'Atheist' nations more peaceful, Global Peace Index study finds.

[Shinylight]

Sweden is the most godless nation isn't it? And isn't Norway pretty close?

EvF

I always thought it was Estonia

[leo-rcc]

Buddha is not a god, but a priest that was said to reach enlightenment.

[Eilonnwy]

Buddha is not a god, but a priest that was said to reach enlightenment.

It was my understanding that some do view Buddha as a God.

Essentially, depending on how you approach the Buddhist religion, it could be theistic or atheistic.

[LEDO]

Russia and China aren't the most godless nations...

Can you back that up with any data? Last I heard, Russia was predominantly Christian, and China was a mix of Buddhism, Taoism, and various others (non-theism included).

No more than you can disprove it with lack of data.

Originally isn't the burden of proof more on the positive claim?

Just as why the burden of proof is on the claim that God exists more than he doesn't exist. Although both are claims that require evidence (at least if made as absolute statements) of course.

I may have phrased this post badly but I hope you and/or someone else gets where I'm coming from.

EvF

Exactly. My claim that China and Russia are more godless than New Zealand is just as valid as claiming NZ is more godless. Since no one has posted a list of the "most godless" nations for a comparison, any claim is valid since we are not dealing with facts, just my opinion vs. your opinion.

---

Here is a list... http://www.adherents.com/largecom/com_atheist.html

I will accept this list as gospel until someone comes up with one better...

In simple numbers Russia and China rank 1 and 3. As a percentage they rank they are 12 and 26. Vietnam splits Sweden and Denmark at #2.

[Tiberius]

Correction, they are 12th and 36th.

I don't know why you even bothered to mention "numbers" since it's not a good way of comparing countries (since country size differs by such large amounts). China supposedly has 14% atheist, but 14% of over 1 billion people is A LOT in comparison with 80% of the population of Sweden.

With Russia, the stats stand between 24% and 48%, so either way, it is not a predominantly atheist country. At best, it's an almost 50:50 split, at worst, it's 75% theist. Compare that with Sweden (46-85%), Denmark (43-80%), and Norway (31-72%) and you see where I'm coming from.

Anyway, I'm sure there will be exceptions to the rule, but the results of the studies showed a positive correlation between religiosity and the lack of "peace" a country has. Same as with the link between religiosity and IQ (strong negative correlation). There are exceptions (stupid atheists and clever Christians) but they don't affect the correlation in any significant way.

[theVOID]

The figures for New Zealand are incorrect too, the 2006 Census had 43% Agnostic/Atheist/No affiliation. Christianity hasn't been over 50% since 2001.

[Pippy]

Canada is surprisingly secular. At least the average person, and the younger people. I think they got swept up in the misleading untruths about the nature of god, and so now disbelieve. You know, that whole 'I don't think the bible is divine word, so there is no god' fallacy.

It's also very calm and nice to live here, but I don't thik the secularism has much to do with it. Even the religious people are usually very polite. But go down to Toronto, and you may get shot by a gang member like any American city. In fact we consider Toronto American. That difference is not because Toronto is more religious, in fact I would guess the average gang-banger is not big on faith.

[downbeatplumb]

Canada is surprisingly secular. At least the average person, and the younger people. I think they got swept up in the misleading untruths about the nature of god, and so now disbelieve. You know, that whole 'I don't think the bible is divine word, so there is no god' fallacy.

It's also very calm and nice to live here, but I don't thik the secularism has much to do with it. Even the religious people are usually very polite. But go down to Toronto, and you may get shot by a gang member like any American city. In fact we consider Toronto American. That difference is not because Toronto is more religious, in fact I would guess the average gang-banger is not big on faith.

All the gang bangers(the American usage here, the English one is very rude), I've ever seen are all about the Jesus and god protecting his 'Homies' whatever that is.

Caveat-all info gained by watching Ross Kemp on gangs and other such TV programmes.

[Rhizomorph13]

I've had many gangster friends and they were all religious. I think it has something to do with being a "joiner" and religion is just one more thing to join.

[binny]

I think the reason people are more peaceful in Canada vs. the US is because 45 million Canadians don't die every year due to lack of health care.