Why can't we all be Japanese?
  by Martin Foreman

Earlier this year, a study of faith, sex and violence was published in the Journal of Religion and Society. Comparing eighteen rich democracies from the US to New Zealand, author Gregory S. Paul showed that secular societies are less violent and nave lower rates of teenage pregnancy than societies where belief in God is widespread.

Top of the class, in both atheism and good behavior, come the Japanese. Over eighty percent accept evolution and fewer than ten percent are certain that God exists. Despite its size - over a hundred million people - Japan is one of the least crime-prone countries in the world. It also has the lowest rates of teenage pregnancy of any developed nation.

Next in line are the Norwegians, British, Germans and Dutch. At least sixty percent accept evolution as a fact and fewer than one in three are convinced that there is a god. There is little teenage pregnancy, although the Brits with over 40 pregnancies per 1,000 girls a year, do twice as badly as the others. Homicide rates are also low - around 1-2 victims per 100,000 people a year.

At the wrong end to the scale comes America. Over fifty percent of Americans believe in God, and only 40 percent accept some form of evolution - and many of those believe God gave it a helping hand. Yet despite their strong faith, Americans have the highest rate of teenage pregnancy in the industrialized world and homicide rates five times that of Europe and ten times higher than Japan.

Doesn't Christianity preach sexual abstinence and non-violence? What's gone wrong? Three things. The first is that faith makes people less likely to respect law and social customs. Second, they are less likely to respect other people. Third is a weakened ability to reason. And last, irresponsible sexual behavior.

First, less respect for the law. God holds believers responsible for their actions, but he also offers forgiveness. Believers who are convinced that they answer to a "higher power" have less motivation to respect secular law or mainstream opinion. Extremists such as Muslim terrorists use God to justify mass murder.

Secondly, reduced respect for other people. Many believers are convinced that their faith sets them above others who do not share their beliefs. Only their vision of the world is valid and other viewpoints are condemned of ignored.

Thirdly, ignorance. Those who are convinced that only Bible offers "truth" lose their intellectual curiosity and thief ability to reason. Ideas such as evolution are rejected because they are difficult concepts which don't fit into a simplistic Biblical viewpoint. The universe that fundamentalists create is absurd bit it survives because it never questions its own assumptions.

Finally, irresponsible sexual behavior. In other countries, sex education includes contraception because young people have the right to make their own choices. In America faith-driven abstinence programs are founded on the principle "As a Christian I will only help you if you do what I say." Depriving young people of the information they need leads to sky high rates of unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.

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