[Thor]

Originally Posted by Vulcan

Pretty much what Bush pulled off and this is with an arguably wealthy and educated society.

So the con still works though I don't think most major religions began this way, just that the cheese sandwich, brought up by another poster, has degenerated into dog poo.

Actually the most religious states are the lowest in Education standards, scores, IQ, etc..

One of the key arguments made about Religiosity in the US compared to two of the most irreligious nations in Europe (Sweden/Denmark); the point is made by the Author of 'Society without God, what the least religious nations can teach us' is that a healthy, educated population tends away from dogmatic religion.

The point being that arguments just for say higher IQ leads to agnostism/atheism isn't alone solid by the evidence showing such data. But that in the US Religion is capitalism, in a country where the poorer and less educated have no healthcare or insufficient, less chance to earn wealth, etc.. So those people are easier to draw into more fervent religion, hopeless people cling more to dogma than healthy, educated people with hope.

There's a lot more to it than that, the US has the black minority which suffered so much but had their religion and religious community as a major part of their identity in their struggle to earn equality and freedoms.

But there is correlations for sure, the complexity isn't too great but there are differing factors in the US compared to the rest of the western world.

A good quote from the wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religio...d_intelligence

In 2008, controversial intelligence researcher Helmuth Nyborg examined whether IQ relates to denomination and income, using representative data from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth, which includes intelligence tests on a representative selection of American youth, where they have also replied to questions about religious belief. His results, published in the scientific journal Intelligence demonstrated that on average, Atheists scored 1.95 IQ points higher than Agnostics, 3.82 points higher than Liberal persuasions, and 5.89 IQ points higher than Dogmatic persuasions. [6] "I'm not saying that believing in God makes you dumber. My hypothesis is that people with a low intelligence are more easily drawn toward religions, which give answers that are certain, while people with a high intelligence are more skeptical," says the professor. [7]