by Gregory Paul & Phil Zuckerman, Edge 4/30/07. This is a new article on the decline and fall of religious belief in the U.S., in spite of the political power of the Religious Right.

The Gays Are Winning: Why That Spells Doom for the Religious Right 6/24/08 (OEN Headline article)

Expelled Expired: Creationism Is Not Winning 5/27/08 (this version has data plots)

Coming soon!

The Remote Prayer Delusion: Clinical Trials That Attempt to Detect Supernatural Intervention Are as Futile as They Are Unethical. Journal of Medical Ethics in press

William F. Buckley's Big Mistake, by Gregory Paul

The Real Reason the Religious Right is Losing America 12/16/07

by Gregory Paul, OpEdNews

The Real War on Christmas 1/2/08

by Gregory Paul, OpEdNews

Why the Claim that Progressive Secular Values and Policies Are Bad For Societies is a Great Big Lie 1/18/08

by Gregory Paul, OpEdNews

Cross-National Correlations of Quantifiable Societal Health with Popular Religiosity and Secularism in the Prosperous Democracies: A First Look

by Gregory Paul, Journal of Religion and Society, 2005

(JR&S now refuses to publish further items on the subject. )

Zuckerman comes to similar conclusions in Atheism: Contemporary Rates and Patterns: The Cambridge Companion to Atheism (Cambridge University Press, 2007). He is currently working on a book that presents the results of his interviews of secular Europeans. A seminal volume that documents the socio-economic forces behind western secularism in Pippa Norris and Ronald Inghelart Sacred and Secular (Cambridge University Press, 2004), who also refute the free market hypothesis of American religiosity.

Other References:

Bowling for God

by Michael Shermer, Scientific American, 12/06

Religious Belief and Societal Health: New Study Reveals that Religion Leads to a Healthier Society

by Matthew Provonska, Skeptic Magazine, 12(3)/06

(Featured on-line article)

God and Good Behavior

by Gwynne Dyer, Japan Times, Jerusalem Post, etc. 3/07

(a revealing comment was posted at bumpersticker.wordpress.com/2007/-3/22/does-religion-do-more-harm-than-good)

Societies Worse Off 'When They Have God On Their Side.'

by Ruth Gledhill, The London Times, 9/27/05

To the Church, He's Public Enemy No. 1

by Alex Johnson, MSNBC Online, 12/15/05

The Dark Side of Faith: It's Official: Too Much Faith May Be a Dangerous Thing

by Rosa Brooks, The Los Angeles Times, 10/1/05

Correlation of Christian Ethics, Social Ills Knocks Advocates from Knees to Backside

by Emily Mcguire, Sydney Morning Herald, 10/4/05

My Heroes are Driven by God, but I'm Glad My Society Isn't

by George Monbiot, The Guardian, 10/11/05

Why is Land of the Faithful Pockmarked with Varied Ills

by Martin Dyckman, St Petersburg Times, 10/30/05

So That's the Reason

by Theodore Dalrymple, The Wall Street Journal, 10/14/05

Religion: Harmful for Society?

Zenit News Service/Catholic Online, 10/15-16/05

Religion May Be Dangerous to Our Health

by Lee Salisbury, Dissident Voice, 10/11/05

A God-Blessed Dilemma for the Religious Right10/28/05

Party-Crashers, Go Home 11/1/05

by Rob Asghar, Creators (offers op-eds of top pundits)

Gallup Organization Refutes Story Saying "Societies Worse Off "When They Have God on Their Side' "

by David Virtue VirtueOnline, 10/10/05

The 2002 Pew Global Attitudes Project, the 2004 BBC/ICM, 2005 Eurobarometer Social Values, Science and Technology and International Social Survey Program Religion I & II document global religiosity and secularization, and show the adverse impact upon the former of higher education and income levels. T. Smith and S. Kim discuss the NORC data showing that Amerofaith is declining as the nonreligious rise in “The Vanishing Protestant Majority”, GSS Social Change Report 14 (2004). In The Decline of Religious Identity in the United States, Institute for Jewish & Community Research (2004), S. Groeneman and G. Tobin explore the demographic factors behind the decline. The most accurate survey of the current number of American disbelievers is H. Taylor, “While most Americans believe in God, only 36% attend a religious service once a month or more”, HarrisInteractive (2003). H. Brinton, “Praying for more men: What will bring them back to the church?” Washington Post, 12/19/04, discusses how the loss of men is threatening popular religiosity. A. Banks “Southern Baptists address drop in baptism numbers,” The Washington Post, 6/18/2005. P. Marler and C. Hadaway “Testing the Attendance Gap in a Conservative Church,” Sociology of Religion (1999) 60:175 and S. Presser “Data collection mode and social desirability bias in self-reported religious attendance,” American Sociological Review, (1998) 63: 137, show that actual church attendance is much lower than indicated in surveys. The high levels of stress resulting from high levels of social disparity and insecurity are discussed in R. Sapolsky, “Sick of poverty,” Scientific American (6/2005), R. Wilkinson, “The Impact of Inequality: How to Make Sick Societies Healthier,” (New Press, 2005), M. Marmot, “The Status Syndrome” (Bloomsburg Publishing, 2004).