The Idea Shop

Legend

A = Australia
C = Canada
D = Denmark
E = Great Britain
F = France
G = Germany
H = Holland
I = Ireland
J = Japan
L = Switzerland
N = Norway
P = Portugal
R = Austria
S = Spain
T = Italy
U = United States
W = Sweden
Z = New Zealand

Hey guys check out this interesting article: http://humaniststudies.org/enews/index.html?id=219&article=7

The gist of the article is that secular (non-religious) societies have much lower rates of violent crimes and teen pregnancy than religious ones.

Top of the class, in both atheism and good behavior, come the Japanese. Over eighty percent accept evolution and fewer than ten percent are certain that God exists. Despite its size – over a hundred million people – Japan is one of the least crime-prone countries in the world. It also has the lowest rates of teenage pregnancy of any developed nation.

(Teenage pregnancy has less tragic consequences than violence but it is usually unwanted, and it is frequently associated with deprivation among both mothers and children. In general, it is a Bad Thing.)

Next in line are the Norwegians, British, Germans and Dutch. At least sixty percent accept evolution as a fact and fewer than one in three are convinced that there is a deity. There is little teenage pregnancy , although the Brits, with over 40 pregnancies per 1,000 girls a year, do twice as badly as the others. Homicide rates are also low -- around 1-2 victims per 100,000 people a year.

At the other end of the scale comes America. Over 50 percent of Americans believe in God, and only 40 percent accept some form of evolution (many believe it had a helping hand from the Deity). The U.S. has the highest rate of teenage pregnancy and homicide rates are at least five times greater than in Europe and ten times higher than in Japan.

All this information points to a strong correlation between faith and antisocial behavior -- a correlation so strong that there is good reason to suppose that religious belief does more harm than good.

So that's the data. The rest of the article goes on to interpret what this data "means." The article's interpretation is intelligent and well reasoned, but I'd like to offer my own commentary:

Of course, I need to point out that correlation is not causation. It's definitely possible that crime and teenage pregnancy (both of which cause poverty and are caused by poverty) and religious belief are all the result of poverty.

This is certainly true in 3rd world countries which are some of the most religious people. However, I doubt this applies in America's case, the richest country in the world.

Here's my explanation: each of the former British colonies has its "birth defects" that they're sorta "stuck with." Canada has the French. Australia has the prisoners. The US had two things: slavery and religious nuts (in the form of Puritans, Quakers, Shakers, Mormons, Amish et al). That's why, in my opinion, America has been so stubborn in it's faith in religion and creationism while the rest of the developed world has "grown up."

Brrrr...it's cold in the winter time. And woooo it's windy...sucks living in chicago sometimes, especially if you're a college student walking around in this antarctic weather. What also is no fun is slave labor, shoveling your driveway just because you're the offspring of the owners of the house. Don't worry though, I have come up with an invention that will make walking in wintertime like walking in candyland and no more shoveling!

Imagine light half tubes that are opaque. Now these are tubes that have a radius of about 10 ft. or so and a length of about 10 feet as well. You place these opaque tubes on the sidewalks linking the doors of one class room to another. They will have some sort of clamp or mechanism that attaches one segment to the next. Each segment will either be straight, a left turn, right turn, or a joiner (something that joins multiple straight sections (such as in an intersection). These will be weighted or fastened onto existing sidewalks, allowing people to walk in the middle, wind and snow-free. They will not cross roads however...as someone cleverly pointed out, it would block traffic, but they will provide a nice way to get from one classroom to another without wind or ice. It takes away the need of lots of salt, snowshovels and facility who run it. Once spring comes, just unfasten each segment from each other and from the ground, find a place to store it and take it out next year. For driveways, just make one with a bigger radius and possibly some sort of "door" at the end of it for easy access by cars, but keeps the snow out.

*heating of the tubes not included.

Well it seems like everyone disappeared during break. I don't blame you ... i totally went super lazy, too. Well getting back into the whole school scene with classes and etc., I was never an avid reader. Heck... I pretty much don't read books unless the school assigns it. Because I'm not too fond of reading, I have never been to great at reading comprehension and things of the sort. In light of this, I want to improve my reading and also it never hurts to read (prolly help me be a more imaginative thinker). So I'm asking everyone for some suggestions. I would be interested in reading journals or articles or other above average reading that will keep my interest. Anything that you think is very interesting or like thought provoking ... etc. Boredom is a killer of my non-existent reading habit. SO PUH LEZZZJUH HELP.

Ps - I'm a chemistry major so maybe that will influence your suggestions... I don't know. Plus I'm trying to prepare for the MCATs...

ANY GREAT IDEAS WILL BE REWARDED BY MIKE CHOE AND HIS RICHNESS THAT SURROUNDS HIM!