Graham is apparently right after all

In a recent column, Billy Graham claims that Christians are horrible people who want to do evil, and the only thing stopping them is the wrath of god.  I was horrified by this idea as I see people as generally being good and I personally don't face a conflict in my decision making.  Plus, the Christians I know are all nice folk.  I am not constantly trying to fend off temptation, and I am not that unusual, so I doubted that this was a struggle for others.  Ultimately, I just thought Graham was being metaphoric and further that he has a nasty view of Christians.

Turns out though - he is right.  According to a study released by the National Bureau of Economic Research titled: The Church vs. The Mall, when states repeal blue laws, church attendence and donations go down and.... these folk who are no longer going to church are now drinking and doing drugs.  Go figure!  I was shocked.

 Apparently, many christians really are tempted to do evil and willingly succumb to that temptation if they are allowed to.  I would never have thought that not allowing people to buy beer on Sunday would have such an impact on our society.  What is truly astonishing is that Christians are apparently the only group whose behavior is changed for the worse by repeal of the blue laws.  As a group (and yes, this is a generalization), they are apparently weak willed. 

So, I stand corrected.  But, I still maintain I would rather be friends with an atheist who likes and wants to be good, then a person who wants to do evil and isn't only because they fear the wrath of a being that may or may not exist.

(Note: I realize I might upset some drug users who see no evil in their abuse of drugs and/or alcohol - first off, drugs and/or heavy drinking encourage you to detach from reality and that in and of itself is not a good thing.  Anything that prevents you from dealing positively with the world as it is or limits you and can be classified in a secular sense as evil.  I have never known a drug user who was happy with their lives - that in and of itself is a testament to the evils of abusing drugs and/or alcohol.  I have a section on this in my book in process about the Wisdom of Common sense.)