What Happens when Countries Lose Religion? | Phil Zuckerman 

We would all be better off without religion, it just divides us. After living 81 years, I am convinced of it.

Phil, that is why Seneca wrote: "Religion is true for the commoner, false for the wise, and useful for the politician."

2 yrs free of religion after 30 years - never been happier and a better person.

I would bet my house that half of those pious politicians pretending to be religious are about as religious as I am, and I am an atheist.

According to Pew research center , Sweden, Finland , and Denmark are amongst the most happiest and peaceful countries in the world

We Irish people dropped our infatuation with the Catholic Church when the abuse and control of the population came to light. Mother and baby homes. Tuam ( look it up) sexual abuse of our children . We had to wake up, get real, face the reality of our appalling existence. I embrace Atheism, Anti theism with open arms. The relief is indescribable. I was always a “good” person. Now I’m a really good, happy person doing the very best I can to contribute to our society and enjoy my life . 👏👏👏🍀🍀🍀

If you need a God to exist for you to be a Good person then you are not a Good person

Religion promotes irrationality and lack of common sense. Almost all of my relatives are rabidly religious. I deal with it every day.

‘Faith’ is the excuse adults use to explain why they still have imaginary friends.

Proud to be a Dutchman. And happy to be personaly freed of any religion.

What Happens When Countries Lose Religion? 1. More caring. 2. Less Dogmatic. 3. Better educated. 4. Richer. 5. Innovation increases. 6. Better a problem solving. 7. Freedom from Religious Oppression.

In Denmark the default is that you dont believe in god. People may have some superstition. But you rarely meet people that literally believe in the bible. I have never met a person that did not understand and believe in evolution and science.

My mental health and thought clarity dramatically improved when I finally left religion behind. Magical thinking warps the mind and makes you immature.

Unfortunately, religious people will watch this and say "this isn't true" with absolutely no evidence to the contrary.

Religion is an excuse to behave however you want, while blaming someone else, who no one else can question.

The countries with the most churches, (USA), have the most mass shootings, while countries with out, have almost no shootings.

Morality preceded religion by thousands of years.

Religions come and go all the time, just ask Zeus.

They lose the chains and become free from a master.

The day that the world has no more religions can't come fast enough. What a Utopia...

I’m more moral now without a god then I ever was with one…

As a European, since I was a little girl and saw on TV news from the USA and speeches ending "with the help of God" my jaw dropped. And I'm from a country where until 50 years ago, we were catholic by law... Spain. You can't realize how much freedom and prosperity, laicism brought us.

What happens is that the person becomes more in touch with reality. Here is a partial list: Causes the person to begin journey through life without believing supernatural and superstitious nonsense Causes the person to appreciate life more and realizes that we only have one life to live and should make the best of it. Causes the person to give up many prejudices. Causes the person to realize that some imaginary sky god has nothing to do with causing diseases, natural disasters, and evil humans Causes the person to finally make sense of this planet and the universe. Causes the person to rely on science and medicine and engineering over silly religion Causes the person to stop relying on prayer, which for obvious reasons has never worked Causes many people to stop giving money to crooked religious entrepreneurs

I've said it forever. Abandoning religion would be humankind's greatest evolutionary leap since we came out of the trees.

I'm from Czech,nearly zero religions here and the safety , intelligence, education and decency of life here is incredible.

Religion is the worst kind of gaslighting

You are exactly right of course. I get so tired of hearing politicians invoke the name of God every chance they get. Unfortunately, in this country, it’s damn near impossible for an atheist to get elected to public office.

They don't LOSE religion. They get rid of it.

Poverty and religion go hand in hand.

Zero belief in god happier and healthier!

I've gotten to the point that when somebody tells me they are religious, I cringe and want to disassociate with them. Beliefs influence actions. And I find the idea of tieing your moral compass to a (violent) bronze age invisible sky daddy.... gross. Sure. That carries a level of prejudice and bias with it. But that's just my parental instinct kicking in to make sure I protect my children from those people.

They become more moral and more tolerant.

Please remember that every word in every religious book was actually written by mankind.

When religion goes.. love thrives!

But But but my invisible man in the sky NEEDS 10% of my money.

CORRECTION: You showed Stalin as the first example of the "Atheistic Rulers". Stalin was NOT an Atheist. He was raised as a very strict Orthodox Christian and went to Seminary to become a Priest. While he was violently oppressive against anyone or group that opposed him, from scientists to religious leaders, it was less about what they were than if they were on his side. He protected his Orthodox Church during his reign. It prospered and grew. You can not find one single quote from Stalin where he claims to be an Atheist, or even reject the god of his upbringing.

