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Originally Posted by MidknytOwl
Open your eyes. Have you ever even been outside the country? What basis are you trying to use that says the US trumps France (or other countries) in anything? I note that while you state it as fact, twice, you don’t bother to offer any type of supporting links or anything to back up your point. Perhaps because there aren’t any?
I’m not an economist, nor am I going to pretend to be, but you say that the US is above in economy…then why is the US dollar below the Euro (of which France uses), the British Pound, and even the Japanese Yen? (Which Japan, as a side note, is 96% Buddhist). Isn’t the exchange rate typically used as an indicator for a country’s economy? By GDP we’re not in the top either, but being I don’t fully understand GDP (nor do I care to waste the effort reading up on it just to argue to the point), I’ll just leave it at that.
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Here are the GDP stats. USA GDP is 552% larger than France, and is actually at the top by a wide margin.
http://siteresources.worldbank.org/DATASTATISTICS/Resources/GDP.pdf
Buddhism is a religion, not atheism or agnosticism.
The U.S. dollar is essentially the world's reserve currency, and it has actually strengthened dramatically in the current financial crisis. However ALL currencies fluctuate and do not determine the size of an economy. GDP is the metric that economists use to measure it.
The only point I was trying to make was that it was absurd and ignorant for a previous poster to infer that atheists are "smarter" that people of faith. They used France as an example of a country that is predominantly secular/atheist/agnostic, and my example was the United States where approximately 90% of the population believes in God. You certainly cannot argue that France is "smarter" or more successful than the USA based on many various metrics of accomplishment.
I was attempting to defend my point, not dismiss other nations accomplishments, or be an arrogant "American". And my apologies to all other members of Central, South and North America for my reference to the USA as "America" if they were offended. It is common practice here, but I certainly can see where it could be a bit offensive to our friends and neighbors to the north and south. Thanks for correcting me.
