Religion and Poverty

[winkio]

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2010/09/religions-correlation-with-poverty/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+TheBigPicture+(The+Big+Picture)

Poverty causes Religion?  Religion causes Poverty?  The US is crazy?  It's interesting, to say the least.

[Blizzard]

Poverty causes Religion?

I would agree on that, though. Poor people have a harder time to get by so they cling to god since it's their only hope in their life of darkness.

[The Niche]

Not always. If people were devout before they got povertised, then they'll most likely lose faith since their god didn't save them.

[Karltheking4]

Not unless there religion has several gods and demi-gods.
Then they blame the "evil" gods, and become MORE devout to the "good" gods

[Blizzard]

Not always. If people were devout before they got povertised, then they'll most likely lose faith since their god didn't save them.

That's a good point. But usually people who are rich don't believe too much in god in the first place so that case is relatively rare.

[The Niche]

Not necessarily rich. Or, you could be spiteful and poor. That's not a good combo.

[Subsonic_Noise]

Not always. If people were devout before they got povertised, then they'll most likely lose faith since their god didn't save them.

That's a good point.

Not really. Those people can easily believe that god is testing them. That was actually a common belief in the medieval times, with all that "hurr I've got to suffer in my mortal life to get into paradise" and I can imagine people still believing it today.

[Blizzard]

Yeah, but that's really rare nowadays. It's so much easier to blame your misfortune on somebody else like god so people do it. -_-

[The Niche]

Yeah, people are lazier and they have less pain tolerance.

[Subsonic_Noise]

Yeah, but that's really rare nowadays. It's so much easier to blame your misfortune on somebody else like god so people do it. -_-

Well, I don't know about you but I still heard alot of people say that, and I'm not exactly from the middleages.
Though I don't think that people who lose their religion that easily were really believing in it to begin with.
I'm too tired to end this thought someone do it for me.

[The Niche]

You've got a good point, to convert a true believer is nigh on impossible. But being pissed on by society can have strange effects on people.

[Blizzard]

Though I don't think that people who lose their religion that easily were really believing in it to begin with.

I totally agree with you. (My own faith is there and nothing is ever gonna shatter it, regardless of what happens.)

[Subsonic_Noise]

Though I don't think that people who lose their religion that easily were really believing in it to begin with.

I totally agree with you. (My own faith is there and nothing is ever gonna shatter it, regardless of what happens.)

Though I might wanna add here that I'm not religious myself, but I like to try and figure out how the psychology and the social aspect of religion works, and I do think that religious people, especially when something bad happened to them, will turn to their respective god or gods. If for complaining (or even blaming) or to seek help ultimately depends on the person, but it's still a religious act either way, which does support the theory.

[Blizzard]

Yeah, I've seen it happen in many ways. I don't know how I could explain my own faith. Of course, it wasn't always that strong. I've gone through hard times and once I even lost my faith. At one point I regained it and I kind of realized that it ultimately doesn't matter. I believe because I choose to. I know what I believe in and why I do. It's not blind faith so it cannot be destroyed in a way that blind faith can. I'm not even sure it is possible to destroy honest and sincere faith.
I also find the whole psychology behind it fascinating. Though, more of the blind faith psychology. A man who believes blindly in something will even give his life without understanding why if others tell him to. A man who truly believes in something will give his life because he wants to, not because somebody else told them to.

[The Niche]

You're onto something there. A lot of the rules set down by religions are set down to confuse people and thus make them more biddable.

[Blizzard]

Anybody here watched the movie The Book of Eli? Very interesting movie to view from this perspective.

[Diokatsu]

To be honest, I've know people who're very rich and devout, and people who are very poor and devout. At the same time, I know poor atheists and rich atheists. From my experience, religion isn't related to your social status, but more related to the type of person you are. I'm not really sure how to explain this, but I've met different people who have a variety of different beliefs. I think trying to pin down a trend is sort of meaningless as well, since my life experiences lead me to see that people tend to believe what they do for a variety of reasons. Marking one cause to the status of one's religion life is something I'm sure we all can see is a bit foolish and pretentious, since very rarely are things so simple as 1+1=2 in life, especially in psychology.

[Subsonic_Noise]

Well, it really depends on what you call "poor". I see a general tendency that people in really poor countries, like africa or burma, tend to be religious (I have been to Burma and haven't really met any people that weren't religious) while there are much more atheists in post-industrial countries. I think it has something to do with the level of education, but I'm once again too tired to finish this arguement, so I pass it on to whoever wants to use it. (not trying to imply that religious people are stupid though)

[Blizzard]

Uneducated != stupid. Nobody thinks you're saying that they are stupid.

[Diokatsu]

Well, it really depends on what you call "poor". I see a general tendency that people in really poor countries, like africa or burma, tend to be religious (I have been to Burma and haven't really met any people that weren't religious) while there are much more atheists in post-industrial countries. I think it has something to do with the level of education, but I'm once again too tired to finish this arguement, so I pass it on to whoever wants to use it. (not trying to imply that religious people are stupid though)

I know what you mean, but at the same time, I don't think it's poverty but the culture and the exposure to foreign ideas. You can possibly relate poverty to the state of culture and to the lack of diversity, but the link isn't direct and it's not too strong of an arguement in my opinion.