An Interesting Observation on Religion

[FluffyMcDeath]

Stephen Fry makes and interesting point about the effect of churches on religion.

 

[metalman]

Episcopal Church teachings are Social Justice, sexual diversity, and Muslim outreach “interfaith partnership”

In the US entire Episcopal parishes are converting to Catholicism
In the UK Episcopal churches are converting to mosques

 

[JoBBo]

Stephen Fry makes and interesting point about the effect of churches on religion.

Excuse me for being obtuse but which observation did you find interesting specifically? His observation that separation of church and state is bad because the US happens to be less secular than the UK which has an official state religion?

 

[FluffyMcDeath]

Excuse me for being obtuse but which observation did you find interesting specifically? His observation that separation of church and state is bad because the US happens to be less secular than the UK which has an official state religion?

That's the one that I was thinking, yes. It was a fairly contrarian observation - I'm not sure how much merit it has because there are lots of other factors to consider such as the fact that Brits live much closer together than Americans and were much more likely to be exposed to multiple cultures and ideas in a lifetime than Americans who have much larger expanses of non-metropolitan areas and so have a number of fairly isolated people living there. Wealth disparity also may play a part - because the US has many poor populations that may not have many better alternatives than hopeful prayer to solve their problems, but also among the rich who like to use religion to justify their good luck and claim piety to discourage the poor from taking up pitch forks.

 

[JoBBo]

That's the one that I was thinking, yes. It was a fairly contrarian observation - I'm not sure how much merit it has

To be honest, I do not find the argument to be convincing at all.

For instance, France has a strong tradition of separating church and state, yet it has a higher percentage of people who identify as "non-religious" than the UK. Likewise, I find neighbouring countries such as Germany to be far less religious than the U.S. as well. In many ways, the Brits share more in common with continental Europeans than they do with Americans despite language barriers, etc.

because there are lots of other factors to consider such as the fact that Brits live much closer together than Americans and were much more likely to be exposed to multiple cultures and ideas in a lifetime than Americans who have much larger expanses of non-metropolitan areas and so have a number of fairly isolated people living there.

Well, It is worth noting that 82 percent of Americans live in "urban areas", which is a substantial amount. (On the West coast, it is close to 90%. Even in the 'rural' Mid-West, the number is a stunning 75%.)

To put this into context, 83 percent of people live in urban areas in the United Kingdom. Not a big difference.

Also, America has certainly more of a reputation for being a land of immigrants than the United Kingdom. So, without having researched the issue, my first instinct would be to assume that it is easier to get exposed to different cultures in the US than it is in the UK (as long as you stick to metropolitan areas).

Wealth disparity also may play a part - because the US has many poor populations that may not have many better alternatives than hopeful prayer to solve their problems, but also among the rich who like to use religion to justify their good luck and claim piety to discourage the poor from taking up pitch forks.

Wealth disparity is perhaps a bit too broad.

I do have to assume that knowing you will receive timely and adequate care without any risk of going bankrupt in case of medical emergencies does drastically cut down on one's personal need for saying prayers.

 

[redrumloa]

Global Warming is a religion.

Al Gore Blames Climate Change for Hurricane, Calls Storms Biblical Events