Apparently, Gallup says Alabama and Iran are equally religious.
It has always boggled the mind that fundamentalist Christians and fundamentalist Muslims don't simply join sides and destroy everyone in the middle. I think Richard Dawkins has made this point before. This would be to oversimplify the situation though. It makes more sense to say: Money only gets in the way. I'd say the dividing line is somewhere with the wallet. Impoverished Christians and impoverished Muslims probably have a lot more in common than rich Christians and poor Christians. Or rich Muslims and poor Muslims.
Anyway, to say that religiousity and poverty go hand in hand is not too far fetched. It makes sense that poor people need something to hang their hat on and wealthy people have that in their assets. And it only becomes more apparent when you look at who Jesus was concerned about (read: the oppressed, impoverished, losers, etc.)
I seriously doubt Iranians try to fry everything like we in Alabama do. I doubt they marry sisters or appreciate NASCAR or fix chitlins or drink sweet tea.
But, according to Gallup - Iranians and Alabamians can agree on one thing. We love our Jesus. Errrr, Mohammad, ummm...God. Yeah. We can agree its important to love God.
HT to the Daily Dish.
Quick question, Jack. If religiosity and poverty have something in common beyond the actual commonalities of our faiths (rich/poor Muslims; rich/poor Christians), then what do atheism and poverty have in common? I.e. - Communist Russia and atheism?
ReplyDeleteI believe poor communities are more "religious" because what what prompted Jesus to say that "it is easier for a camal to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." the rich don't think they need a saviour, they have their money to save them.
ReplyDeleteI think you may be wrong about the marrying your sister thing...though not really a sister, just a close good looking cousin. Not that I would know from experience or consider it...I think.
ReplyDeleteThere's a big difference in being poor and being hopeless. It's not so hard to be poor and happy...if you around friends and family, and you are safe. It's harder to be poor and have people trying to shoot your ass off every day. Kind of like the Palestinians who made the mistake of settling on the land that God had promised to someone else...(I guess God overbooked?...some other peoples think he gave it to them too...God, the realestate agent) Why should someone in that situation be so upset. They just need a broader world view. Or maybe they just need someone to stop trying to shoot their ass off...nothing really to do with being religious or believing in JEEESUS.