Effects of Religion, An Informal & St00pid Analysis

[onager]

Well, I can guarantee somebody will call it st00pid...

To start - most of you old-timers probably remember a famous statement in The Other Group - "No one would want to live in a place with no religion." Or similar words.

I just spent a month in one of the most religious places in the USA - South Carolina. And I was wondering what effect, if any, all that religion has on the lives of its inhabitants.

According to Wikipedia, using Gallup and other polls, a whopping 94% of South Carolinians are some kind of Xian. 1% are "Other Religions" and 5% are "Non-Religious."

So the state should be a Neo-Garden of Eden, right? Right...let's check a few stats...

Starting with a report from just last week on "the 10 most dangerous states in America," where SC came in 6th overall:

Despite the national improvement in crime rates — as well as significant improvements in some of the most dangerous states — a number of states were much more dangerous than the rest of the nation. In fact, South Carolina and Delaware had among the largest decreases in violent crime and still had some of the highest violent crime rates.

6. South Carolina
> Violent crimes per 100,000: 494.8
> Population: 4,774,839
> Total 2013 murders: 297 (20th highest)
> Poverty rate: 18.6% (tied-8th highest)
> Pct. of adults with high school diploma: 85.6% (tied-12th lowest)

http://247wallst.com/special-report/2015/01/02/the-most-dangerous-states-in-america-2/#ixzz3O7AQ5YCf

Some of those SC Xians must be thanking their Gawd for Alaska right now...

South Carolina ranked second in nation in rate of women killed by men

South Carolina no longer wears the ignoble crown as the deadliest state in the nation for women. But even as Alaska assumed that title Monday, the Palmetto State found little to celebrate in its marginal improvement to second deadliest.

With 50 women slain in a year's time, South Carolina's murder rate for women killed by men is still nearly double the national average.

http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20140908/PC16/140909496

But Jebus turned water into wine...

South Carolina ranks worst in the nation for drunk driving

by Continuous News Desk - Posted: 01.09.2015 at 3:53 PM

South Carolina is ranked worst in the nation for traffic deaths relating to drunk driving, according to a study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD).

http://www.carolinalive.com/news/story.aspx?id=1147149#.VLQeNtIU9hE

OTOH, he didn't turn water into Oxycontin...

South Carolina has the 16th Highest Drug Overdose Mortality Rate in the United States

South Carolina has the 16th highest drug overdose mortality rate in the United States, with 14.6 per 100,000 people suffering drug overdose fatalities, according to a new report,

The number of drug overdose deaths - a majority of which are from prescription drugs - in South Carolina tripled since 1999 when the rate was 3.7 per 100,000.

http://healthyamericans.org/reports/drugabuse2013/release.php?stateid=SC

What about Jebus' Mom...?

South Carolina’s teen pregnancy rate at historic low, but still 11th-highest nationally

The number of teenagers giving birth in South Carolina dropped to the lowest rate in recorded history in 2012. But with the rate still the 11th-highest in the United States, those leading the fight to stop teen pregnancy say there’s still a lot of work to be done.

http://coladaily.com/2014/01/17/south-carolinas-teen-pregnancy-rate-at-historic-low-but-still-11th-highest-nationally/

[Tobin S.]

1. Now, now, onager. None of us is without sin.

I suppose it shows how truly ineffective the Bible is as a moral guidebook. Then again, when I was going to church as a youngster, no one really read the Bible it seemed. They were just told what it all meant by the preacher man.

So either the Bible is ineffective or the preachers are ineffective or maybe we should just scrap the whole deal and address issues with what we know is real about human nature.

[Curmudgeoness]

2. People can declare "I am a Christian"

or they can live their lives to show that they are Christians, and mean it. One is easy to do, the other, not so much. They really mean that they go to church.