Kottke posted a blurb about a study finding that states, “In general, higher rates of belief in and worship of a creator correlate with higher rates of homicide, juvenile and early adult mortality, STD infection rates, teen pregnancy and abortion in the prosperous democracies.”
This is a case of correlation, not causation, obviously, but the hidden variable causing both is education.
A lack of education puts people in situations where they are more susceptible to danger, violence, teen pregnancy, STDs, etc. The lack of education also works to ensure that these people have fewer mental and emotional resources to deal with these situations.
And, generally, the less educated someone is the more strongly and more literally they will believe in supernatural phenomena. (I’m sure astrology correlates even more strongly than Christianity).
And of course, the lack of education correlates strongly to a lack of money. So it all comes back to class inequity, the root of all of our social problems.
