The happiest countries are liberal countries

[kccd]

Christianity has been intricately intertwined with the history and formation of Western society. Throughout its long history, the Church has been a major source of social services like schooling and medical care; an inspiration for art, culture and philosophy; and an influential player in politics and religion. In various ways it has sought to affect Western attitudes towards vice and virtue in diverse fields. Festivals like Easter and Christmas are marked as public holidays; the Gregorian Calendar has been adopted internationally as the civil calendar; and the calendar itself is measured from the date of Jesus's birth.

The cultural influence of the Church has been vast. Church scholars preserved literacy in Western Europe following the Fall of the Western Roman Empire.^[1] During the Middle Ages, the Church rose to replace the Roman Empire as the unifying force in Europe. The medieval cathedrals remain among the most iconic architectural feats produced by Western civilization. Many of Europe's universities were also founded by the church at that time. Many historians state that universities and cathedral schools were a continuation of the interest in learning promoted by monasteries.^[2] The university is generally regarded^[3][4] as an institution that has its origin in the Medieval Christian setting, born from Cathedral schools.^[5] The Reformation brought an end to religious unity in the West, but the Renaissance masterpieces produced by Catholic artists like Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael remain among the most celebrated works of art ever produced. Similarly, Christian sacred music by composers like Pachelbel, Vivaldi, Bach, Handel, Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Liszt, and Verdi is among the most admired classical music in the Western canon.

The Bible and Christian theology have also strongly influenced Western philosophers and political activists. The teachings of Jesus, such as the Parable of the Good Samaritan, are among the most important sources of modern notions of human rights and the welfare commonly provided by governments in the West. Long-held Christian teachings on sexuality, marriage, and family life have also been influential and controversial in recent times. Christianity played a role in ending practices such as human sacrifice,^[6] infanticide and polygamy.^[7]:309 Christianity in general affected the status of women by condemning marital infidelity, divorce, incest, polygamy, birth control, infanticide (female infants were more likely to be killed), and abortion.^[8]:104 While official Church teaching^[9]:61 considers women and men to be complementary (equal and different), some modern "advocates of ordination of women and other feminists" argue that teachings attributed to St. Paul and those of the Fathers of the Church and Scholastic theologians advanced the notion of a divinely ordained female inferiority.^[10] Nevertheless, women have played prominent roles in Western history through and as part of the church, particularly in education and healthcare, but also as influential theologians and mystics.

Christians have made a myriad contributions to human progress in a broad and diverse range of fields, both historically and in modern times, including the science and technology,^{[11][12][13][14][15]}medicine,^[16]fine arts and architecture,^[17][18][19] politics, literatures,^[19]Music,^[19]philanthropy, philosophy,^{[20][21][22]:15}ethics,^[23]theatre and business.^{[24][25][18][26]} According to 100 Years of Nobel Prizes a review of Nobel prizes award between 1901 and 2000 reveals that (65.4%) of Nobel Prizes Laureates, have identified Christianity in its various forms as their religious preference.^[27]Eastern Christians (particularly Nestorian Christians) have also contributed to the Arab Islamic Civilization during the Ummayad and the Abbasid periods by translating works of Greek philosophers to Syriac and afterwards to Arabic.^[28][29][30]They also excelled in philosophy, science, theology and medicine.^[31][32]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Role_o...n_civilization

The influence of Christianity as a positive force on the development of western society and on our current society is a mixed bag.

I agree that Christianity historically had a huge influence on art and music and architecture, especially in Europe. But that is no longer the case, and many lovely churches are being converted into banks or restaurants or tourist attractions.

I suppose an argument can be made that the historical Church promoted literacy, but the Church actually forbade translation of the bible into vernacular languages, and Tyndale, who began the first translation of the Bible into English for the general public was hunted down and burned as a heretic. In modern times the church certainly runs a lot of schools and I actually went to a church run high school and college, where education was valued highly. However, there are also religious schools where creationism is taught instead of science.

The fact that many past Nobel Laureates listed Christianity as their preference (from a list of other religions?) means nothing, as Christian beliefs do not undergird any meaningful science. And remember it was not so long ago that it was expected for people to belong to a church. Not the case anymore in much of the USA.

Finally, Christians do not champion the rights of women. Most churches disallow women pastors and relegate women to "women's roles" like teaching and nursing and cooking and cleaning and secretarial duties. Churches not only object to abortion under virtually all circumstances, but also to birth control.

[kccd]

How is there a solid moral guide in your moral opinion?

My conscience offers me a solid, dependable moral guide. I don't have to phone my pastor for guidance when I face an ethical issue. Or crack open a bible.

[seanD]

I would certainly agree that NZ and Switzerland are the most multicultural on that OP list of 10 countries.

That there are two highly multicultural countries in the top-10 happiest, shows that multicultural doesn't have a huge negative impact on happiness.

I do tend to generally agree with you though that multicultural is on the whole correlated with poorer outcomes in international data. It's not a really strong effect, but there is somewhat of an effect. But it does seem like its effects vary hugely depending on how well or badly the country handles it.

I just think you're a little to quick to brag about this when it actually may be an indictment against what you supposedly claim you stand for as a progressive (or at least what I hear other progressives claim about themselves and their politics). It's kind of strange to me that the most liberal western developed countries are the least ethnically diverse. This is quite telling to me, though I would imagine, without really parsing this out with more research, you could come up with a variety of theories. One theory could be that liberal run countries aren't as culture-friendly as they pretend to be here in the states. They pretend here in the states only because it's politically convenient for them to do so. But when they actually run the entire country and control the borders, not so much.

[Cow Poke]

My conscience offers me a solid, dependable moral guide. I don't have to phone my pastor for guidance when I face an ethical issue. Or crack open a bible.

