In general, higher rates ************SPAM/BANNEAR************ belief in and worship ************SPAM/BANNEAR************ a creator correlate with higher rates ************SPAM/BANNEAR************ homicide, juvenile and early adult mortality, STD infection rates, teen pregnancy, and abortion in the prosperous democracies (Figures 1-9). The most theistic prosperous democracy, the U.S., is exceptional, but not in the manner Franklin predicted. The United States is almost always the most dysfunctional ************SPAM/BANNEAR************ the developed democracies, sometimes spectacularly so, and almost always scores poorly. The view ************SPAM/BANNEAR************ the U.S. as a “shining city on the hill” to the rest ************SPAM/BANNEAR************ the world is falsified when it comes to basic measures ************SPAM/BANNEAR************ societal health. Youth suicide is an exception to the general trend because there is not a significant relationship between it and religious or secular factors. No democracy is known to have combined strong religiosity and popular denial ************SPAM/BANNEAR************ evolution with high rates ************SPAM/BANNEAR************ societal health. Higher rates ************SPAM/BANNEAR************ non-theism and acceptance ************SPAM/BANNEAR************ human evolution usually correlate with lower rates ************SPAM/BANNEAR************ dysfunction, and the least theistic nations are usually the least dysfunctional. None ************SPAM/BANNEAR************ the strongly secularized, pro-evolution democracies is experiencing high levels ************SPAM/BANNEAR************ measurable dysfunction. In some cases the highly religious U.S. is an outlier in terms ************SPAM/BANNEAR************ societal dysfunction from less theistic but otherwise socially comparable secular developed democracies. In other cases, the correlations are strongly graded, sometimes outstandingly so.
If the data showed that the U.S. enjoyed higher rates ************SPAM/BANNEAR************ societal health than the more secular, pro-evolution democracies, then the opinion that popular belief in a creator is strongly beneficial to national cultures would be supported. Although they are by no means utopias, the populations ************SPAM/BANNEAR************ secular democracies are clearly able to govern themselves and maintain societal cohesion. Indeed, the data examined in this study demonstrates that ************SPAM/BANNEAR************ the more secular, pro-evolution democracies have, for the first time in history, come closest to achieving practical “cultures ************SPAM/BANNEAR************ life” that feature low rates ************SPAM/BANNEAR************ lethal crime, juvenile-adult mortality, sex related dysfunction, and even abortion. The least theistic secular developed democracies such as Japan, France, and Scandinavia have been most successful in these regards. The non-religious, pro-evolution democracies contradict the dictum that a society cannot enjoy good conditions unless most citizens ardently believe in a moral creator. The widely held fear that a Godless citizenry must experience societal disaster is therefore refuted. Contradicting these conclusions requires demonstrating a positive link between theism and societal conditions in the first world with a similarly large body ************SPAM/BANNEAR************ data - a doubtful possibility in view ************SPAM/BANNEAR************ the observable trends.
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