Letter to an Atheist by Michael Patrick Leahy

False Statement # 15

Conversely, the 50 nations now ranked lowest in terms of the United Nation’s human development index are unwaveringly religious. (Page 44) <

Harris’ source for this is an article that references the United Nations 2005 Human Development Report. Here are the 50 countries at the bottom of the list of 175 countries the United Nations rates (note – the report conveniently does not rate North Korea, which would arguably fit into this list, but is clearly – as an atheistic Communist country – not “unwaveringly religious).

Solomon Islands, Nepal,Papua New Guinea, Congo, Sudan.Timor-Leste,Madagascar , Cameroon , Uganda, Swaziland , Togo, Cambodia, Myanmar, Botswana, Comoros, Laos, Pakistan, Bhutanm Ghana, Bangladesh, Djibouti, Lesotho, Yemen, Zimbabwe Kenya, Mauritania , Haiti, Gambia, Senegal, Eritrea,Rwanda,Nigeria,Guinea, Angola,Tanzania, U. Rep. of Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Zambia, Malawi, Republic of the Congo, Mozambique, Burundi , Ethiopia, Chad, Central African Republic, Guinea-Bissau, Burkina, Faso, Mali, Sierra Leone, and Niger

Notice anything about these countries ?

That’s right , 39 of the 50 are in Africa, the least developed continent on earth.

If you check the historical data you will find that in 1900, almost every one of these countries had virtually no participation in the world’s major religions. Tribal religions of one form or another dominated.

Looking at the most recent data for each of these countries, and comparing to a standard of religious participation in the United States, where approximately 80 per cent of us self-identify as either Christian, Jewish, or Muslim, you see quite quickly that most of these nations have between a 40 per cent and 80% self identification with one of these religions. Togo, for instance, still has about 70 per cent of the population described as African Tribal.

All 50 of these nations “unwaveringly religious”?

More religious than Western Europe, perhaps, and with both Christian and Muslim faith apparently growing in many of the countries in question, but the majority are less religious than the United States.

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