Backwards nation

[Aroura]

Maybe you two shmucks can explain why china is cleaning our clock?

Oh, probably not. Go pray or something equally fucking worthless.

Is the BBC considered a legit source? Here is what they say about 'Faith' in China.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14838749

Apples and Oranges.

None of those Christians are in a position of power. Quite the opposite. They are close to slave labor, with religion being something they can be offered to help the drudgery (the article even says this is why religion is booming in China).

In America, the religious right has come into a lot of political power, the government is no longer really secular, as it was in the golden eras of the past. Extreme religion, when in power as it is in America, holds back scientific research (stem cells, cloning), education (creationism, evolution, physics), human rights (GLBT marriage, womens reproductive rights, even racial equality (don't forget the church's stance on segregation in the 60's)), etc, etc, etc. .

Certainly this isn't always the case. It is a pretty recent development, and specific to certain sects of Christianity. Catholics, by and large, accept most science and have for hundreds of years, indeed we must admit they produced most of western scientists up until the 40's or 50's. But Cathiolics are not (generally speaking) extremists.
There are other problems with the Catholic church, but it isn't generally holding back progress scientifically, although they aren't helping the human rights issues.

But a growing population of evangelicals, baptists, and other extremists Christian sects gaining political and social/economic power has had a recent and noticeable negative effect on the progress of America.

Since nothing exists in a vacuum, I think it is accurate to say atheists play their part in this in their own way. The more the extremists Christians feel threatened by the growing irreligious population, the more extreme they will become, and the harder they will fight for power and control. The slow erosion of separation of church and state is the root cause many of American's current issues. The reason the extremists are fighting to destroy that basic separation (which is really one of the greatest things our country did at it's inception) is because they fear growing irreligiosity, and think they best way to stamp it out is to create a theocracy, and force those who disagree with them out of "their " country. You see this in so many of the GOP's recent candidates, who constantly talk about Christian America, how people should be forced to take tests to qualify as Americans, certain groups or peoples being not TRULY American, atheists being neither "true" citizens nor patriots, etc. They are scared of science, of growing irreligiosity (which they often blame on science), and their answer is to stamp both out, even if it sets us back 100 years.

It's isn't religion in and of itself that is taking the US back decades, it is extremist religion in control of parts of our government that is doing the damage. Denying that they are indeed holding us back on the issues I've listed is just burying your head in the sand and saying "Lalala".