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Created page with "Due to the history of the Protestant Reformation, significant Protestant populations can be found in Denmark, Estonia, Finland, the northern part of Germany, Iceland, Latv..."
Due to the history of the Protestant [[Reformation]], significant Protestant populations can be found in Denmark, Estonia, Finland, the northern part of Germany, Iceland, Latvia, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the east, north and west of Switzerland.<ref>[http://www.adherents.com/adh_predom.html Predominant religions], Adherence.com</ref>
All the above countries are developed countries. And when looking at any economic prosperity of the above countries and any positive effects that prosperity causes or other positive attributes, one has has to consider cultural legacy of the Protestant work ethic in these countries.
The website Cultural Front notes:
{{Cquote|In chapter 6 of ''Outliers'', [[Malcolm Gladwell]] highlights cultural legacies. He opens with disturbing descriptions of how longstanding cultural patterns and beliefs influenced violent conflicts among generations of families in Kentucky during the 19th century.
The compelling research findings concerning long-term and deeply held values led Gladwell to the conclusion that cultural legacies are powerful forces. They have deep roots and long lives. They persist, generation after generation, virtually intact, even as the economic and social demographic conditions that spawned them have vanished, and they play such a role in directing attitudes and behavior that we cannot make sense of our world without them. He goes on to note the possibilities of “taking cultural legacies seriously” in order to learn “why people succeed and how to make people better.”<ref>[http://www.culturalfront.org/2013/10/outliers-cultural-legacies.html Outliers & Cultural Legacies]</ref>}}
Although it is certainly not the only variable related to a person's overall happiness, happiness is positively correlated to wealth.<ref>[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nigel-barber/does-wealth-equal-happine_b_7560684.html Does wealth equal happiness?]</ref>
''Psychology Today'' declares:
{{cquote|According to Gallup data for 2010, the happiest nations were Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and the Netherlands. These are among the least religious countries in the world. Also according to Gallup data, Sweden, Denmark and Norway were the second, third, and fourth least religious states, being exceeded only by Estonia in their atheism.
Why are these European countries so happy? Their happiness is explainable in terms of a combination of national wealth and redistribution of resources via high taxation and a well-developed welfare state. So paying taxes makes people happy after all!
It is not the actual payment of taxes that cheers citizens of course but the end result of good government which is to say a secure standard of living for everyone.
In the jargon of religious studies, the European social democracies provide existential security. No one has to worry about being arbitrarily dismissed from their job and running out of money for basic necessities.
The principle source of European happiness is also the main reason for their unprecedented level of atheism. As detailed in an earlier post, when countries become more affluent, and their people acquire greater material security, their religious temperature nose dives.<ref>[https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-human-beast/201102/does-religion-make-people-happier Does religion make people happier?]</ref>}}
When atheist apologists cite various favorable economic statistics of irreligious countries which formerly had a strong presence of Protestantism (typically in Northern Europe), they generally do not mention the issue of the effects of cultural legacies.
All the above countries are developed countries. And when looking at any economic prosperity of the above countries and any positive effects that prosperity causes or other positive attributes, one has has to consider cultural legacy of the Protestant work ethic in these countries.
The website Cultural Front notes:
{{Cquote|In chapter 6 of ''Outliers'', [[Malcolm Gladwell]] highlights cultural legacies. He opens with disturbing descriptions of how longstanding cultural patterns and beliefs influenced violent conflicts among generations of families in Kentucky during the 19th century.
The compelling research findings concerning long-term and deeply held values led Gladwell to the conclusion that cultural legacies are powerful forces. They have deep roots and long lives. They persist, generation after generation, virtually intact, even as the economic and social demographic conditions that spawned them have vanished, and they play such a role in directing attitudes and behavior that we cannot make sense of our world without them. He goes on to note the possibilities of “taking cultural legacies seriously” in order to learn “why people succeed and how to make people better.”<ref>[http://www.culturalfront.org/2013/10/outliers-cultural-legacies.html Outliers & Cultural Legacies]</ref>}}
Although it is certainly not the only variable related to a person's overall happiness, happiness is positively correlated to wealth.<ref>[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nigel-barber/does-wealth-equal-happine_b_7560684.html Does wealth equal happiness?]</ref>
''Psychology Today'' declares:
{{cquote|According to Gallup data for 2010, the happiest nations were Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and the Netherlands. These are among the least religious countries in the world. Also according to Gallup data, Sweden, Denmark and Norway were the second, third, and fourth least religious states, being exceeded only by Estonia in their atheism.
Why are these European countries so happy? Their happiness is explainable in terms of a combination of national wealth and redistribution of resources via high taxation and a well-developed welfare state. So paying taxes makes people happy after all!
It is not the actual payment of taxes that cheers citizens of course but the end result of good government which is to say a secure standard of living for everyone.
In the jargon of religious studies, the European social democracies provide existential security. No one has to worry about being arbitrarily dismissed from their job and running out of money for basic necessities.
The principle source of European happiness is also the main reason for their unprecedented level of atheism. As detailed in an earlier post, when countries become more affluent, and their people acquire greater material security, their religious temperature nose dives.<ref>[https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-human-beast/201102/does-religion-make-people-happier Does religion make people happier?]</ref>}}
When atheist apologists cite various favorable economic statistics of irreligious countries which formerly had a strong presence of Protestantism (typically in Northern Europe), they generally do not mention the issue of the effects of cultural legacies.