Is god belief necessary for a moral society? Not according to Peter Steinfels' account of Phil Zuckerman's Society Without God in the NY Times. Zuckerman reports that although they are two of the world's least religious nations, "in various rankings of nations by life expectancy, child welfare, literacy, schooling, economic equality, standard of living and competitiveness, Denmark and Sweden stand in the first tier." Can it be? Moral without God?
Although the many nonbelievers interviewed, the review continues, "denied most of the traditional teachings of Christianity, they called themselves Christians, and most were content to remain in the Danish National Church or the Church of Sweden, the traditional national branches of Lutheranism." When
interviewed about their religious beliefs, most of these church members were indifferent or oblivious to the theistic underpinnings of their nominal religions. One believer, presumably feeling the pressure of ambient social mores, apologized to a friend for his god belief saying "I hope you don’t feel I’m a bad person."How ironic! A believer feels so guilty about his belief he is compelled to apologize for it! What would that be like?
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