Does Catholicism Cause Poverty?
 

When you compare countries all over the world, it seems that Catholic Countries are POORER than countries in the same continent of another faith.

Europe:

France/Spain/Italy are poorer than England/Germany/Sweden

Americas:

Mexico is sure as fuck poorer than the US/Canada


Asia:


Philippines is poorer than protestant/Chinese Singapore/Hong Kong/S. Korea/Japan


Is there something about either the CATHECISM or DOGMA of Catholicism that results in relative Poverty?

What changes did Spain/Italy/France cleave to that allowed them to industrialize (relatively of course)?

Ireland is one of the most catholic countries in the world and it has a per capita GDP higher than Belgium, Denmark, Japan, Australia, Germany, France, United Kingdom, etc...

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/.../2004rank.html

:eek7

It's obvious..
in catholic countries if you are rich, you feel guilty.
In the US in the contrary, when you are rich, then you don't hide that, since that is proof that God likes you... :winkwink:

Don't know about poverty but it does offer an abundance of opportunities for pedophilia.

:1orglaugh :1orglaugh

I don't think religion has something to do with it. It's the lack of discipline and honesty in the government. That's the cause of poverty.

yes I do think so

So you're saying that Spain/France/Italy have a more dishonest system of government hence they are poorer than their European neighbors?


I tend to doubt it.


Maybe its something about the DOGMA that results in the WORK HABITS or OUTLOOK of people from majority Catholic countries.


As for the genius that chimed in about Ireland.

1) That's very recent

2) Ireland offers TONS of tax incentives

Italy for sure

Catholicism doesn't cause poverty per se , but literacy/education and its economic benefits did come to those countries much later than it did in the Protestant countries. For instance, as recently as 1960 more than half of the non-rural population of Italy was illiterate. I have heard similar things said of Spain and Portugal. France fared a little better, but they have a somewhat different and independent culture. Ireland I'm not that familiar with.

Plus Protestants have disdained the display of wealth and plowed whatever wealth they had back into their businesses, whereas Catholic countries tended to draw off extra capital and put it into cathedrals, palaces and generally "pretty things. This deprives those economies of capital needed for greater growth.

Remember, the Catholic Church was behind the Dark Ages.

Intelligent, affluent people are more likely to conclude that religion is useless mysticism.

The poor use religion as an opiate.

:rasta

Marx said the reverse... it is the RICH that use religion to anesthesize the poor.

Then again it takes some sort of middle class comfort and education to even come up with that conclusion.

You mean those Irish Catholic monks that copied Ancient Greek and Roman classics were promoting the Dark Ages?

Come again??!! That doesn't make any sense.

Protestants are allowed to read and interpret the Bible by themselves, so, they must learn reading; being literated, they can read, think and take the best decisions for their individual and collective lives.

Catholics, on the other hand, do not need to read the bible: the Pope, bishops, etc are there to pass the words of God, Jesus, etc for them. By not being able to read, they are more easily manipulated.

When the British settled America, the first thing they built were schools (and newspapers soon appeared). When the Spaniards and Portuguese went to America, the first thing they built were churches (newspapers and universities took a long time to prosper).

You may be on to something. The inherent INVIDUALISM that the Protestant ethos brings about is definitely a step towards a more CAPITALISTIC frame of mind.