On 21 Sep 2011 at 23:22, Jim Clark wrote: > The Pew organization has much information on religion around the > world. One informative graph that I use in my culture and psychology > class is at: > > http://www.pewglobal.org/2002/12/19/among-wealthy-nations/ >
Revealing, interesting data. Although changes in the personal importance of religion undoubtedly occur slowly, I wonder what the situation is like now almost a decade after that survey (released Dec 19/2002). My uneducated guess is that the trend is toward still greater importance of religion in the US, and perhaps in Canada too. Or possibly I'm overly influenced by the attention given in the media to religion in US politics these days. But I am gratified to see that at last we have a quantifiable difference that distinguishes Canadians from Americans. The graph lower down on the Pew page is also remarkable, showing a strong inverse correlation between the personal importance of religion to a country and per capita income (the more relligion, the less money). The USA is a striking outlier. I wonder about the causal arrow in this case. Certainly, the deities worshipped do not appear to have tangibly rewarded those most devoted to them (excluding, once again, the US of A). Stephen -------------------------------------------- Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology, Emeritus Bishop's University Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada e-mail: sblack at ubishops.ca --------------------------------------------- --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=12875 or send a blank email to leave-12875-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
