LETTER TO TRILL

(Author’s note: Trill is a fictional female acquaintance who, with her questions, makes it possible for me to write in a style that is for me both different and comfortable.

My Dear Trill,
      It comes as no surprise to me that you would raise questions about religion, sooner or later. You are inquisitive about so many subjects. But in no way do you test my patience. As a decidedly non-religious person, I can only give you my views on the subject, to which, as it happens, I have given considerable thought, ranging from bitter personal experience to awareness of the horrors of World War II, when 70 million people, mostly innocent, lost their lives - and  an omnipotent, omni-present God didn’t seem to care.

     It may be useful to tell you about a revealing report that I read recently and leave it to you to do further reading and thinking on this subject.This is important, Trill. Important because your life might be better spent if not too occupied with thoughts that are laced with a considerable measure of skepticism. Even worse, you could become entrapped in any one of a number of ideologies that lay claim to a special place in the embrace of an as yet undetected God. I have in mind at the moment the machinations of a certain Evangelistic pastor in Atlanta who is fleecing his flock to purchase an eighty-five million dollar private jet for his personal use.

     But happily, things are always happening that lead to better understanding.You may be familiar with a charitable organization called Save The Children. They publish annually a report on the State of the World’s Mothers, The Urban Disadvantage Report, along with the Mother’s Index. A highlight of the report is identifying the ten best countries for maternal health and children’s well being. In the 2015 report, surprisingly. the United States did not appear in the top ten. In fact, it was ranked as 33rd.

     The top country in the ranking of ten is Norway. Other countries were Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Netherlands, Belgium, Iceland, Germany, Spain and Australia. Striking is the is the clustering of most of the countries in one region, Northern and Western Europe. Of course, that immediately begs the question: Why?

      Searching for an explanation, I wondered if the top selections correlate in some manner with wealth, religion, or education, or all three. Upon examining a world map of the least religious nations, the countries listed above stand out, along with Ireland, France Switzerland and Czech. What is startling is that these countries are close together, in some cases bordering each other, are wealthy and well educated. You could conclude, then, that wealth and education trend to atheism and non-religion.
     Then what about the United States? The country is different in two respects. It is wealthy, but the wealth is concentrated in a few. Also, in education rankings the United States rates poorly among other advanced nations. You would expect, then, that the United States would have a lower percentage of atheists and non-religious, than the above listed nations and this, in fact, turns out to be true..

       A large population of poor people and poorly educated tends to be more religious. This is borne out across most of the world, according to the map. Poorer nations tend to be more religious. You could conclude, though not without caveats, from the above studies, that GDP per capita is a reasonable measure of how religious a country is. But a calculated GDP, where most of the wealth is in the hands of a few, such as Saudi Arabia, and an actual GDP per capita are two different things, and one should not confuse the one with the other.

     Who knows, Trill? It may well be that further growth in atheism and non-religion will resolve one of the most pressing problems facing humanity.....the clash between different religions, each believing itself to be the final word, often leading to war and brutality, a condition that has held true for thousands of years. It will be interesting to watch. This could happen as countries rise out of poverty and and are better educated, but it is increasingly unlikely due to a concurrent burgeoning of world population, especially in poorer nations, and scarcity of progressive leadership, worldwide. 

-Edward Hujsak