Do you think there is a correlation between health and religion?
Early in the national healthcare debate an interesting statistic came out. It was that countries with a national healthcare plane were also more likely to reject religion. When people feel they have a degree of security they are less likely to look to an invisible deity.
I have a few clues of my own. At one time I had 2 very good friends; one British and one Irish-American. They were both strong Catholics but over time became more tolerant and lax in their faith (they even moved in with their girlfriends). I lost track of them for 25+ years. One came up on facebook and one showed up via a mutual friend on e-mail. Both had grown fat, lost most of their hair and looked older than their years. And both had increased their religiosity in a big way. I have noticed a lot of evangelicals are in the same shape and I thought why have they become so focused on homosexuality and forgotten about greed and gluttony?
You have a point. The nation's with the most complete and responsible social safety nets also tend to have the most secular of populations--either nominal religious affiliation or none at all. It is the desperate people that look for religious assurances. It works in reverse, too. Recognizing that there is no sky daddy to take care of you tends to encourage a Humanistic motivation for social responsibility. "No sense praying for help. We (people) have to make it better ourselves.