[Vision2020] Traditional Morality and Socially Destructive Behavior

[Nicholas Gier]

Greetings:


Those who take the Daily News may have seen John Carlson's column and my
letter response.  This is a longer version of that.


What I found most interesting in researching this column was the strong
correlation between high rates of cohabitation (Scandinavia) and high
levels of child well being.  The highest rates of child deaths due to abuse
and neglect in the developed world are found in the U.S. and highest in
pro-family Texas.  The full version is attached.


Yours for far less religious fanaticism,


Nick


*TRADITIONAL MORAL VALUES AND *

*SOCIALLY DESTRUCTIVE BEHAVIORS*

*
*

*We have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way
 of the spirit and not in the old way of the written code.*

~The Apostle Paul, Romans 7:6


*The true Christian seeks to preserve rights in the name of love
rather than impose right belief in the name of law.*

~Liberal Christian Robert Alley


For decades those on the Religious Right have claimed that liberals have
been the cause of the socially destructive behaviors that plague our
society. The evidence, however, clearly shows that the social costs have
been much greater in the conservative South than in more liberal states.


Taxpayers pay huge amounts for the treatment of sexually transmitted
diseases, but the top six states for cases of syphilis, Chlamydia, and
gonorrhea infection are Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, Arkansas, South
Carolina, and Alabama.


The Bible Belt also leads the way in teen pregnancies and births. In 2005
the U.S. national average was 40 teen births per 1,000 for girls 15-17.  The
average for 11 southern states was 54, but only 25 for the liberal New
England states. If one deletes African-Americans and Hispanics from the
calculation, the figure is 40, but the national average then drops to 26.


The abuse of prescription drugs has become a great problem.  Traditional
value states also rank high here as well: Nevada, Arizona, Iowa, Kentucky,
Tennessee, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Washington, and Rhode Island.


The psychological and financial costs of divorce are also very high, but in
2009 Southern women split from their spouses at a rate of 11.1 per 1,000,
while only 7.5 of their Northeastern sisters did.


What does it look like in the rest of the world? In 2009 the number of teen
births for young women ages 15-19 was 1.8 per 1,000 Confucian/Buddhist
South Koreans, 2.5 in Confucian Hong Kong, 4.9 in Buddhist/Confucian Japan,
and 5.2 in Confucian Singapore.  Using data from 2006-2009,  the average
for 36 European nations (including a declining Russia and conservative
Poland) was 15.4 teen births per 1,000.


With record low church attendance and far fewer who call themselves
believers, Europeans have now moved to what some have called a
“post-Christian” civilization.  Significant, however, is the fact that
these non-believing Europeans are obviously not immoral people.  The same
is true for liberal Americans, who are so often criticized for having no
ethical standards.


High European cohabitation rates (56 percent of Swedes) for example, have
not led to more socially destructive behaviors or reduced child well
being.  Significantly enough, the highest rates of American cohabitation
are found on the West Coast and in New England.


According to a 2001 UNICEF report, deaths from child abuse are highest in
the U.S. at 2.4 per 100,000 and lowest in Germany at .8 child deaths.
Pro-family Texas has the highest rate deaths (4 children per 100,000) and
New Hampshire has the lowest at .35.


Without much further study, I can only speculate about what the difference
is.  In my own research on the origins of religious violence, I have found
that religious people who practice basic morality without insisting on one
particular creed are far less violent than those who put orthodoxy over
orthopraxis.


When I look back at my own conversion to Christianity (one that did not
last very long) I can now see that the main focus was on inviting Jesus
into my heart.  Far less emphasis was placed on developing an ensemble of
virtues that would guide me through a successful life.


I was fortunate to have parents and teachers who instilled in me the
virtues of moderation, self-control, thrift , and patience that have served
me very well. Tens of millions of non-church-going people have also learned
the virtues from their parents and teachers.


My conversion may have temporarily saved me, but it did not make me moral,
just as mere church going does not make for better people. Asking for
forgiveness and doing penance also does not necessarily lead to virtuous
lives.  Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, who has switched religions as
many times as he has changed spouses, claims that he is a more mature
person now, but there are probably many Americans who may doubt that.


Is the Religious Right the new Pharisees who, like the biblical ones,
excluded rather than included and preached a mere moralism and not true
morality?


Nick Gier taught religion and philosophy at the University of Idaho for 31
years.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/attachments/20111215/9eec0640/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: MoralValuesBehavior.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 105541 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/attachments/20111215/9eec0640/attachment-0001.pdf>