On 23 Jun 2005, at 5:06 pm, William T Goodall wrote:
On 23 Jun 2005, at 4:32 pm, Nick Arnett wrote:
I wasn't looking for data to respond to the religion-bashing that
we enjoy now
and then around here, but I happened across some that seemed too
good to
ignore. It is from Robert Putnam's Social Capital Benchmark
Survey, which can
be found in various places online.
Here are some of the findings, which I believe add up to a very
clear pattern
of self-identified religious people doing far more for the greater
good than
non-religous people. I'm not arguing that religion makes people
better; only
that there is a strong correlation between being religious and
creating social
good.
* Religious people are far more likely (30 percent v. 15 percent)
to volunteer
for the needy.
* Many more religious people are active in non-religious volunteer
work than
non-religious people (50 percent v. 35 percent).
* Contributions to charity are similar, but religious were
slightly more
likely to do so.
* Religious are more involved in electoral politics.
* Non-religious are very slightly more likely to be involved in
protests.
LOL. And Mussolini made the trains run on time and Hitler was kind
to animals. As Heinlein (?) observed "you can't do one thing".
Of course the religious are keen to volunteer to interfere in the
lives of the unfortunate - this is a golden opportunity to
disseminate the virulent poison of their evil religious memes. This
is just the same thing as STDs causing people to engage in
increased sexual activity.
Indeed I find the whole idea of faith-based 'charitable'
organisations getting involved with vulnerable people utterly
obnoxious. They quite plainly have a not-so-hidden agenda, and aid
being tied to evangelism is simply disgusting and reprehensible.
The same goes for politics - if you are an evil busybody filled
with religious hatred who wants to interfere in other people's
lives *of course* you get involved in politics.
Like taking over school boards to promote fundamentalist Creationist
nonsense.
--
William T Goodall
Mail : [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Web : http://www.wtgab.demon.co.uk
Blog : http://radio.weblogs.com/0111221/
"I speak better English than this villain Bush" - Mohammed Saeed al-
Sahaf, Iraqi Information Minister
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