. But anyone genuinely looking for goodness and resisting bitterness will sooner or later encounter God – the reality not the myths.