This is freeing on a personal level as well. Many of us are told God will bring us to our knees, and our lives will go down the tubes if we walk away from a religion. But I have been out 13 years, and things have only improved for me😊

What happen? They stop thinking because religions tell people what to think instead of how to think (like philosophy).

This Canadian says you absolutely nailed it. Keep up the excellent work.

We, the Dutch, are doing perfectly fine without any god. Much better than the USA, for example. We don't any need god to function. You are free to believe in whatever you want, but keep it to yourself. Religious people are a minority.

Claiming to know something is a reason people use to stop investigating. Religion makes a lot of claims that stifle curiosity, and that's a big problem!

12:31 THANK YOU! Someone finally said it. What the world needs is pragmatism, sharing ideas, common sense, common decency, humility, less greed, compassion and a whole lot of empathy, *_...NOT more religion!_*

People need religion more if their living conditions are tough. In Denmark, we have safety, free healthcare, free education, and strict gun control. So religion is not important in our daily life 😊

The level of atheism throughout the rest of the developed world refutes any argument that religion is somehow a moral necessity, Countries like Norway, Iceland, Australia, Canada, Sweden, Switzerland, Belgium, Japan, the Netherlands, Denmark and the United Kingdom are among the least religious societies on Earth. According to the United Nations’ Human Development Report (2005) they are also the healthiest, as indicated by measures of life expectancy, adult literacy, per capita income, educational attainment, gender equality, homicide rate and infant mortality. Conversely, the 50 nations now ranked lowest in terms of human development are unwaveringly religious. Other analyses paint the same picture: The United States is unique among wealthy democracies in its level of religious literalism and opposition to evolutionary theory; it is also uniquely beleaguered by high rates of homicide, abortion, teen pregnancy, STD infection and infant mortality. The same comparison holds true within the United States itself: Southern and Midwestern states, characterized by the highest levels of religious superstition and hostility to evolutionary theory, are especially plagued by the above indicators of societal dysfunction, while the comparatively secular states of the Northeast conform to European norms. Of course, correlational data of this sort do not resolve questions of causality--belief in God may lead to societal dysfunction; societal dysfunction may foster a belief in God; each factor may enable the other; or both may spring from some deeper source of mischief. Leaving aside the issue of cause and effect, these facts prove that atheism is perfectly compatible with the basic aspirations of a civil society; they also prove, conclusively, that religious faith does nothing to ensure a society’s health.

You don`t need religion to have morals. Being a person that treats others with respect, kindness, empathy, and compassion is all the world needs to achieve peace. All wars are over religion or greed or both.

The ONLY reason Japan seems to be "religious" on surveys is that, to be buried alongside your family, you must be registered as the religion that owns the land where the family tomb is located... As far as belief? They aren't religious.

I'm not sure if it was because of democracy. After World War II, the people of former socialist Yugoslavia could practice religion if they wanted, but many chose not to. I believe that less religion was a result of feelings of happiness, satisfaction, and freedom. As soon as we faced difficulties, religion made a strong comeback.

I renounced Christianity for atheism almost thirty years ago and I have never been happier. Nearly all wars have been caused by religion - it's poison.

you speak logic phil, the problem is religion and logic cannot exist in the same plane, they cancel each other out, logic derives from facts, religion derives from fear, I enjoyed this video very much, thank you

Easy - they stop persecuting the different, embrace reality and grow up to become self-sufficient.

Fun Fact: In Sweden no one HAVE to believe in a God or be part of a religion EXCEPT the Royals. They HAVE to be Christan Lutherans and members of the Swedish Church. I have always found that a big funny.

*Join the Enlightenment, support Secular Humanism.* Make the World a better Place.

