I sort of liked the amusing correlation, until the last paragraph. The last paragraph is evidence this article is just a "please believe in what I believe in" article, not a serious argument.
Once you argue that carbon emission bans and healthcare for all are somehow other necessary tenets of civilization you have exposed yourself as just another "believer", only to be distinguished from religious believers by the economic consequences of the rules you want to institute from your beliefs, versus the relatively minor social rules they want.

I do not personally believe this to be destructive or a myth. If you want morality in a society you must have religion.

Now to clarify what religion is to me, its not the same thing to everyone so without that clarification a study such as this is flawed at best.

First off the second definition for religion from Dictionary.com.

Religion: A specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices generally agreed upon by a number of persons or sects.

By this definition a person who believes their to be no god, but believes in the power of science and that man can one day understand everything about how the worlds works has a religion.

Religion is a set of moral values by which a person lives there lives and people with the same moral values gathering together to practice them. This site represents a form of religion.

Many here may disagree with me and that is OK. But if you take away some core of moral value, some idea of right and wrong from society there is no society left. Without shared moral values you cannot have a cohesive society. With a shared moral value system you have some form of religion. Some are more loose than others, but it is there.

Our founders wrote letters to each other refering to the religion of America Benjamin Franklin desribed it with these words "I believe in one god, the creator of the universe. THe the most acceptable service we render to him is in doing good to his other children. That the soul of man is immortal, and will be treated with justice in another life respecting its contact in this. These I take to be the fundamental point in all sound religion." - Letter to Ezra Stiles, president of Yale university

At the time the 5 points he suggests here to points every sect in America agreed upon. Today it would be said differently as not everyone would agree upon the supreme creator.

However the basic morals outlined by Franklin are 100% valid for America or any society to practice or we will fail. That use to come from organized god centered religion, or so people think. It is my view that the moral code must ultimately come from within each of us, and religion helped that to occur but ultimately people made the choice to have a moral code and follow it. Without that code a society will fail. Franklin outlined it well.

I'm going to ask a question actually based on the article, without attacking the author or immediately tying political labels on things. Let's see how this goes...

Report found:
"clear majorities in all highly developed countries do not think belief in god to be necessary for morality, with one exception only: the USA."

So if we use GDP per capita as a measure of development, the US is the highest-developed country in the study. Is this because capitalism combined with at least 50% "belief in god" creates a situation for success, or are we successful despite those 50%?

In the first case the religious in America may act as a check on the GDP, keeping it at a stable (and high) point. In the second case, the economy thrives despite the correlation between GDP and religious belief. Thus America succeeds while dragging along the believes, as Rearden (early on) supports the moochers because he feels it's easy for him to do so.

"Interestingly, clear majorities in all highly developed countries do not think belief in god to be necessary for morality, with one exception only: the USA."

"Only 15 percent of the French population answered in the affirmative. Spain: 19 percent. Australia: 23 percent. Britain: 20 percent. Italy: 27 percent. Canada: 31 percent. Germany 33 percent. Israel: 37 percent."

All of these countries are Socialist. Socialism is a Religion. Morality is dictated by the State. The deeper the penetration into the society, the lower the percentage of people believing in a god/morality connection. France is arguably the most Socialist in Europe and has the lowest percentage. I'm willing to bet that same question asked in America 50 years ago would have been answered in the affirmative by 80% or higher.

That is an interesting graph on the Salon site. Unfortunately, it is from Pew so may be rigged, I'd like to see SaudiArabia, Switzerland and a few more countries on it.
I agree with the proposition that belief in nonsense can be harmful. There is a hopeful sort of development in recent times where religious people can put such ideas into a compartment in life and function as rational except for a set of harmless rituals.

I read no mention of Reconstruction after the Civil War and how it impacted the South by setting it back decades in education. Here is a case for reparation if there ever has been one. I also read no mention of how the North has lost their vise grip hold on manufacturing to the South in automobile production. I read no mention of the lower cost of living in the South because it doesn't have the level of corruption that places like N.Y., Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, etc have. I read no mention of the fact that if the South is so bad then why do these pseudo intellectuals have to insist that their way, a $17 trillion debt, is so superior. All of the above plus a 100 other reasons make the South look pretty good. And oh, by the way, the secular are chasing the wind while faith is something that can save you.

Thanks! I followed the link to the original Pew report
http://www.pewglobal.org/2014/03/13/worl...
and if you goto page 2
http://www.pewglobal.org/2014/03/13/worl...
you can read their research methods.

The discussion here so far exemplifies why facts do not matter. People tend to credit "experts" who agree with them and discredit those who do not, regardless of the facts presented. The test case was two sets of three artificially constructed university professors - same backgrounds, same level of work - but with essays slanted left and right. Conservatives and liberals both dismissed the credentials of the experts they disagreed with and touted the ponies they already bet on. (See here in the Gulch, "Why Evidence is Not Enough." http://www.galtsgulchonline.com/posts/1b...

As a criminologist, I noted this: "... atheists are thoroughly underrepresented in the places where rapists, thieves and murderers invariably end up: prisons. While atheists make upward of 15 percent of the U.S. population, they only make up 0.2 percent of the prison population." That was author Werleman's editorial insertion, not a conclusion from Pew. That being true, it remains also that many in prison find in religion the structure that their earlier lives lacked, which put them in prison in the first place.

