Keep Giving Me That Old Time Religion

Religious devotion high in U.S.

We still lead the world in public religious devotion, at least the Western world:

Nearly all U.S. respondents said faith is important to them and only 2 percent said they do not believe in God. Almost 40 percent said religious leaders should try to sway policymakers, notably higher than in other countries.

"Our nation was founded on Judeo-Christian policies and religious leaders have an obligation to speak out on public policy, otherwise they're wimps," said David Black, a retiree from Osborne, Pa., who agreed to be interviewed after he was polled.

Contrast this with the French belief on public religion:

In contrast, 85 percent of French object to clergy activism - the strongest opposition of any nation surveyed. France has strict curbs on public religious expression and, according to the poll, 19 percent are atheists. South Korea is the only other nation with that high a percentage of nonbelievers.

19% of the French are Atheists, compared to 2% of Americans. Hmmmm. According the US Sensus US Population clock, the US has 296,295,617 people. France's population is 60,180,529. Two million American Atheists and twelve million French Atheists.

Any wonder why the countries have problems?