"Countries containing high percentages of non-believers are among the most healthy and wealthy nations on earth (Paul, 2004). Of course, we must always distinguish between those nations where non-belief has been forced upon the society by dictators (“coercive atheism”) from those societies wherein non-belief has emerged on its own without governmental coercion (“organic atheism”). Nations marked by coercive atheism -- such as China, North Korea, Vietnam, and former Soviet states -- are societies marked by all that comes with totalitarianism: poor economic development, intellectual censorship, widespread corruption, ubiquitous depression, etc.. However, nations marked by high levels of organic atheism – such as Sweden, the Netherlands, and France -- are among the healthiest, wealthiest, most educated, and most free societies on earth."
http://www.pitzer.edu/academics/faculty/zuckerman/atheism.html
In the top 50 atheist countries on the planet, the US ranks 44, behind Middle Eastern countries like Armenia and Israel. The methodology used to survey the countries is eplained in detail at the URL.
-B.
Martin wrote:
> The idea of 'god' needs to be redefined in terms
that can be accepted
> by EVERYone.