A scientist blames society's problems on religion

Read the Wall Street Article here:

Gregory S. Paul, writing in the Journal of Religion and Society, attempts to prove that religious belief, far from contributing to the moral fiber of society, actually causes social disintegration. Mr. Paul is a paleontologist whose previous works have included "Predatory Dinosaurs of the World" and "Dinosaurs of the Air."

He finds that highly developed countries with the lowest levels of belief in God also have the lowest levels of social pathology and the best physical health; and that the U.S., with its uniquely high level of religious belief, "is so inefficient that it is experiencing a much higher degree of societal distress than are less religious and wealthy, prosperous democracies."

Ergo, religion is bad, if not for you personally, at least for society as a whole. Mr. Paul's study has been covered in newspapers from Australia to England and lauded smugly in academic circles. As one University of Southern California student wrote in the Daily Trojan: "The last thing we [Americans] need is any more blind faith."

It is interesting that Mr. Paul's paper makes no mention of Russia, whose 70-year experiment with enforced atheism did not create a society altogether lacking in social pathology, to put it mildly, and where the life expectancy of men is now appreciably lower than that of credulous countries such as Guatemala.