[silphium]

We Americans are largely made up of the wretched refuse of Europe, including your religious zealots, who over time have distilled themselves down into a remarkably homogeneous liqueur of lunatics.

As one of the 15%'ers (Ph.D., Evolution and Ecology), I'm hoping to apply for a grant to convince the 46% that they must flee the country, in a manner similar to how the Golgafrincham's dealt with their middlemen in Doug Adams' "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy". Beware the giant space goat (of God).

[Flair91]

Obviously religion in the USA has no bearing on how advanced it is economically and politically.

[Veneta]

(Original post by Made in the USA)
That doesn't make any sense. He has been governor of MA before and there is nothing in his record that shows that he let religion creep anywhere. Romney hates talking about religion.

MA is a liberal as far as things go in the US. You bet as hell he wouldn't let religion creep anywhere in that state otherwise he'd have the voters on his case. As POTUS though, and as a member of the increasingly conservative Republican party, he would have to listen to the right to some extent. Especially since he's trying to repair the damage done from his years in MA. RomneyCare is just the gift that keeps on giving.

[math1234]

@op because US has Arnold


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

[prog2djent]

Haha, Israel and Saudi Arabia are the two most powerful, followed by Russia.

[sugar-n-spice]

Religion doesn't always hold people back it can sometimes make dem have more discipline and do better.

[Christianlady]

(Original post by Clare~Bear)
It's powerful cos of it's economy and army - things which religions have little influence over.

Actually, that is a good point.

I do wish that belief in God, including loving God and loving others which Jesus said are the 2 most important commands (Matthew 22:36-40), were more an influence on the economy and army. However, sad to say, I don't think that's so much the case.

In order to answer the question of the OP, nations rise and fall. Some empires, such as the Roman Empire, rose out of unity, immense military strength, and intelligent military/government leaders. Others, like the English Empire, rose out of intelligent planning, greed of other nations, and advanced weapons (such as in the case of the Native Americans, where the English had more advanced weapons than the people whose land they came to settle.)

Israel, however, has an amazing story which is a miracle in itself. Israel started out as the descendants of Jacob (Israel) going to the Promised Land God gave to the children of Jacob (Israel), Isaac, and Abraham after God rescued them from slavery in Egypt, by the hand of Moses. It saddens me that the children of Israel killed the people who lived in the land they settled to, but it is true that descendants of Israel also endured being killed by the Babylonians and other groups, including the Romans who destroyed Israel, later on. Now that Israel has been a nation again since 1948, it is a miracle to me how they survived during the war of 1948. Now, many Israelis do not believe in God. However, some do, and what is interesting is that they work together to defend their country.

So, I personally believe that unity is the key ingredient for a nation being powerful. It is not so much the belief in God because people who do believe in God live in countries of differing "levels" of "power". However, unity between the people who live in a country, regardless of differences of beliefs, ethnicity, and social status, does make a huge difference in how powerful that country is.

Peace and God bless you