Reason #11,647 why the rich don't like it when the poor manage to catch a break:

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2010/07/atheists_and_economic_foxholes.html

Atheists and (economic) foxholes

Church attendance rises when the economy slips:

Every day, the economist Daniel Hungerman looks at the graph that hangs above his desk at the University of Notre Dame. One jagged line goes down and up. This is America’s gross domestic product since 1972. Another jagged line goes up and down. This is the religiosity of Americans over the same period, as measured by church attendance. The lines show an almost exact inverse correlation.

“You can see as clear as day a negative relationship in this picture,” says Hungerman, who threw the chart together for fun. “When the business cycle goes up, religious attendance goes down, and vice versa. The good mystery is why.”

By Ezra Klein | July 27, 2010; 4:43 PM ET

"The good mystery is why" <== :rofl:

[krispos42]

1. By enslaving people, we're saving their souls.

They've been saying it in America since the 16th Century.

[Newest Reality]

2. It depends on which shiny thing

is shiniest at any given time.

The Great Hope Machine has many tempting tentacles in the catacombs of the Simulation.

[Javaman]

3. Just goes to show us all, that a whole segment of the population

doesn't even believe in their own convictions.

"god sent me money, time to leave church! I got mine, see you later suckers!"

But then...

"Oh no! I lost all my money, time to put in a little face time at the pew."

rinse and repeat.

The yo-yo effect of the "religious" belief system.

[LanternWaste]

4. Seems endemic to all philosophical systems...

"The yo-yo effect of the "religious" belief system..."

Seems endemic to all philosophical systems...