Most vulnerable are often most religious
Sociologists have argued that the social benefits of religion take on greater importance, the fewer resources and the less control people have over their own lives.
"Religion becomes less central as people's lives become less vulnerable to the constant threat of death, disease and misfortune," Norris and Inglehart write in their 2004 book, Sacred and Secular: Religion and Politics Worldwide.
"As lives gradually become more comfortable and secure, people in more affluent societies usually grow increasingly indifferent to religious values, more skeptical of supernatural beliefs and less willing to become actively engaged in religious institutions."
In poor countries, religious institutions often provide essential services such as education and health care, and the social networks that faith communities provide can be crucial in times of crisis.
"In the richer countries, people are less likely to face existential threats … so they have more opportunity for fulfillment outside of religion," Crabtree said.
But it's more than just an accumulation of wealth that makes a country more secular, sociologists say.
"The United States is one of the wealthier societies, and yet, it's still quite religious," said Phil Zuckerman, a sociology professor at Pitzer College in Claremont, Calif., who has studied secularization in Scandinavian countries and wrote a book about it called Society Without God.
"I think it's when you have what we might call 'existential security' — so, wealth and prosperity are part of that, but by that we [also] mean the bulk of people in society have access to housing, health care, jobs. They live in a relatively stable, democratic society without much in the way of existential threats to their lives or their culture."
It's no accident, say some sociologists, that some of the world's least religious people live in nations like Denmark, Sweden, Germany, France and the Netherlands, all highly egalitarian societies with strong social safety nets.
Education is another aspect of prosperity that plays a role in religiosity. The WIN-Gallup International poll, which surveyed close to 52,000 people in 57 countries, found that religiosity decreased as education level increased. The proportion of people who identified as religious was 16 per cent lower amid respondents with a post-secondary education than amid those with less than a secondary education.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/do-countries-lose-religion-as-they-gain-wealth-1.1310451
Sociologists have argued that the social benefits of religion take on greater importance, the fewer resources and the less control people have over their own lives.
"Religion becomes less central as people's lives become less vulnerable to the constant threat of death, disease and misfortune," Norris and Inglehart write in their 2004 book, Sacred and Secular: Religion and Politics Worldwide.
"As lives gradually become more comfortable and secure, people in more affluent societies usually grow increasingly indifferent to religious values, more skeptical of supernatural beliefs and less willing to become actively engaged in religious institutions."
In poor countries, religious institutions often provide essential services such as education and health care, and the social networks that faith communities provide can be crucial in times of crisis.
"In the richer countries, people are less likely to face existential threats … so they have more opportunity for fulfillment outside of religion," Crabtree said.
But it's more than just an accumulation of wealth that makes a country more secular, sociologists say.
"The United States is one of the wealthier societies, and yet, it's still quite religious," said Phil Zuckerman, a sociology professor at Pitzer College in Claremont, Calif., who has studied secularization in Scandinavian countries and wrote a book about it called Society Without God.
"I think it's when you have what we might call 'existential security' — so, wealth and prosperity are part of that, but by that we [also] mean the bulk of people in society have access to housing, health care, jobs. They live in a relatively stable, democratic society without much in the way of existential threats to their lives or their culture."
It's no accident, say some sociologists, that some of the world's least religious people live in nations like Denmark, Sweden, Germany, France and the Netherlands, all highly egalitarian societies with strong social safety nets.
Education is another aspect of prosperity that plays a role in religiosity. The WIN-Gallup International poll, which surveyed close to 52,000 people in 57 countries, found that religiosity decreased as education level increased. The proportion of people who identified as religious was 16 per cent lower amid respondents with a post-secondary education than amid those with less than a secondary education.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/do-countries-lose-religion-as-they-gain-wealth-1.1310451