Why are you on a conservative website but reading Salon? That is suspicious are you spying on Salon?

To summarize the author: Religion is what is keeping the South from voting Democrat. That's the "destructiveness". If they'd only vote Democrat, we'd avoid all the destruction down there. What destruction? Poverty. Poverty=destruction.
What does this have to do with 53% of Americans thinking that morality requires belief in God? He doesn't come right out and say it, but I have to conclude he's saying the Democrat party is filled with atheists.
Great post, Maph. I needed a good chuckle and you came through.

"For centuries, the battle of morality was fought between those who claimed that your life belongs to God and those who claimed that it belongs to your neighbors—between those who preached that the good is self-sacrifice for the sake of ghosts in heaven and those who preached that the good is self-sacrifice for the sake of incompetents here on earth. And no one came to say that your life belongs to you and the good is to live it." Ayn Rand

"Majorities in all highly developed countries do not think belief in god to be necessary for morality, with one exception only: the USA."

Do we Americans really believe that "it is necessary to believe in God in order to be a moral person?" How ignorant!

My husband and I were born and raised in the north but have lived and worked all over the country.

There is a peculiar difference between the work ethic of those of us in the upper Midwest vs. the overwhelming work ethic of the folks in the South. It is comparable to the difference between Germans and Greeks. In a colder climate you have very little time to store up the fruits of your labors (farming) in order to prepare for winter. In the south, much like in Greece and Italy, the attitude toward work is "tomorrow is another day and the work will still be here then". Because of the long growing season and the heat of summer there is a tendency to "take it easy" and rightfully so. Heat stroke comes easily with overexertion.

The "fact" that the South is "religious" has nothing to do with lack of wealth ... it has to do with their work ethic. Sometimes fishing is just more important than working.

What an absurd article. One misconception after another.

Most religious people I've known don't make a point of waving their belief in your face. I can't say the same for the Atheists I've been acquainted with, as nearly all of them have been downright militant, angry people determined to declare religious people as ignorant, prejudiced boobs.

Of course when I tell an Atheist he is a proponent of a secular form of religion, a blown emotional gasket is quick to follow. Religion is a belief system with no factual foundation, so those on both sides of the question of the existence of a supernatural deity are followers. Only Agnostics are truly areligious, and those few I've met usually don't care if their religious associates practice their favorite rituals. I've never heard of an Agnostic behind any of the lawsuits aimed at suppressing religious practices, whereas Atheists almost always are.

I'm a Deist, based on personal experience. I have little tolerance for most organized religions, but so long as they don't impede my life practices the practitioners of those religions should be free to believe as they choose.

It is also interesting to note the restrictions on business and persons liberties in the countries that believe less in the connection between religion and morality.

The problem with being a declared atheist in the USA is that you are immediately written off as someone not worthy of being listened to. No matter how well reasoned your argument or your proposal, you are categorized as: "Oh him, he's an atheist." Of course if your product or invention or service turns out to be needed, first class, better than anyone else's, then, atheism becomes less important except to the very religious.

I can believe that atheists are correct in that one does not have to believe in God or a god to be an ethical person. Having said that I also believe that what we call "ethics" are derived from a societal belief in the teachings of a higher being, God, Allah, Budda, whatever. One can say that they do not believe in a god but their personal ethics are surely derived from what they learn about co-existing within that society.

I also went back and read where the south should save itself from itself. Sounds like some who consider themselves more intelligent really have the answer especially when trying to fix America's problems. That quote stands out and really has worked. No deficit, no unemployment, no diseases all is a utopia and nothing but gold and silver pour from everyone's pockets. And I have some land in Arizona you should consider. Faith is all that is needed. As a grain of Mustard seed. The smallest seed there is, but grows to one of the largest plants on earth. Some will agree some not. That was given to you at birth a conscience. Right from wrong wrong from right. A choice. If that choice I made a few years back is wrong then it is mine and only mine. I was told to just tell you the truth about a man that lived over 2000 years ago that knew you before you were born. I do not think I have harmed anyone or have put to death anyone in what I have quoted. An atheist only quotes there is no God. I believe that quote blows itself out of the water. If the atheist even mentions there is no God then he is just blinded to the fact of that belief. Only God can change his belief not me or 50% or 99% of people of faith. It is a choice. I believe God has used Ayn Rand to help us here in the Gulch to understand what truth is. Why? So people like me will understand truth.

I'm a Latter-day Saint (as Maphesdus, our resident ex/anti-Mormon, knows) and if I were asked whether "belief in God is essential to morality," then I would answer no. I know that atheists can be moral and that theist can be immoral. I was an atheist once and still have an over all respect for atheist belief.

I wonder what CJ Werleman would say, if he were asked whether rejecting belief in God is essential to morality. Judging by the articles he writes (http://www.salon.com/writer/cj_werleman/...). I'd guess that he regards belief in God as fundamentally immoral.

Some surveys conclude that Christians are happier than non-Christians. Does this mean that Christianity makes people happier than wealth?