> Why not in the US? There are many reasons but the most important one, IIRC, is existential insecurity. The more one fears for one's wealth, health, and life,

> Why not in the US? There are many reasons but the most important one, IIRC, is existential insecurity. The more one fears for one's wealth, health, and life, the stronger and widespread religious beliefs. The thesis goes back to Gregory S. Paul [1] and has been confirmed by others; for instance, by Inglehart and Norris (2004) [2]. See also the summery by Thomas Rees. [3] [1] http://www.gspaulscienceofreligion.com/ http://www.gspaulscienceofreligion.com/ [2] http://www.hks.harvard.edu/fs/pnorris/Books/Sacred_and_secular.htm http://www.hks.harvard.edu/fs/pnorris/Books/Sacred_and_secul... [3] http://epiphenom.fieldofscience.com/2009/07/why-some-countries-are-more-religious.html http://epiphenom.fieldofscience.com/2009/07/why-some-countri...