Polish atheist here. I agree with what you're saying (and for the most part this is not new information for me), but I was a little surprised at 10:15 when you mentioned Poland as a country that is "not doing so well" (together with El Salvador and Colombia). Quick facts: - Poland is #36 in the most recent HDI index (Colombia #91 and El Salvador #127), that's better than Portugal (#42) and not far away from Greece (#33) and Italy (#30) - Poland is #24 safest country in the world according to GPI 2023 (ahead of Spain, Italy, UK, South Korea, Greece, France and USA among others) - pretty much no gun violence, no terrorism, no no-go zones, no racial/ethnic tensions and generally low crime rates - in economic terms Poland is doing great since the fall of USSR - we consistently had ~4% GDP growth each year for the last 30 years (this is more or less on par with countries like South Korea and Singapore in the same timeframe) - no wonder recently there were headlines that Poland's economy actually may overtake UK's economy before 2030 - Poland may already be less religious than you might think and it's secularizing fast - Pew Research Center in 2018 in "How do European countries differ in religious commitment?" declared Poland #8 most religious in Europe (high, but not that high) and their report "The Age Gap in Religion Around the World" from the same year found that Poland is the #1 in the world(!!!) in the largest gap in generations (compared 18-39 vs 40+) in church attendance and in considering religion to be very important to their lives (huge drop in both things in younger generation); even the Catholic Church's statistics from 2022 show that only 29.5% goes to church and only 13.9% take the communion (which in Catholic doctrine is the main purpose of going to a church in the first place), so even though 91% declares themselves as Christians it's pretty safe to say that majority of them are just cultural Christians and "true believers" are in fact a minority The only thing we were not doing great with in recent times was our previous government, which was corrupt and had autocratic tendencies (using Victor Orban as a blueprint) - thankfully, we managed to kick them out in the last elections.

People in politics tend to hide behind religion instead of actually fixing the problems that plague society. 🙄

Scandanavian countries have pretty much lost religion..........'nuff said

sadly, religion can never be completely removed. It is easier to believe and put your faith in a higher being rather than to face the real issues and learn the truth. If you manage to remove or disprove a certain religion, two or more new religions will just pop out. We will just have to accept that religion will be a part of humanity

Northern Ireland is part of the UK and there is a lot of religious trouble there between Catholics and Protestants. There is also a lot of trouble in England with radical Islam.

What Happens When Countries Lose Religion? Priests lose their employment.

Best explanation ever why and how two types of atheism (forced or spontaneous) got nothing to do with each other.

I can confirm everything! In Scandinavia, we all have a grandmother who is deeply religious. And we refrain from provoking her, like the good atheists we are

I weep for my country. 🇺🇸

I grew up in New Zealand in the 1950s, where religion wasn't much of a thing even then. My parents were not believers, and most people I knew weren't. As a social scientist myself, I love your answer to the criticism of correlation not equalling cause. Perfect.

“Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by rulers as useful.” ― Seneca

Yes, you nailed it. It reminds me of the quote: 'With or without religion you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion?'. This is of course also about a free society where atheism is not forced upon people.

On the last census I in NZ more than 50% of the population identified as having no religion.

I am happy to report that your information about Poland might be a bit outdated Sir. Not only Poland is doing very well these days (waaaaay better than 25 years ago) and also during this time religiosity dropped down from 96% in late 90's to 72% today. I hope that trend will continue in the future as well (1% drop down every year on average:).

Different viewpoint here: I recently found Faith again, but I am not aligned (nor do I want to be) with any organized Religion. Finding my Faith again helps ME. It is something i do alone. "Christian Nationalism" has infested most, if not all, organized Religion in America. I try to love & accept everyone & so, I cannot sit in a Church with those who don't. Having Faith doesn't mean you're "religious. "

When you take away religion, you take away the fear. I live my life without the fear of burning in hell. I don't think some of the 10 commandments are a bad thing to follow (don't murder any one, don't cheat on you spouse, don't steal and just be kind to others) So many lives taken in the name of religion.

We have had so many wars because of religions, fact. Religious themes are good, how to be a good person, but government and religions should be seperated. Most advanced countries have got this.

All You need to do is go to Any Nordic country such as Sweden and the crime rate is extremely low, infant death rate is low. I’m Australian our country is 52% ‘no Religion’ and ironically having been a big jail in the past, we are a safer country then America

“In the dark ages people were best guided by religion, as on a pitch-black night a blind old man is the best guide; he knows the roads and paths better than a man who can see. But when the daylight comes, it is foolish to use blind old men as guides.” HEINRICH HEINE.

