Let me, for the sake of argument, accept the premise that, on the whole, more prosperous countries have been more secular.  I believe that this is a rather gross overstatement, but there is enough truth to this that I am willing to accept the premise.  However, this is not what is being proposed.  What is being proposed here is that there is a cause and effect relationship between the two.  Is the proposal that secular thinking produces prosperity, or is the proposal that prosperity produces secular thinking?  It seems what is being proposed in this hypothesis is that a higher quality of life tends to produce a secular attitude.

It will be almost impossible to scientifically demonstrate that it is economic prosperity causes people to reject religion and to turn to secular thinking.   To say that this is automatic is certainly not true.  Period.  However, if this is the trend, then the prophets in the Bible would probably agree with this premise.  For example, there is Deuteronomy 8:16-17.  “He gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never known, to humble and test you so that in the end it might go well with you.  You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.”  But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.”  It is human nature that, when they achieve success, they tend to give credit to self, not God.  The same applies to non-believers.  For example, in Daniel 4, Nebuchadnezzar has been humbled by God, but, over time, his heart is hardened by his own wealth, and he gives full credit to self for his achievements.  This is the pattern which is being pointed out by Bible writers, and noticed by the person who makes this comment.  Human success ought, logically, to cause us to be thankful to God who helps us to produce it, but instead humans tend to turn away from God when he blesses them with wealth.

I believe that the statement above is an overstatement (“automatically”), and it is not even true in every case, but I believe that this statement is fairly consistent, both with empirical human experience as well as warnings and examples in the Scripture.

John Oakes