Opposing relationship between religiosity, morality

Hannu Sorri’s reading of my commentary “Is a secular church inevitable?” (Opinion, 3/25/15) was so off-course, it “demands correction,” as he himself put it.

Nowhere in my article did I suggest that “Religion lowers moral standards” and that “less religiousness yields less corruption.”

Even the most casual reader would have noted that the statistical data in my article only show an opposing relationship between religiosity and morality (a dichotomy, as I said). Put it another way: Religiosity has little or no impact on morality (or on happiness or wealth).

Then Sorri wrote about the “complicated link between religion and morality,” noting poverty, emotional ties, rivalry, etc. as other factors. Restating the obvious has no bearing to the thesis of my article. That’s another article waiting to be explored.

If Sorri read my article carefully, the opener attempts to contrast the past against the present. Thus, his observation that “there is a bond between religion and morality” and “the basic assumption that religion encourages high moral values” may have been true in past generations (which I alluded to in the article as “ Our predilection to religion…”), but current data do not support such assertion.

Finally, on Sorri’s contention that religion is not dying in Scandinavia, current figures do not support this contention. Take his example of Finland—75 percent of the whole population belonging to a religious sect does not tell the whole story. In Finland, most people would sign up for a state-backed established church “in order to obtain clergy for weddings and funerals.” Membership does not imply a deep belief in the tenets of the church. As a further example, in the case of the Lutheran Church in Denmark, a predominant state religion with very high membership, only 3 percent of its members attend Sunday services (this according to a comment from an online thread).

Sorri’s assertion that atheism—18 percent in Denmark and 19 percent in Sweden—is way off the mark. By most measures, both countries top 80 percent (with Sweden ahead). In 2007, confirmed atheism in Sweden was at 64 percent and in Denmark it was at 48 percent, but there is a hidden percentage of over 40 percent (Denmark) and 20 percent (Sweden) as “unsure” (agnostic) when asked if they believe in God. Also, there is an inherent reluctance in people’s responses to questions that may reveal their atheism (understandable, even today). By Sorri’s own account, “more people are leaving church membership in recent years.”

Extrapolating from all of the above, Denmark and Sweden are decidedly atheistic.

May I take this opportunity to thank all the supportive (95 percent) e-mails and online threaders for taking an interest in this subject.

—EDWIN DE LEON, [email protected]