Born-atheist

There must be a significant difference between someone who was born atheist – or raised without religion – and someone who believed or was just exposed to religion in their formative years and then, for a host of reasons, decided to exit their particular belief. I'm thinking of it, because last night I watched a TV show called “Civilization” on PBS and its host, Niall Ferguson, who claimed to be atheist made some presumptuous linkages between protestantism and the so-called work ethic.

To me that is quite weak and let me explain. The Veneto region of Italy is extremely Catholic and at the same time incredibly entrepreneur. So is Bavaria in Germany and the Savoie region of France. A certain type of organized religion may perhaps influence the economy of a region, but only in tiny proportions, not in the momentous ones claimed by Ferguson who linked the proliferation of protestant churches in a Missouri town to some elusive economic boom in America.

 If he had counted as many such churches steeples in Silicon Valley or in any hi-tech region of Japan, I would have bought the argument, but there, I had to stop following the man's argument. Thrift, industrious minds and entrepreneurship maybe endemic to certain ethnic groups, culture or geography, but not to religion. So to return to the opening question of that blog, I am starting to think that the self-made atheist through questioning religion is much better armed to talk about religion than the one who's never been emotionally connected to one...

Watch Civilization (Part 2) on PBS. See more from Civilization: The West and the Rest with Niall Ferguson.