Atheism and illegitimate births
Ben Judah wrote in his article London’s religious awakening:
| “ | So it’s high time to ditch a few myths. ‘‘London values’’ are not what many people assume. According to the 2011 census, only one in five Londoners are atheist or agnostic – compared with one in four in the country as a whole. The new London is the region where the fewest births are out of wedlock – just 36 per cent compared with, say, 59 per cent in the secular North East. The villages and the small towns in the provinces, not inner London, are where the godless are.[2] | ” |
The Barna Group found that atheists and agnostics in America were more likely, than theists in America, to look upon the following behaviors as morally acceptable: illegal drug use; excessive drinking; sexual relationships outside of marriage; abortion; cohabitating with someone of opposite sex outside of marriage; obscene language; gambling; pornography and obscene sexual behavior; and engaging in homosexuality/bisexuality.[3]
A 2013 article entitled Is Europe proof that intact families don’t really matter?, which cites governmental sources, provides data which shows that the highly secular European countries of Sweden, France and Denmark have higher illegitimacy rates than than the more religious European countries of Greece, Switzerland, Italy, Poland and Spain.[4]
Atheism and marriage
See also: Atheism and marriage and Atheist marriages and Irreligion and domestic violence
Christian apologist Michael Caputo wrote:
| “ | Recently the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life has published its mammoth study on Religion in America based on 35,000 interviews... According to the Pew Forum a whopping 37% of atheists never marry as opposed to 19% of the American population, 17% of Protestants and 17% of Catholics.[5] | ” |
Theodore Beale declared that according to the 2001 American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) "more than half of all atheists and agnostics don’t get married."[6]
Irreligion, illegitimacy and crime
See also: Religion and crime reduction and Irreligious prison population
As noted above, the data suggests that irreligion is positively correlated with higher illegitimacy rates in societies.
David Kopel wrote for The American Enterprise about illegitimacy and crime:
| “ | The collapse of the American family is not only a tragedy for children, it is a problem on which quite a lot in American life depends--perhaps even the fate of our civilization. Among many other public problems, crime rates are directly tied to family decay. Almost everything that society does to respond to crime today amounts to an attempt to fix what the criminal's family failed to do.
A large majority of violent criminals come from fatherless homes. A Detroit study found that about 70 percent of juvenile killers did not live with both parents. A study of seriously delinquent girls in California showed 93 percent came from broken homes. A survey of juvenile delinquents in custody in Wisconsin found that fewer than one-sixth grew up in intact families; over two-fifths were illegitimate. Sixty percent of rapists had single-parents (or none). Says one California juvenile counselor, "You find a gang member who comes from a complete nuclear family...I'd like to meet him."[7] |
” |
Numerous studies and the historical data indicate that religion, especially Bible believing Christianity, reduces criminality (see: Religion and crime reduction and Irreligious prison population).
See also
References
- ↑ http://creation.com/atheism
- ↑ London’s religious awakening by Ben Judah
- ↑ Practical outcomes replace biblical principles as the moral standard, Barna Group
- ↑ Is Europe proof that intact families don’t really matter?
- ↑ Atheism, marriage and divorce
- ↑ http://creation.com/atheism
- ↑ The Marriage-Crime Connection by David Kopel
