February 20, 2009

The Complicated Relationship Between Religiosity and Social Well-Being

To the Editor:

Phil Zuckerman is right that secularized nations tend to have happier and healthier people than do highly religious nations ("The Virtues of Godlessness," The Chronicle Review, January 30). In writing A Friendly Letter to Skeptics and Atheists: Musings on Why God Is Good and Faith Isn't Evil, the most challenging evidence I encountered was the reality that Zuckerman describes. Countries with the highest rates of happiness, life expectancy, literacy, income, gender