Atheists are awesome

Then I began comparing the least religious U.S. states with the most religious states. The result of this ongoing analysis has been the overall finding that godless people and godless societies fare better on almost every sociological measure than religious people or religious societies.

From a speech by Phil Zuckerman titled “The Top Ten Things About Being Godless” at the 32nd annual convention of the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

What else stuck out? This quote:

It’s also the more religious states that tend to have higher infant mortality rates and teen pregnancy rates. The nation’s Bible Belt is also its STD Belt. The Bible Belt states (those with the highest percentage who have strong faith in God and attend church most frequently) have the lowest rates of adults with a college education.

The speech was intended to be lighthearted and humorous which explains why Zuckerman’s reasoning seems like a stretch at times. But his findings are definitely interesting and good ammunition for the next time you need to take down a theist blowhard.

(Via Friendly Atheist)