Correlation of High Religiosity In America with Everything Bad - My Response

"What this post shows is how easy just putting a graph on a web page influences people’s ideas. Most posters seem to have taken it at face value. I saw a survey about two years ago that indicated something quite different about America. It too looked quite professional but I can’t locate it now. The suggestion is that at least one of these surveys is fairly incorrect. In any case, a web search for ‘why most research is wrong’ makes interesting reading."

-- John HH, Comment to  Richard Dawkins ""The Great Decline"

(Note:  Please reference the following article:  Correlation of High Religiosity in America with Everything Bad.)

Having read through this article I find little to agree with except that Bill O'Reilly goes a bit overboard when it comes to Christianity.  No surprise here, knowing what Mr. Coyne says about his upbringing and education as a Catholic.  The article itself is rife with accurate graphs and charts.  Unfortunately, he then bases his argument on little more than those statistics.  The reasons for those statistics seem to be left wanting where this author is concerned.  For every argument he presents, there can be an equally convincing argument against, especially when you try to dazzle the readers with graphs, charts, and one sided spin.  As liberal articles go, and I'm pretty sure it is, this was a typically sad attempt to spin hatred toward religion for no other reason than this person is obviously not religious.  The fact that he dislikes religion morphs into politics, and his dislike for conservatives, with his ending statement, "The solution is easy: vote out the conservatives and loosen the grip of faith on America."  Facts need to be accurate, which is tough to do, and I think he spins them too far south.  We are all guilty of inaccuracy, me included.

I'll let you chew on this graphic,below, which I stumbled upon with little effort.  Put it up against his opinion of the southern state's political tilt.  Overwhelmingly Republican?  My God!  If you look at this chart how does one explain Obama even being in the White House?  Religion?  Atheism?  His argument seems to deflate the more one looks past the trees to the forest.  The people that truly control this country are not residing in the red or grey states.  I believe those votes come from the western and eastern seaboards.  The denser the population, the more control you can exert.  Not sure if this is rocket science. 

I tried to overlook the bad grammar and poor spelling; again this seems the norm for attack drivel.  I was amazed to find the word "religiosity" is actually a word, considering the other simpler words which were wrong.  People writing articles need to learn how to use spell check, though I'm not sure if this is part of Common Core curriculum.

Of more interesting note, than the accurate charts without reasonable context, were the reader's comments found at the bottom of this piece.  If you didn't read the comments I recommend going back for a look.  I found them revealing.  

The Religion News Service posted an article by Tobin Grant, political science professor at Southern Illinois University and associate editor of the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion.  The article can be read at Religiosity In One Graph:

In 2013, we saw continued declines in religiosity. The importance of religion in people’s lives? Down. Church attendance? Down. People who say they are “no religion”? Up. The result: 2013 had the lowest level of religiosity of any year we can measure. 

Overall, the hundreds of survey measures point to the same drop in religion: If the 1950s were another Great Awakening, this is the Great Decline.

-- Tobin Grant

If we accept what Tobin Grant says above as true, and I think it is, any concern about political control of our country by religion would seem to be misplaced.  In a few more years we can all sit back smile when the godless are in power and the country spirals out of control.  Oh, wait... that would be now wouldn't it?  It never ceases to amaze that those in control blame those not in control for their control of what those in control can't.  But, then, maybe it's just me.

The world continues to turn.

"You know, they are fooling us, there is no God… all this talk about God is sheer nonsense.... Death is the solution to all problems. No man - no problem... It is enough that the people know there was an election. The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything."

-- Joseph Stalin (1878-1953), Marxist leader of the Soviet Union

Editor's Note 

(re: disclaimer cum "get out of jail free" card) 

Before you go getting your panties in a bunch, it is essential to understand that this is just an opinion site and, as such, can be subjected to scrutiny by anyone with a differing opinion. It doesn't make either opinion any more right or wrong than the other. An opinion, presented in this context, is a way of inciting others to think and, hopefully, to form opinions of their own, if they haven't already done so.

It is my fervent hope that we keep open and active minds when reading opinions and then engaging in peaceful, constructive, discussion and debate in an arena of mutual respect concerning the opinions put forth. After over twenty years as a military intelligence analyst, planner, and briefer, I have come to believe engaging each other in this manner and in this arena is the way we will learn tolerance and respect for differing beliefs, cultures, and viewpoints.

We all fall from grace, some more often than others; it is part of being human. God's test for us is what we do afterward, and what we learn from the experience.

Frank Anthony Villari (aka, Pastor Tony)

Pastor Tony is founder of the Congregation for Religious Tolerance and author/editor of the Congregation's official blog site, "The Path."