I think scandinavia has a high proportion of atheists / agnostics because it's a comparatively wealthy area of the world. wealth = education = rational thought processes = less religious people. If you look at where the most bigoted and fundamentalist of religious people are located, mostly they will be in Third world countries where most people are illiterate with no access to education.

Hi Firegirl, thanks for your post,

If you look at the countries that have the highest GDP and the best rankings in education you will see a significant correlation between those variables and the rate of non-religious persons in those countries. Yet, I do not believe that it is an absolute linear correlation as other factors "more than probably" (a very agnostic expression) come into play. Just take the US (albeit a very large and diverse country compared to the ones in Scandanavia) for example that ranks fairly high in both categories but has a relatively low percentage of non-religious persons. I would imagine worldwide that there are x amount of millions of individuals who have both high levels of education/intelligence and are affluent who are theists.

I have read that in Scandanavia other contributing factors could be their adverse reaction to religious prostelization combined with their historic reaction to Christianity "invading" their countries.

What do you think are the contributing factors for both individuals and societies in determining religious or non-religious beliefs?

Firegirl are you insinuating that people who believe in God cannot think for themselves and are incapable of rational thought lol. I certainly hope not!

How do you equate wealth with knowledge? And if the Scandinavian countries are so rich and educated how come they have the highest suicide rates in the world? That is real ration thinking for you.

Linda, if you are going to shoot arrows please make sure that they are tipped with the right poison lol. Your statement (which I question has much/any validity to what Firegirl was saying or the question in hand) that Scandanavian countries "have the highest suicide rates in the world" is not close to being accurate." Based on data from the World Health Orginization (2008):

Finland #14
Sweden #26
Norway #36
Denmark #40

The following quotes are from the same person as the one above, any ideas as to who it is and how her/his belief system could be described? Also, what do you think about the sentiments expressed in any/all of the quotes?

In spite of all of the yearnings of men, no one can produce a single fact or reason to support the belief in God or in personal immortality.

Just think of the tragedy in teaching children not to doubt.

Well Les not according to my sources, murder and suicide are very high in Scandinavian countries. I guess it depends on which source you use and yours is a bit outdated.

So my arrows were tipped with very good poison just a different kind from yours I would say.

I disagree with the sweeping statement which suggests that a rich, educated non believer from Scandinavia has a more rational thought processes than a poor, uneducated believer from a third world country because it all depends on the kind of knowledge you consider to be important in this life. A human being does not have to be 'educated' to be able to reason right from wrong.

Linda, I see that you now throw "murder" into the mix in addition to suicide both of which are not in my opinion germaine to the discussion. I see that you again neglected to cite your "sources." Just for the sake of clarification and accuracy (to allow you to substantiate your point of view), would you please state and document those sources.

Also "very high" if that is indeed the case, is quite different than the "highest" as you previously stated. Once again, not relevant at all, though!

Perhaps it would be best if no one, including you, not make any sweeping statements as you have done unless verifiable proof/evidence is offered at that time.

The highest suicide rate for young females is in Mauritius

The country with the highest suicide rate for males is Lithuania

Scandinavian countries are pretty low on the lists.

Thanks Vance,
I had located the sources of data that you provided us with but decided not to go with them because they are from 1994 and 1995 respectively. The one that I decided to cite is from 2008, the World Health Organization, and unless PROVEN otherwise should be "up-to-date" enough.

Once again, going back to my original "random thought," what do suicide rates and now alleged high murder rates have to do with why Scandanavia has verifiably the highest percentages of non-religious persons of any region in the world?

I will end this now as I do not wish to cause offence.