A recent article from University of Virginia sociologist Bradford Wilcox was published by the Witherspoon Institute.
In it he says:
A recent study of 33 countries around the world by Anthony Gill and Erik Lundsgaarde, political scientists at the University of Washington, indicates that there is an inverse relationship between state welfare spending and religiosity. Specifically, they found that countries with larger welfare states had markedly lower levels of religious attendance, had higher rates of citizens indicating no religious affiliation whatsoever, and their people took less comfort in religion in general. In their words, “Countries with higher levels of per capita welfare have a proclivity for less religious participation and tend to have higher percentages of non-religious individuals.”
read full story here
My reaction:
Correlation does not mean causation. Perhaps a lack of religiosity causes people to want (or tolerate) bigger government. Or, maybe, big government encourages loyalty to the state at the expense of others. Or, perhaps a third factor (e.g. a general decline in personal responsibility) encourages both. I think the pattern that emerges is the same one seen repeatedly in the Old Testament, where people become wealthy, comfortable, and lazy. They fail to practice their own dominion under God (as commanded in Gen 1:26-28) and think it better to have others rule over them (1 Samuel 8:6-7).
Unfortunately, the current "mega"-churches of the U.S. tend to reinforce this trend, because they often have very hierarchical structures than discourage active involvement of members. This is in contrast to what happened in Acts when the apostles urged the church to select (i.e. vote) for deacons, who would actually decide how money was spent. Without experience in the give and take of a local church, people do not develop the skills necessary to be actively involved in the civic community. It was the strength of congregational churches that provided the U.S. at its founding with a large fraction of the populace that wanted liberty for the purpose of following God. The typical modern church infantilize its members by spoon-feeding them tiny bits of doctrine and huge dollops of fluff (aka "application"). The Roman Catholics in particular are really great at this. (e.g. "Don't know how to pray? Here, have a necklace with some beads on it. Recite these prayers, it will teach you spiritual discipline.") This type of extra-biblical teaching saps the typical member of the strength to practice what is taught in Romans 14:4-8 (to follow their own Scripture-based convictions rather than the teachings of others).
The only way to remedy this is for families to teach their children to rule the world as God intended and to obey Him rather than man (Acts 4:19). Parents that require their children to obey simply because they say so end up with children who are incapable of obeying God. Parents must always point to God in all things, not themselves (Deuteronomy 6:4-9).
HT: Justin Taylor
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