By SUE BLACKMORE - GUARDIAN.CO.UK
Added: Tue, 08 Dec 2009 00:00:00 UTC

Thanks to LWS for the link.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2009/dec/08/religion-society-gregory-paul

Popular religious belief is caused by dysfunctional social conditions. This is the conclusion of the latest sociological research (pdf) conducted by Gregory Paul. Far from religion benefiting societies, as the "moral-creator socioeconomic hypothesis" would have it, popular religion is a psychological mechanism for coping with high levels of stress and anxiety – or so he suggests.

I've long been interested in Paul's work because it addresses a whole bunch of fascinating questions – why are Americans so religious when the rest of the developed world is increasingly secular? Is religious belief beneficial to societies? does religion make people behave better?

Many believers assume, without question, that it does – even that there can be no morality without religion. They cite George Washington who believed that national morality could not prevail without religions principles, or Dostoevsky's famous claim (actually words of his fictional character Ivan Karamazov) that "without God all things are permitted". Then there are Americans defending their country's peculiarly high levels of popular religious belief and claiming that faith-based charity is better than universal government provision.
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2009/dec/08/religion-society-gregory-paul

TAGGED: COMMENTARY, MORALITY, RELIGION