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Prosperity and religion


Do you think that there is a correlation between religiousness and economic prosperity? Feel free to use examples from all religions include Islam.

Also, Please define and differentiate between good religiousness and bad religiousness.
 

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Login to find out (May 7, 2005 at 12:40am)
No, there isn't a correlation. And there are plenty of people who aren't religious and are still more decent and moral than the average religious person out there.
 
Login to find out (May 6, 2005 at 11:16pm)
If you get a chance to read Human Geography one of the theory it espouses is that historically people living in areas which are exposed to natural disasters and dependent on forces of nature tend to be more religiou than others...expamples being Italy, where lava buried pompeii & even agriculture based economies who tended to be dependent on nature (rain etc), however, i believe that Islam broke away from that or similar theories...Islam guides U through the riches by asking U to pay zakat and for holding us accountable for our spending and for looking out for less fortunate. Thus in the world of Islam you would find religion being present across the spectrum, irrespective of the economic well being of the people. It may be surprizing to some people, but the charity giving in muslim countries is among the highest as a proportion of wealth in the World, and this is only possible if people are religious & conscious of the less fortunate.
 
Login to find out (May 6, 2005 at 10:45pm)
I covered exactly this topic in my JE titled "Opium for the masses"...you might like to check it out! :)
 
Login to find out (May 6, 2005 at 9:13pm)
Generally, I think prosperity and religiousness are inversely proportional. However, I do see some wealthy Desi and Arab kids in the US who feel alienated from mainstream culture, so they become almost 'hypermuslim', to gain a sense of identity with their religion (since they lack the language ability to become really cultural).
 
Login to find out (May 1, 2005 at 4:38am)
Aangil, you only have to look at the world's Catholic population....most of them live in poor countries in South and Central America....yet their leaders were all there for the Pope's funeral with their Armani suits and Chanels.....They believe in religion supposedly, yet lead some of the most corrupt and least developed nations in the world.
 
Login to find out (May 1, 2005 at 1:33am)
Which level of poverty is under discussion? If you look at the very poor, they do not have much religious knowledge, except for a faith. What about religiousness, it is clean conduct, is it the level of being a practicing hindu, christian or muslim or just a faith in the creator that we correlate or gauge poverty againt. My take on this is that the poverty at the very bottom does not stem out of religiousness. Somehow, if we start looking from a certain strata or social standing than the correlation stands and is very much pervalent in this society. Could elaborate but comment getting long.
 
Login to find out (May 1, 2005 at 12:28am)
Now could every one please comment on the economic and religous situation in third world countries (Muslim, Hindu, and Christian) where people are more religous and poor? How does this corelation between religousness and economic prosperity work in these regions?
 
Login to find out (May 1, 2005 at 12:25am)
So, from our discussion so far, Abshaw, Odidy, Mysticlvr, Nura, Febe and Mamad have related to the question to good religousness. Within this group some such as Mysticlver and Nura are saying that religous minded people may be economically not that well off but still happy as their defintion of well being is different. On the other hand, Febe and Odidy emphasise that economic prosperity and religousness could happen together as was the case in early days of Islam or Malaysia now. I hope I got their point of view right. Jasmine and Masti on the other hand have related the question to bad religousness and its impacts on economic and social well being. Did I get everyone's comments right?
 
Login to find out (April 30, 2005 at 4:43pm)
i totally agree nura. of course there are exceptions to the rule though. :)
 
Login to find out (April 30, 2005 at 2:50pm)
As Andy wrote to Red in the Shawshank redemption:........"Remember, Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things. And no good thing ever dies."............religion gives people hope........we think of God when the chips are down....when its all hunky dory we forget all about Him......its human nature---------------------secondly ........only have to look at Iran to see how taking advantage of religion and hope to get into power, and then, forcing it on the masses has, backfired spectacularly in one generation........
 
Login to find out (April 30, 2005 at 2:29pm)
..religion can only prosper if it is friendly to other religions and other groups of cultures and races.
 
Login to find out (April 30, 2005 at 1:04pm)
if one focuses on any religion, money, success, etc do not become the foci of your work, but rather justice, love and serving God ? directly or through serving humanity.
 
Login to find out (April 30, 2005 at 1:03pm)
If you look just at statistics, "religious" people (those who regularly attend religious services - as a survey can not access the mind/heart of the "believer" but only his/her outward practices) are less economically well off in the World. I think, however, that this has less to do with religion than it has to do with money. Yes, there is some validity to Marx's (and others') statements about religion dulling the people (opiate of the masses) and subduing them (making them feel a sense of peace even though their lives suck)... that is not the reason so many millions are religious i do not think... and the reason the very economically well off are not religious is that they often worship the gods of money, power, image and are often workaholics or unethical. hard to be religious and justify buying a 3 million dollar house when children are dying from hunger only a few hrs away.
 
Login to find out (April 30, 2005 at 12:10pm)
I would beg to differ. If there is a book that explains how to perform a scientific test (and with the assumption that there is no flaw in the procedure explained in the book) we would say that any body who goes by the book will be able to perform the experiment in successfull manner. But that doesnt mean that you will not get a bunch of students here and there who will not read the full instructions and thus mess up the experiment. Now what would you say, is the publishers fault, or the writers fault, or the book's fault; of course not. it is the sole mistake of the students performing the experiment. //////////////////////////////// Now in case of being religious the same scinario applies, the people in power, the taliban and saddam were not religious people or were performing the experiment incorrectly, thus faced with a disaster. But does not indicate in any auspect that being religious is bad. /////////////////////////////////// // On the other hand i have a strong feeling that organised religion is a thing invented to control the masses and nothing more.