God Is Not Dead

Christianity Strikes Back
John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge have written a book entitled God is Back: How the Global Revival of Faith is Changing the World. If you don't have time to read the book you can read an article in The Times that summarizes this good news story about Christianity's success in the new millennium.

Micklethwait and Wooldridge bring glad tidings. Despite the predictions of crabby existentialists and snooty modernists, Christianity has not withered away.

From Russia and Communist China (more Christians than Communist Party members), to the continent of Africa, Christianity is on the march. Although atheism has increased in the US, the vast majority is still Christian, and more dedicated than ever due to outside forces shaking believers out of their sense of complacency.

Practicing Christians are happier than the "free-thinkers"

One of the most striking results of the Pew Forum's regular survey of happiness is that Americans who attend religious services once or more a week are happier (43 per cent very happy) than those who attend monthly or less (31 per cent) or seldom or never (26 per cent).

The correlation between happiness and church attendance has been fairly steady since Pew started the survey in the 1970s; it is also more robust than the link between happiness and wealth. Attending church weekly, rather than not at all, has the same effect on people's reported happiness as moving from the bottom quartile to the top quartile of income distribution - and is a lot easier to do.

More Christianity, less crime, less social deviance

James Q.Wilson, perhaps America's pre-eminent criminologist, summarises a mountain of evidence from the social sciences succinctly: “Religion, independent of social class, reduces deviance.”

The authors' use of Ned Flanders and The Simpsons to press their case makes this an interesting and entertaining read.

Times Online
God is Back