Writing in The Guardian last October, George Monbiot asserted that we are all better off living in secular societies because they have lower levels of homicide, marital breakdown and sexually transmitted disease than religious ones. He based his claims on research by Gregory Paul published in the Journal of Religion and Society which found that in a survey of 18 developed democracies, the ones with the highest levels of belief in God and creationism also experienced the greatest social dysfunction.

Interested, I went to the quoted article online. Sure enough, the least healthy society, the United States, also showed the highest level of belief in God. But that was all. There was no other nation with such high levels of both faith and social problems so the general conclusion that religion causes social ill-health is at least in doubt. Let's also remember that many of the good features of those secular societies - democracy, human rights, the welfare state - were developed by thinkers and activists with specifically Christian motivations.

Still, this research reminds Christians of the importance of getting our engagement with society right. We must wonder exactly how the most Christian nation in the world with the largest economy in the world came to have such dramatic social problems.

Paul's research also found that in the US the "strongly theistic anti-evolution south and Midwest" have "markedly worse homicide, mortality, STD, youth pregnancy, marital and related problems" than the more secular northeast. The type of religion practiced may be partly to blame but so are high levels of deprivation and inequality, unique to the US in the western world. Is Christian faith lifting people out of poverty in America, or is it used to justify keeping them there?

I am reminded of the familiar verses above; followers of Christ are to be salt and light. I've always understood this to mean that Christians are to be agents for good in a world of aimlessness and darkness, preserving and illuminating what's righteous. Surely this passage has societal implications; we're salt and light for the world not just our own personal patch.

A nation that's both developed and religious, Ireland is not that different from the US. How is our engagement? Are we frowning in disapproval or reaching out with a message of hope? Are we just the subject of debate, or are we contributing to it? Is our faith benefiting anyone but our own clique?

David Mitchell

George Monbiot article: http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2005/10/11/better-off-without-him/

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Centre for Contemporary Christianity in Ireland - Residential Summer School
Listening Post - Rediscovering God, ourselves and the world
31 May - 3 June, 2006
For further information visit: www.contemporarychristianity.org/events