Evolution and Morality: Do they intertwine?

My recent article regarding the near one hundred percent murder rate of Down Syndrome-afflicted infants in Iceland started me thinking.  I decided to research several moral ills of society in a number of major nations and see if there was a link between them and belief in evolution. This article is a result of that research.

I chose four moral ills of society which are fairly representative of evolutionary ideas.  They are in no particular order, teen pregnancy, abortion, homicide, and suicide.  I analyzed all of these on a per capita basis to account for population discrepancies. The nations I chose for this study are as follows: the United Kingdom, Sweden, Germany, Canada, Australia, Poland, Spain, Greece, Russia, and France. I chose nations with a history of at least nominal Christianity, with an even split between traditionally Protestant nations and traditionally formal churches, such as Catholic and Orthodox.  I  hypothesized that the less a nation believes in Creation, the worse their moral issues would be. Using the United States statistics as a benchmark, let us examine if this hypothesis is true.

AVERAGES:

Below are the averages of the eleven nations considered in each of the categories. Please note that, despite extensive research, I was unable to find numbers for Greece and Poland regarding their acceptance of evolution so I used the global average of 41% to represent them. Since this global average includes Muslim nations which largely reject evolution, it is likely that nations in the sphere of Christendom have a higher number than the global average. Also, note that Russia has astronomical rates of everything except outright evolution acceptance so the averages are skewed somewhat high.

Teen Pregnancy Rate per 100,000: 1911.8

Suicide Rate per 100,000: 13.69

Abortion Rate per 100,000: 21753

Homicide Rate per 100,000: 2.29

Acceptance of Evolution: 57..45%

UNITED STATES

As a point of reference, I used the United States. The homicide rate per 100,000 people in the United States is 4.5. This means that four and a half people are murdered per 100,000 people in the United States.  Teen pregnancy is a much more difficult stat to measure since so many women choose to abort, but the rate per 100,000 is an astounding 2230. Remember, that just counts the girls who give birth, not the ones who abort. Abortion stats are tricky as well because so many abortion facilities keep spotty records and make even spottier reports, but this is also astronomically high at 20,000 abortions per 100,000 live births.  Suicide is a little easier to track, with an average rate of 13.26 per 100,000 people.  Evolutionary acceptance in the US is roughly the middle of the road for this study at 62%.

SWEDEN

Sweden falls into the middle ground of this scenario. They have a 68% acceptance of evolution, ranking them third. As expected, the majority of their moral ills are above average.  They have a slightly lower than average suicide rate of 13.2 per 100,000 ranking them third.  Their abortion rate per 100,000 is also quite high, as 25,000, placing them fourth.  Their teen pregnancy rate is slightly below average at 1640. Their homicide rate is below the average, ranking fifth overall at 1.15.

 

AUSTRALIA

Of the nations with known rates of acceptance of evolution, Australia has the lowest at 42%.  Their homicide rate is sixth at .98.  They are eighth in the teen pregnancy rate, which, given their lack of evolutionary acceptance, is unsurprising, at 1460 per 100,000. In all three nations lower than them, teenagers are bombarded with sex education and contraceptives are freely available regardless of age.  Australian abortion rates are 19150 per 100,000, ranking them seventh of the eleven nations.  The suicide rate in Australia is ninth of the eleven at 10.8 per 100,000.  It is unsurprising that Australia ranks so low in every category, as they have the lowest belief in evolution among the nations I surveyed.

UNITED KINGDOM

The United Kingdom has the second lowest acceptance rate of evolution among the nations I examined at 48%. They also have the second lowest rate of suicide at 7 per 100,000. The UK is also eighth in homicides per 100,000 at .92. However, this is where the good news ends for the UK. They have the third highest rate of abortions in this comparison at 26,130 per 100,000.  The rate of teen pregnancy is even worse at 2900 per 100,000, behind only Russia.  Why the discrepancy between the categories? There is no clear reason, beyond perhaps the prevalence of pornography in the UK and the heavy doses of sex ed in the public schools.

CANADA

The Dominion of Canada is a bit of an oddity on this list. They are sixth on the list in acceptance of evolution, trailing the US by just one percentage point at 61%.  They are seventh in suicide rate per 100,000 at 11.6 and sixth in abortion rate per 100,000 at 21,070.  Despite the lower abortion rate, they are third in teen pregnancy at 2820 per 100,000.  They are also third in homicide rate per 100,000 at 1.68.  The only explanation I can see for the widely varying placement in various categories is to say that they all look a lot worse if the US and Russia are removed from the equation.

GERMANY

Germany ranks fourth in acceptance of evolution with 65% though this is actually declining as Creationism has begun making serious inroads in German society.  This may explain why the moral ills in Germany are lower than might be expected.  They are fourth in suicide per 100,000 at an even 13.  However, their abortion rate per 100,000 is the second lowest, behind only Poland at 13460 per 100,000  This is likely explained by the low teen pregnancy rating of merely 900 per 100,000. The root cause of this is the massive availability of contraceptives and Germany defining teenage pregnancy lower than we in the US do.  In Germany, the age of consent is 14 and anything above that is often not counted in their teen pregnancy stats. The homicide rate per 100,000 is .85, which is tied for third lowest.

