(Atheistic nations (Japan, Norway, Sweden etc) have much less crime than the United States.)
That doesn't prove anything. All it says, is that where there is a force for good, there will be a force for evil fighting it. If the entire country is part of the evil force, they aren't going to be evil to one another.
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Well, then, if the entire country is part of the evil force, then they likely consider themselves good, right?
And since they don't commit as many crimes, the data would back that up, right?
So we could logically conclude that they actually are good, according to their own moral positions.
So from your "presence of good increases evil" assertion, we can conclude that Heaven the dwelling of your god must be the shittiest place in the universe.
Unless, of course, you'd like to admit that your god is evil, thus provoking "good" behavior from those around him.
So...
You are actually saying that in order to be good, you need to be bad, but if you want to be really good, you need to be an atheist? Well, sounds good to me!
Funky. I thought the trope was that Good fights against Overwhelming Evil and is only able to win because Evil, even monolithic Evil, does not play well together. 'Cause, you know, Evil's philosophy is "Look out for number one and screw everyone else." Why should Evil care if they are hurting other Evil as long as they get what they want?
Oh, right, because inhabitants of Mordor get together for tea and everything's sunshine and puppydogs.
(regrets using a fictional evil society but there's no such thing as a completely evil society in the real world, even bad dictators have good people living in their country)
Ergo, Christians are the blame for all the evil in America. Get rid of them, and the rest of us will live peaceful, crime-free lives.
I dunno, in my experience, "evil" spends a lot more time fighting itself then it spends fighting "good".
For that matter, so called "good" spends a lot of time beating people up.
Brilliant! I love it! This is the sort of thing I believe the internet is perfect for.
For the first ever the stupid and the insane have a means of addressing the world and showing how utterly devoid of a brain they are. And sometimes how poeish they are too. Can't fault it!
Is it evil to revel in the entertainment value of the mentally challenged? Probably.
Hahahaha, yeah those "evil" Japanese, Norwegian and Swedish people ^_^ Trying to influence our God-fearing culture with tall, blonde supermodels and anime...
@ Reverend Jeremiah --
Even the distinctly social-democratic countries (all of the Scandinavian ones, and Japan less so) have laws regarding assault, murder, etc. -- and the U.S. is still significantly more violent. White-collar crime is also completely out of control here -- and yes, fraud and embezzlement and the like are illegal in other industrialized countries as well. The U.S. is closer to the "less government (except for an enormous and repressive property-protection apparatus)" Libertarian-party model than just about any other industrialized nation, and has the poverty rates and extreme wealth disparity to prove it.
Evidently you guys didn't get the 'Team Evil' memo where it states we all work together vs 'Team Good' just like TheAmazingBeliever says.
Team Evil - headquartered in Japan, Norway and Sweden
"they aren't going to be evil to one another."
then how exactly are they evil?
Oh right, forgot the lesson Shrub taught us.
Good and Evil doesnt' depend on WHAT you DO, but WHO you ARE.
On the first part, Japan isn't Atheistic. Far from it, actually: they are VERY religious (their religion being Shinto.) Just take a look at all their festivals.
That being.
Japan = not atheistic
Sweden = world's highest taxes. Why don't people who don't like it point THAT out, rather than making shit up?
Sorry, I know Scandinavian countries score better than the US on a lot of quality of life measures, but I don't think I'd prefer living there. 50% tax rates for middle class people isn't acceptable to me.
Norway needs more atheists. We still got a damn state church. Some more anti-monarchists would be nice too. The royal family is not only the head of the state church but a pointlessly embarrassing tax burden (much like a state-sponsored cult).
Great misfortune & shame for Norwegians everywhere. Many won't even admit they're from Norway when traveling (myself included). "So what country are you from?", "Eeeh... Excuse me? Why do you ask? I am a citizen of the world just like you! What country I am from doesn't matter!" Or some other excuse not to mention nationality.
@dg Sweden may have high taxes, but they're worth paying for the HDI points Sweden scores over other nations (although Norway recently overtook them). UN studies in Human Development Index's show that higher taxes = better Human Development Index score. Put aside your individual greed for the greater good of a nation and pay higher taxes for better education, infrastructure and government services.
However the benefit of lower taxes is the correlation with a stronger economy (just look at America!) in general.
I'd prefer to have higher taxes personally, but the politicians will never put it forward because voters know one thing and it's that taxes are bad and politicians who want to raise taxes are greedy and evil!
For the last time, Norway is a Christian nation. We have a state church (though I wish we hadn't). However, it is true that many Norwegians have a very relaxed attitude towards religion (and some don't - both atheists and believers).
@Orion: I don't personally like the HDI: it gives points for relatively minor (and arguably not beneficial) things like free higher education but not for things like free speech and economic freedom, which I find far more important. I like the US system better - I'm not saying it IS *objectively* better, I'm just saying it's the one *I* prefer to live in.
I'm not even sure free higher education is a good thing; there's no benefit to society to have *everyone* college-educated, because somebody still has to do the lower-qualified jobs. If *everyone* is college-educated, there'll be more people overtrained for their position and therefore more dissatisfaction with their job.
Out of the horse's mouth- worldwide atheism = world peace.
EDIT: Kinderklein and Ella both beat me to it. Oh well, it is the obvious conclusion.
Japan is atheistic like someone playing dress-up is a nudist. Hell, the popular position in Japan WRT religion seems to be "following one religion is fine, but following three at once means three times the celebrations!"
dg are you serious? Look at Cuba! Works great! Heard some taxi drivers possess a high degree but love their jobs. Everyone should have the right to get a free higher education no matter what, even if you graduate & have to take a lower job you still got something to be proud of. Anything else is discrimination!
@ #878219 --
Pay attention to a few key features of the comment to which you're responding. The most notable one is "economic freedom", which translates as "employers have the right to be complete assholes, fire employees for unionizing, etc.", and usually "anti-discrimination laws and worker-safety laws are bad because they restrict the ability of people with money to screw over people with less money." Suggesting that widespread higher education is a bad thing because it makes working-class people "unsatisfied" (i.e. harder to control) is another sign of the Internet Libertarian in its natural habitat.
So, in countries where Satan reigns, people are nice to each other, and in countries where God reigns, people are mean to each other?
I know which kind I want to live in.
We might have free higher education, but you still have to qualify to get in. Which means we have the smartest people getting the highest education, instead of the richest people.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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