Poor Predominantly Catholic Countries

[fonso]

Whenever friends and I discuss matters of politics, and the influence the Roman Catholic Church has had on my country's government, we all can't help but think why it seems that all (correct me if I'm wrong) predominantly Catholic countries in the world are economically troubled.

From Argentina, most, if not all of South America, to the Philippines, to Spain (Italy doesn't count, as billions have been poured into Rome from all over), it seems that this pattern of financial difficulty is manifest in all countries where the Church takes a major role in the government.

In the Philippines, prophylactics, contraceptive pills, and the like, are not condoned by the Church, in addition to encouraging everyone to just "go forth and multiply". Bishops and priests alike keep advocating "responsible family planning", living in their own fairy-tale world that a solution without action will materialize so long as we have faith in God's plan. Sanctioned methods such as the rhythm method and abstinence (yeah, right) are touted as "effective". The results: a whopping 11+% unemployment rate, with millions more not covered by the population census, and a population growth rate of 2.4%, Asia's highest. You'd have to wonder what kind of excuse they'll come up with to blame the government once crime, murder, and robbery overrun the country. In spite of the inevitable population time bomb breathing down our necks, an indecisive, weak, government, is still unable to put their foot down against the Church.

I don't know if the same is happening in other Catholic countries, but if anyone has some knowledge or expertise to share, please do so.

EDIT: I'd like to ask if anyone agrees with this observation among predominantly Catholic countries, or if you think it's just mere coincidence that all of them have underperforming economies. Is it a Catholic religion-induced plague on the country or not?

[Quarkhead]

I would agree that your analysis is more thorough.

And your results are quite interesting. Not knowing what the statistical error is, I would tend to conclude from your numbers that RC and Christian countries are richer than Muslim and Hindu/Buddhist countries.

I wouldn't say from this analysis that RC/Christianity causes a nation to be rich, but there seems to be a correlation between the two.

By looking at history, we can see that the wealthier nations are those whose establishment is on the basis of the prevailing culture of the times. For example, there was a point at which the Muslim countries would have been the 'wealthy' countries, while the Christian countries were suffering through very dark times. Christianity's correlation with wealthy countries today is likely the result of being the predominant culture of the most recent wave of imperialism. The industrial and technological revolutions occurred while Christian countries were imperially dominant, and so they are the wealthiest today.

[Dilettante]

fonso:

Whenever friends and I discuss matters of politics, and the influence the Roman Catholic Church has had on my country's government, we all can't help but think why it seems that all (correct me if I'm wrong) predominantly Catholic countries in the world are economically troubled.

From Argentina, most, if not all of South America, to the Philippines, to Spain (Italy doesn't count, as billions have been poured into Rome from all over), it seems that this pattern of financial difficulty is manifest in all countries where the Church takes a major role in the government.

This is an interesting topic. But the evidence is weak. Spain is not a poor country (take it from me, I would know). There are large areas of Germany which are rich and where Catholicism is predominant. Luxemburg is overwhelmingly catholic and it's rich. On the other hand, many troubled countries like Liberia are not Catholic. You would have to find other factors, look into alternative explanations, before you could conclude anything.