POLAND

There is no data available for Poland’s acceptance of evolution though it is likely somewhere around 50%, possibly slightly higher. The Poles just recently passed awesome pro-life legislation which has all but eliminated abortion in the nation so their stats are a bit out of date but even so they are the lowest in this comparison at 316 abortions per 100,000 people. Germany, the closest competitor, has 13,460 per 100,000.  Surprisingly, Poland has the third highest suicide rate per 100,000 at 15.9. They rank fifth in teen pregnancy at 1800 per 100,000 people. However, they are tenth in homicides per 100,000 at a meager .74.  The low homicide numbers and the low rate of abortions, combined with the pro-life legislation passed this year, indicate that the Poles have at least some regard for the sanctity of life, likely indicating a lower acceptance of evolutionary theory so perhaps the global average of 41% is fairly close.

FRANCE

France has the highest overall acceptance of evolution among all the nations I surveyed for this article at 80%. It should not come as a surprise that France ranks near the top of every category and owns two of them if Russia is removed.  They are second in suicide rate per 100,000 at 18 and second in abortion rate per 100,000 at 26930.  They are fourth in teen pregnancy per 100,000 at 2500 and fourth in homicides per 100,000 at 1.58.  France is the textbook example of what happens to a society when it accepts evolution.

GREECE

Greece is the second nation for which there is no data available regarding acceptance of evolution so I placed them at the worldwide average of 41%. Due to their Orthodox background, it is conceivable that this is actually too high a number as Russia, the other Orthodox nation in this survey, has a lower than average acceptance of evolution.  Greece has a very low suicide rate per 100,000 of 3.2. This is the lowest of all the nations surveyed.  They are ninth in abortion per 100,000 at 17570. They are also ninth in teen pregnancy at 1180 per 100,000.  They are also tied for ninth with Germany in homicide per 100,000 at .85.

 

RUSSIA

Russia is the leader in every single category except acceptance of evolution. At 54%, they rank seventh out of eleven nations. However, they are first in every other category. Their homicide per 100,000 rate is 11.31. Their abortion per 100,000 rate is 47760 and their teen pregnancy rate is 3000 per 100,000.  Their suicide rate is 34.3 per 100,000. The reason these numbers are so high likely has to do with the Communist regime Russia suffered under for decades, which made the state Russia’s God.  As a western idea, evolution was largely shut out of Russia during the Communist regime but the idea itself is entrenched in Marxist ideology so it is no surprise that evolution’s fruits manifest in Russia.

SPAIN

Spain is in a bit of an awkward position in this study. They have the second highest acceptance of evolution behind France, at 70%.  However, they are decidedly mediocre in most categories. They rank fifth in abortions per 100,000 at 21900.  Due to a proliferation of contraceptives, Spain has the lowest teen pregnancy rate of anyone in this study at 600 per 100,000. They also have the lowest homicide rate of any nation in this study at .66 per 100,000.

 

RESULTS

In order to get a feel for how evolution affected a nation’s morality, I ranked each nation based on their placement in each category, added these numbers together and divided by 4 to get an average ranking.  I then compared that to each nation’s acceptance of evolution.  Below is the raw data, with the higher number being better:

US: Average rating 5.5.

Sweden: Average rating: 5

Australia: Average Rating: 7.75

United Kingdom: Average Rating:5.5

Canada: Average Rating: 4.75

Germany: Average Rating: 8.25

Poland: Average Rating: 7.5

France: Average rating: 3

Greece: Average Rating: 9.25

Russia: Average Rating: 1

Spain: Average Rating: 8.25

BREAKDOWN:

Greece, Germany and Spain have the three highest numbers, indicative of the least moral issues in their nations.  Spain and Germany are both above 60% acceptance of evolution. However, as noted previously for Germany, reporting on teen pregnancy is done differently there.  Greece is unknown, but likely low which explains the low frequency of moral ills. France has the highest acceptance of evolution and also has the lowest rating outside of Russia, indicative of a high amount of moral problems. Australia and Poland have similar numbers and, if Poland is at the worldwide average, similar low acceptance of evolution. Due to Russia being a massive outlier, they will be left out of the calculations.

Sorting by acceptance of evolution, the list reads: France, Spain, Sweden, Germany, United States, Canada, Russia, United Kingdom, Australia and Poland and Greece jointly bring up the rear. Sorting by the frequency of moral ills, the list reads: Russia, France, Canada, Sweden, US & UK(tie), Poland, Australia, Germany & Spain(tie) and Greece.  Note that there are parallels between this list. Australia ranks ninth in acceptance of evolution and eighth in the frequency of moral ills.  Sweden ranks third in acceptance of evolution and fourth in the frequency of moral ills.  Greece is last in moral ills and joint last in acceptance of evolution. Poland is joint last in acceptance of evolution and seventh in moral ills. Remember that Poland is likely higher than the 41% global average in evolution acceptance.  France ranks first in acceptance of evolution and second, (essentially first if Russia is excluded) in moral ills. The US ranks fifth in both categories.  The UK shares fifth in moral ills with the US and is eighth in acceptance of evolution. Canada is sixth in acceptance of evolution and third in moral ills. Of the eleven nations surveyed, most barely move in their ranking from one list to the other.

There are outliers to this. Russia is the most obvious one, ranking first in moral ills and seventh in acceptance of evolution. However, as explained earlier, Marxism is very similar to Darwinism so the huge number of moral ills in Russia is understandable. Germany and Spain are bigger issues.  Spain ranks second and Germany fourth in acceptance of evolution, yet rank joint ninth in moral ills. In Germany’s case, this is explained by the low reporting on teen pregnancy but Spain remains an outlier. However, Spain is the only true outlier.  There is a correlation between acceptance of evolution and the frequency of moral ills. The higher the percentage of a nation that accepts evolution, the higher it’s frequency of moral ills.

 

 

 

 

1 Comment

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s