Society without God

most Danes and Swedes continue to be a member of a church, and identify as a Christian, and engage in various holidays and rituals, even though they don’t believe in the supernatural stuff.

The joy they get from participating in the traditions of their religion seems to far outweigh any tension or discomfort they may experience as a result of any amount of cognitive dissonance.

Nor is religion a necessary ingredient for a healthy, peaceful, prosperous, and (have I already said it?) deeply good society.

only 7 percent of Danes and 3 percent of Swedes consider the Bible the actual word of God34—nearly everyone has a more or less positive appraisal of it. They consider it a “good” book, an ancient repository of decent morals and values, a venerable collection of important stories full of wisdom and insight, an important work of history, and even in a certain sense a bedrock of their civilization. But again, it is not viewed as something that fell from the sky, or was fashioned by angels, or written according to the will of some Immortal, Eternal, Omniscient, and Omnipotent Deity.

religion is just not something that really interests many Danes and Swedes. They don’t know much about it, they don’t think or talk much about it, and they certainly don’t have much to say about it.

Danish and Swedish culture is not characterized by widespread nihilism. Danes and Swedes care about politics, for instance, as evidenced by the fact that their rates of election participation are among the highest of any democracies in the world. They also care deeply about their fellow human beings, as evidenced by the fact that their charitable donations to poor nations and disaster relief are among the highest rates in the industrialized, democratic world. Danes are also inclined to join organizations and associations; on average, a typical Dane is a member of 3.5 voluntary associations, and one-third of working-age adults regularly perform some kind of voluntary work.21 Additionally, they enroll in universities, they travel, they raise children, they make movies, they pioneer advances in medicine, they make love, they develop technologies—in short, the markedly irreligious societies of Denmark and Sweden are characterized by an admirably committed and involved citizenry. Clearly, meaningful lives can be lived even within societies where concern for the “ultimate” meaning is relatively minimal.

and widespread worship of God—society is doomed. For as I have sought to establish, the least religious nations on earth also tend to be the most healthy and successful nations on earth

But I feel it is necessary to do so in order to make it clear that there is simply no empirical support for the oft-touted theory that without religion—or without significant and widespread worship of God—society is doomed.

percent of Swedes claim to have ever had a “religious experience.”37 When a sample of 18–29-year-olds from various countries were asked if religion gives them comfort and strength, only 24 percent of Danes and 20 percent of Swedes said “yes.”38 Finally, one recent study asked Danes what they thought were the most important goals when it came to fostering certain qualities in their children: 87 percent chose “tolerance/respect,” 80 percent chose “independence,” 72 percent chose “good manners,” 56 percent chose “to think of others,” 37 percent chose “imagination"—but only 8 percent chose “Christian faith

only 24 percent of Danes and 16 percent of Swedes claim to believe in a “personal God.”26 When asked “How important is God in your life?” (with 10 meaning “very important” and 1 meaning “not at all"), only 23 percent of Swedes and 21 percent of Danes chose 7–10—among the lowest such levels in the world.27 And belief in life after death may be as low as 30 percent and 33 percent among Danes and Swedes respectively—compared to 81 percent of Americans.28 Only 18 percent of Danes and 31 percent of Swedes believe in heaven—compared to 88 percent of Americans.29 And only 10 percent of Danes and Swedes believe in hell—the lowest rates of hell-belief in the world.30 As for belief in the existence of sin, Danes and Swedes are again at the very bottom of international rankings, with only 21 percent of Danes and 26 percent of Swedes believing in its existence.31 Concerning the nature of the Bible, only 7 percent of Danes and 3 percent of Swedes believe that the Bible is the actual/literal word of God32—compared to 33 percent of Americans.33 When it comes to religious service attendance (excluding weddings, funerals, and christenings), only 12 percent of Danes and 9 percent of Swedes attend church services at least once a month,34 and only 3 percent of Danes and 7 percent of Swedes go at least once a week.35 As for prayer, only 21 percent of Danes and 20 percent of Swedes claim to pray several times in a given month.36 And only 15 percent of Danes and 12 percent