Note: Correlation is not causation - but I'm not surprised at all.

[theweaselking]

The paper, published in the Journal of Religion and Society, a US academic journal, reports: "Many Americans agree that their churchgoing nation is an exceptional, God-blessed, shining city on the hill that stands as an impressive example for an increasingly sceptical world.

"In general, higher rates of belief in and worship of a creator correlate with higher rates of homicide, juvenile and early adult mortality, STD infection rates, teen pregnancy and abortion in the prosperous democracies."

The study concluded that the US was the world's only prosperous democracy where murder rates were still high, and that the least devout nations were the least dysfunctional.

Comments

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

Gun laws don't usually cause pregnancy, STDs, and failure of the education system.

(Besides, the gun laws aren't the problem. The gun *culture* is.)

[unnamed525.livejournal.com]

I'd say that dismal sexual education, due to religious fundamentalism, is almost certainly the cause of the high teenaged pregnancy and STD rates.
I think the murder rates would require closer analysis and a study of more variables to see if there are any stronger correlations.