Why are almost Protestant countries richer than Catholic countries

[BlackFriar]

This is not just my personal view.

Have a read the seminal sociological work by Max Weber, " The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism".

Weber was a leading author of study in my department when I did my undergraduate joint Economics/Sociology major back in the 1980s.

 

[MonteRCMS]

Sometimes, “it” is referred to as a Protestant Work Ethic.

 

[anhphan]

Yeah, but I think historical factors and political factors affect French economy.

 

[anhphan]

I think this question is better “Why is Protestantism more popular in rich countries than Catholicism?”

 

[anhphan]

Thank you I will read that book.

 

[anhphan]

So what kind of fact do you want?

 

[anhphan]

your explanation is so great. Thank you very much.

 

[anhphan]

great answer, thank you

 

[phil19034]

I wonder if it’s because in the USA, we have Agricultural and Mechanical colleges.

Like Texas A&M.

Every state, I think, has one.

[I don’t know if Puerto Rico has one.]

In Latin American cultures/ countries, people want to be lawyers … not engineers and scientists and mechanics.

Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez is the main home to the Ag College and Engineering College.
University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez is also a Land Grant college like Texas A&M

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/Land_Grant_Colleges_Map.svg

 

[phil19034]

MonteRCMS:

I wonder if it’s because in the USA, we have Agricultural and Mechanical colleges.

Like Texas A&M.

Every state, I think, has one.

[I don’t know if Puerto Rico has one.]

In Latin American cultures/ countries, people want to be lawyers … not engineers and scientists and mechanics.

This is interesting, and there apparently is truth to it. I had a friend who was in the Peace Corps. He had a degree in engineering, and his assignment was to teach engineering in a university in Venezuela. He told me the students had little interest in actual engineering because engineering conferred no “dignidad”; the “respect” enjoyed by government functionaries, judges and lawyers. But because one got a big desk if one advanced in the oil industry, one had “dignidad” as an executive, not as an engineer. And so, his students all wanted to be executives, not actual engineers, and their application to engineering subjects demonstrated it. The engineering was all left to foreigners, usually Americans.

I had another friend who taught engineering to (before Khaddaffi) Libyan students at Rice University. Same story there. They wanted big offices, big desks and high salaries that they could get as executives if they were favored by the government. The actual engineering work was done by foreigners, mainly Americans. So they remained ignorant of engineering despite his best efforts.

Engineering is many parts of the world is considered blue collar work. And it was in America for a while too, which is why Engineering was lumped with Agricultural when the Land Grant colleges were established.

So when all your brightest people don’t want to be an engineer because it’s considered blue collar… society is going to be behind a for a while.

Having something similar to the Land Grant program in third world nations might help them develop their own engineers.

God bless

 

[Catholicos]

America, South Korea, Finland, Nordic Europe are very rich. Is Protestant more suitable for those countries?

Materially wealthy = spiritually + morally bankrupt as well.

Not sure if this correlation implies causation but 2 things happen to nations where Protestantism is the majority:

• Protestantism loses its majority eventually(like America)
• Protestant nation becomes more indifferent or more atheist

You can just as well replace the 3rd column title Unaffiliated with atheist or agnostic, makes no difference

(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)

 

[jcrichton]

Sadly, the culture seems to suggest that ‘we are young’ and ‘we must party, till we drop.’

When a culture places drugs, alcohol, sex, and any misconduct as the attainable, nay, mandatory, measure of success… it does not scores well for loving an education.

Indoctrination, are you sure you know what that means–as that fellow in the Princess Bride once coined, “I don’t think it means what you think it means.”

Maran atha!

Angel

 

[jcrichton]

It’s “the American” way; money trumps everything. How can we fault that?

Maran atha!

Angel

 

[jcrichton]

Well the answer to that (though I would reword it to why is Protestantism more popular than Catholicism?) is simply: numbers!

Protestants have a huge number of freedoms that the Catholic Church does not offer–even when Catholics do not practice Catholic Orthodoxy, they still resent the Church for having Doctrinal mandates that “interfere with their freedoms.”

Maran atha!

Angel

 

[Buddyroe]

Catholics in richer countries seem to do as well as their Protestant neighbors. Protestants in poorer countries seem to do as poorly as their Catholic neighbors.

The only places disparity arises is in places where Catholics and Protestants live near each other but are in bitter social conflict which turns out badly for whoever is a minority at the time. It is often not so good prosperity wise for the majority as well.

 

[SuperLuigi]

Indoctrination, are you sure you know what that means–as that fellow in the Princess Bride once coined, “I don’t think it means what you think it means.”

Yes, which is why the agenda-drivers target the education system while parents work.

 

[jcrichton]

'K… but you are now introducing a fundamental change in the educational system; one that could be well remedied if Christians would unite, at least on this particular front. Faulting education at large is not the answer. Creating the means to educate children with spiritual values is the correct posture, not rejection of ed.

Maran atha!

Angel

 

[Lou2U]

I think as many others have said, it is more to do with resources of different countries than a particular denominational belief. Speaking of England (as I live here), the claims above about Henry VIII are not entirely true, and really, England did not become totally “Protestant” in nature until Edward VIII and Elizabeth I.

This topic is interesting though, because I’ve never really considered the possibility of links between wealth and certain denominations. I’ve enjoyed reading the thread.

 

[MonteRCMS]

Secular education [reading, writing, arithmetic] seem to be more highly valued in Protestant countries than in Catholic countries.

People with math and science skills are more highly valued in Protestant countries … and get paid more.

 

[Mintaka]

Re: Weber’s book – I was just recently reading an article about how bad its methodology was, and how a lot of sociologists now think it’s a total pile of nonsense. But I am having trouble finding the link.

However, it is true that everywhere that people have “bourgeois values” or, to give it a slightly less controversial sound, “middle-class values,” you tend to find prosperity.

The clue here, however, is the word “bourgeois,” which was not invented by Karl Marx, Max Weber, or Jean Calvin. It is the word describing a medieval French town-dweller. (You’d say “burgher” in other areas.)

Since the beginning of Christianity, those who paid attention to Jesus and his disciples, including St. Paul, have usually believed in the dignity of work. Paul supported himself by tentmaking. The desert monks wove mats to occupy their hands while they were doing all that prayer. The Benedictines taught “Ora et Labora” (Pray and Work Hard). Even our contemplative and begging orders usually have some sort of work schedule within the house or as part of charity activities.

Protestantism, just like other innovations (good and bad), tended to show up more in the business cities of medieval Europe. Some fell for it, others resisted it.

The interesting thing is that, although the rise of Protestantism depended on there being a fair number of people who’d been taught to read in grammar schools, it resulted in the destruction of grammar schools almost everywhere it triumphed. See, grammar schools were run by Catholic religious and laypeople, and not all of them became Protestant. Protestant -ruled areas usually forbade Catholics to teach or to Catholic children to become educated. Since most grammar schools for girls were run by nuns, and since many Protestant sects claimed that women did not need education in anything except domestic tasks (once they’d gotten in power thanks to educated Protestant-convert women, of course!), women’s education levels plunged in Protestant areas.

Amusingly, however, the breakup of monasteries and the forbidding of education to Catholics often resulted in clandestine “hedge schools” for Catholic kids, which were run by ex-monks, ex-nuns, or ex-university scholars. This was particularly the case in Ireland, where many farmers who couldn’t speak English could read Latin and Greek and do advanced math; and where copies of medieval Irish manuscripts were often kept in country cottages. That was part of why the Irish did so well wherever they emigrated; they were smart, educated, and hardworking, and they could do well wherever they weren’t held back by unfair laws.