I didn’t say it was a primary force, but I believe it to have some effect.
Ben, first off, that’s just not true. The blue laws in the US came from Protesants. Also, many sects of protestantism are required to tithe 10% of their income.
Jason- The sample size is crazy small, but the logic is plausible and while the number of countries is small the richness of those countries is very high.
Second, if you look at this list of GDPs, you’ll see that of the top 5 (the US, China, Japan, India, and Germany) 3 are not Protestant. In the top 10, only 3 are Protestant.
Also, GDP per capita is almost as bad, although the list is completely different–of the top 5, only one or two or Protestant (is Norway Protestant?–I just don’t know)
[edit: fixed the URLs]
Gav
If your religion doesn’t affect your life, what’s the fucking point of even having one?
Quat, let’s start a campaign: Shields for China!
Heh. Great quote.