[extropy-chat] The Bible Belt Paradox

[gts]

On Mon, 15 Jan 2007 10:22:58 -0500, Jef Allbright <jef at jefallbright.net>  
wrote:

> If I'm wrong, do you have a better explanation for what shall hitherto  
> be known as The Bible Belt Paradox?

In fact I did some research on a similar question last year and learned  
that red states, especially in the deep south, have lower per capita  
incomes (and higher poverty rates too, if I remember correctly) than blue  
states. So the higher crime rates in red states may be better explained by  
ordinary economic factors than by factors relating to religion.

This is not to say the religion factor is not related to the question, but  
consider that the cause-effect relationship, if any, may be in the  
direction opposite to that supposed in your paradox.

In other words, perhaps higher crime rates are a cause of higher  
religiosity, not the other way around.

-gts