I read an article on the local newspaper website that talked about how my state, Utah, had the highest number of active church goers in the country. Then it went on about how important church membership is because, among other things listed, if you were in need of help for food, care, etc. you could rely on the church. The people writing this article spouted off this fact as if it weren't a societal failure to protect all the citizens. This is why we are suffering as a nation, because people think churches should help as "charity" etc. What if you don't believe in any of the nearby established church teachings? What if you are an atheist and don't believe in a god at all? They spout such things and have really no idea what they are saying or just don't care. And I know people that have gone to the local dominant religion (it's a mystery lol) in Utah for help, who aren't members and it's all, "so sorry. can't really help". The basic premise of Christianity is that suffering is good. So why should they alleviate suffering? And if you were to go to the strange brand of Christianity that espouses the prosperity gospel then even worse for you; you deserve your suffering because Jesus doesn't love you enough.

Countries don't lose religion. People go from one religion to another to another to another like people who bar hop. Religions are corrupting people's minds.

Secularization is both a cause and an effect of human flourishing. But you're right, this feedback loop is not something that can be forced. It is a slow, organic process.

And I would add that these atheist dictatorships had two of the greatest characteristics of religion: Authority (replacing god with a single human) and Dogma (a group of fixed eternal rules of how things should be).

Yes, you're correct we have politicians blaming lack of faith from poor governance. Sadly, this is accepted by people not because it's a problem of faith, but intelligence and failures in a public education system.

Incredible that some people seem to think that it’s only the fear of a judgmental god that keeps them from misbehaving

See… I don’t consider the Soviet Union a fully “atheist” state. Their goal was for the state to become a “god” and be revered in much the same way.

I agree with most of your positions, but what you called "forced secularization" is not an abandonment of religion. The "leaders" simply substitute the term "The People" for "God" and continue worshipping that non-existent entity instead. But by "The People," they mean "Themselves."

Without religion, it is much harder to justify doing horrible things to others and accept your own suffering at the hands of others under the guise of reward in the afterlife. One is actually forced to deal with reality.

I think about places like Iran and Afghanistan where life revolves around religion and there’s no freedom whether to practice or not, those are places where most human rights are violated and most people suffer.

The best way to make a good person do terrible things is: Religion! And only true freedom will make people chose to abandon religion as they can now see what evil is causes.

it's bad if people stop believing. very bad. FOR THE BUSINESS OF RELIGION. all that money wasted on advertising (Google, r u listening?) and no one is buying.

if you want to see what the religion can do to a nation, visit turkmenistan.

Nailed it.

There is little doubt that humanity would benefit greatly from the elimination of magical thinking across the board. The question is, will humanity survive long enough for that to happen?

Religion provides hope of a better existence in an afterlife. It often teaches adherants that they are better or more deserving of a good life than the outsiders. If you have a better existence in this life, are able to see the humanity in others, and have the free time to evaluate your thoughts and beliefs, religion and religious thinking go away.

It’s said that as people age, and get closer to death, they become more religious. I started out s an Episcopalian, but at age 16, accepted that I am AGNOSTIC. Yet as I entered my 60s, I threw off the indecisiveness of agnosticism and decided that I am an ATHEIST.

Iran was a pretty progressive country before 1979.

Think about the 1.3 billion dollars we give to these

Arthur C. Clarke said that if Greek technology from 2000 years ago would have developed unabated, the Greek would have put a man on the moon within 300 years. Then the Catholic Church happened and kept humanity in darkness for 1500 years. So much for religion.

same kind of question like „what happens when mankind lose cancer.“

In many countries, U. S. to name but one, many people claim to be followers of Jesus without actually following his philosophy. If the U. S. is the richest truly Christian nation it should have the lowest homelessness, best health are etc. etc. It doesn't. Make of that what you will.

They tend to have less crime and basically a lot less hate. There is a reason that atheists are under represented in prisons

If you read the bible, you'll see that god is the biggest mass murderer that ever existed, he makes Thanos look like a kitten.

Put God on trial for all the people killed in his name

As a Scandinavian Dane I can confirm that as societies go even without the idea of an omnipowerful omnipresent Abrahamic God we´re still doing fairly well,- all things considered. Given that we were forcibly Christened,- and already had our own religion to go by at the time,- Odin, Thor, Freja etc.,- you know - Vikingr- and we´ve largedly abandoned the idea of believing in fairy tales we actually love our churches. They look nice ( old, historical value you know ), they´re perfect for important transitions in your life like baptisms, confirmations, weddings, funerals, national days etc. If only they would tone down this whole Jesus thing.

Great video, a lot of material to cite from.

Interesting you focused solely on the Christian god. I would argue its far worse in the Muslim countries.

I am from The Netherlands, science and history made me an atheist. Now living in The USA I`m surprised how naif people are over here.