I disagree with the premise that economic development correlates with a decline in religiosity. It is economic equality, not economic development, which correlates with lower levels of superstition.

I'd chalk this up to objectification and re-ification of the "other." People are "other" when they are demonstrably different, and being poor, unemployed, et c. sure makes you different. Class and race differences, whether formalized or not, tends to exacerbate this.

The US has a gini coefficient on par with the developing world, and so it is unsurprising that it is as superstitious as the developing world.


The Hun is always either at your throat or at your feet. Winston Churchill