Your posting here tells quite a different story.

[Cow Poke]

....Churches not only object to abortion under virtually all circumstances, but also to birth control.

You keep making false statements like this, even when you're corrected. You make WAY overly broad ignorant statements, and you just keep repeating the same drivel over and over.

[Ronson]

A doctor at my church did some volunteer work when he was young in southeast Asia. He worked with a variety of people who were there with different groups. He was horrified to find that certain doctors attached Christian symbols and prayers to patient care, in some cases implying that the care was linked to acceptance of the religion. I hope his experience was an outlier, but he said this problem seemed to be worse with the more conservative Christian sects.

I'm sure it was. I worked as a grant writer for a Christian food bank and homeless shelter for about a year. The only criteria required was need.

[Cow Poke]

A doctor at my church did some volunteer work when he was young in southeast Asia. He worked with a variety of people who were there with different groups. He was horrified to find that certain doctors attached Christian symbols and prayers to patient care, in some cases implying that the care was linked to acceptance of the religion. I hope his experience was an outlier, but he said this problem seemed to be worse with the more conservative Christian sects.

AND, once again, an anecdotal story (which, quite honestly I don't believe) upon which a goofy attack is based. Franklin Graham's outfit, along with SBC's Global outreach, are some of the biggest providers of Christian care in the world, and there simply isn't any implication whatsoever that people in need have to accept "religion". There is HOPE that, seeing that we care, they also accept our Christ, but it is never a condition of people receiving help.

[Mountain Man]

I cannot believe that people don't know right from wrong unless they are told by someone else who claims authority.

How would you know not to drive over the speed limit if there wasn't a law enacted by a person in authority to tell you that it's wrong? Otherwise it's just a meaningless number on a sign posted next to a roadway. Moral laws are similar. Without a moral law giver, we would have no concept of right and wrong.

[Starlight]

I just think you're a little to quick to brag about this when it actually may be an indictment against what you supposedly claim you stand for as a progressive (or at least what I hear other progressives claim about themselves and their politics). It's kind of strange to me that the most liberal western developed countries are the least ethnically diverse. This is quite telling to me, though I would imagine, without really parsing this out with more research, you could come up with a variety of theories. One theory could be that liberal run countries aren't as culture-friendly as they pretend to be here in the states. They pretend here in the states only because it's politically convenient for them to do so. But when they actually run the entire country and control the borders, not so much.

Maybe you just have an inaccurate and oversimplified view of how progressives approach culture and immigration? As you note, your views don't appear to fit the data in your own country.

Nor do they fit with my country, where the left-wing / liberal / progressive parties want to reduce immigration, and the right-wing / conservative party wants to keep it very high.

So maybe you just have a poor and overgeneralized understanding of Progressives in general, fed to you by conservative media outlets that were being intentionally deceptive?

[seanD]

Maybe you just have an inaccurate and oversimplified view of how progressives approach culture and immigration? As you note, your views don't appear to fit the data in your own country.

Nor do they fit with my country, where the left-wing / liberal / progressive parties want to reduce immigration, and the right-wing / conservative party wants to keep it very high.

So maybe you just have a poor and overgeneralized understanding of Progressives in general, fed to you by conservative media outlets that were being intentionally deceptive?

This confuses me and I'm not really sure what your point is. The conservatives here in the states are portrayed by progressives as the anti-immigration and ethnic exclusion party. But that's actually what I see in the Euro liberal utopias on your list. Unless you're arguing liberal progressives there have different views and values (i.e against ethnic integration) than they do here in the states?

[Cow Poke]

This confuses me and I'm not really sure what your point is. The conservatives here in the states are portrayed by progressives as the anti-immigration and ethnic exclusion party. But that's actually what I see in the Euro liberal utopias on your list. Unless you're arguing liberal progressives there have different views and values (i.e against ethnic integration) than they do here in the states?

Yeah, the whole "liberals vs conservatives" thing based on a country's own politics gets really nutty.

[seanD]

Yeah, the whole "liberals vs conservatives" thing based on a country's own politics gets really nutty.

And SL claims he's an expert on US politics because he watches TYT.

[Cow Poke]

And SL claims he's an expert on US politics because he watches TYT.

He really threw me with the notion that Americans seem to enjoy taking showers together* and seeing each other naked.
Maybe he has a subscription to one of those nudist colony magazines my brother used to get.

Have you ever been to a Buccees? They have become pretty famous in Texas because you get your very own private stall when you go to the bathroom.
I think Americans love their privacy, especially when it comes to showering and "biological discharge".


*same sexes together

[seer]

My conscience offers me a solid, dependable moral guide. I don't have to phone my pastor for guidance when I face an ethical issue. Or crack open a bible.

Yes a conscience formed by growing up in the largely Christian West? What if you grew up in Mao's China or Stalin's Russia? And if we Christians really believe that Scripture is inspired then of course we consult it.

[seer]

The Golden Rule is a universal moral principle. It's found in other societies long before Christianity, and in societies where Christianity had no influence.

It's not surprising that Christianity would include among its moral principles, universal principles. But those universal principles don't come from Christianity. Rather, to the extent that Christian morality is good, it's good because it adopted external secular universal moral principles such as the golden rule. Unfortunately Christianity didn't just stop with the universal secular moral principles, it added in a whole bunch of other garbage too, which took liberal Christians in the US centuries to get rid of due to their inconsistencies with the underlying universal secular principles such as the golden rule.

Yes the GR can be found in other societies before Christianity, but it is not universal. But it was through Christianity that it was permeated through out Western culture. And there is no such thing as universal secular moral principles. You made that up.