why are they well-mannered?”

“I heard most japanese people are an atheist. But why is crime in Japan lower than in many Christian countries?

The problem of atheist crime and Christian moral perfection is certainly a vexing one.

The illiterate and pathetically ignorant drivel posted on Yahoo! Answers in response to this question is hardly worth reproducing here, but 2ch’s response is as edifying as ever:

“Wrong: Atheists.

Right: Polytheists.”

“Because the eyes of other people are more scary than those of God.”

“The Sun watches down on us so we can do no wrong.”

“Because we don’t have any religious wars.”

“Isn’t it because religion itself breeds violence?”

“We’re not really atheists though. And what’s called an atheist overseas is practically a cultist, like some kind of atheist religion.”

“You can’t watch late night anime in prison. That makes for a polite society.”

“Piety destroys character.”

“It must be genetic. Just look at those damn Koreans!”

“Because we’re Japanese.”

“Religion serves as an expedient means of making the uncultivated or ignorant obey the law.”

“Because you can only believe in yourself.”

“’They’re clever because they eat lots of fish.’

I don’t think Japanese are smart, but I do think the person who wrote this is an idiot.”

“As expected of someone from a place where they don’t each much fish, he’s pretty stupid.”

“If you compare them to America, the crime rates in most countries are just a joke.”

“Not revering a single god doesn’t give rise to useless prejudice.”

“Religion is a weapon of mass destruction.”

“You can do whatever you like if God forgives you.”

“We aren’t without religion.

December is Christmas.

The New Year is Shinto.

The funeral is Buddhist.

The marriage is Christian.

There’s no more faithful people!”

“It’s almost like you can’t have morals, happiness or love without religion to them. Their culture has been hijacked, hasn’t it?”

“’It’s because they are 98% one people.’

This is a big factor – mixing in different cultures and religions causes public order to deteriorate.”

“The reason is because sex is completely tolerated.”

“Society is a harsher master than any God. The punishments actually happen after all.”

“Crime may be rare and manners good, but it is stifling here.”

“Look at the troubles after the war or in the Showa period, and the crime rates then. Japanese society is currently stable, that’s why crime is low. Individualism vs collectivism or whatever are just secondary factors.”

“Overseas, atheists get suspected of communism. In Japan, it’s the Catholic priests and the Buddhist monks who are the communists.”

“Japanese only believe in capitalists and men of power.”

“I’d like to ask those American fellows the opposite – just why is it the religious folk are the ones with the worst manners and the highest levels of crime?”

“In the US, there’s one god for 300 million people.

In Japan, there’s 8 million gods, that’s 1 to 15. Plenty for everyone.”

“Let’s just put it down to bushido.”