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Comment by Drew on July 24, 2008 at 1:12pm

Religious belief is correlated with several others, which also have causational effect upon each other. The societies that are most religious also rank poorly on every other economic and social indicator.

The decline of religiosity in advanced nations came AFTER secularism, intellectual Enlightenment, liberal democracy, freedom of the press, universal education, universal suffrage, universal medical care (which is partly why the US lags others), (some degree of) gender equality, (some degree of) inter-racial tolerance, and birth control.

The rate of atheism increases as an entire society makes certain positive educational, social, and economic choices. However, within societies, it is the less intelligent who cling to religious belief longer, and the more intelligent who reject theism first, as long as the society allows them to do so without immediate threat of personal injury. Obviously, this is a broad oversimplification; family and social pressure, or personal trauma, are powerful modifying factors in retaining religion.

I've yet to meet a highly educated person from a stable family which is non-religious or only moderately religious, who became fundamentally or evangelically religious without the impetus of extreme personal trauma. I've heard anonymous people CLAIM this on the internet after I've said I think it never happens, but since theists lie to themselves every day, and will lie for the "cause", I reject these claims as fictional.