World's richest state in terms of Per Capita Income is Qatar and is very much a religious state. States like UAE, KSA, Brunei have state religions are not only growing and prospering but competing with the rest of the world on HDI index rather favorably. Israel has the highest PhD rate per capita in the world and is a Jewish state. Germany and UK too have no strict segregation laws and are doing just fine. The argument that secularism brings prosperity is simply bogus.
Prosperity is a product of good governance, rule of law, availability of justice, fiscal discipline, education and ability to defend the country. I can list a number of secular states which have totally failed or even worse collapsed, one of them was USSR.
Your argument has so many loopholes which can be pointed out right away.
Qatar has about 13% of known global reserve of petroleum. As we know, petroleum is the chief driving factor of global economy in our times. With that amount of resources, it would rather surprising not to see a country prosper. However, did you know that Qatar has been ranked as one of the worst places for workers by International Trade Union Confederation ?
Saudi Arabia is also the same story.
These are not good economic models, as their economy is based on a singular precious raw material which is in high demand. The economy is based on wastage. A good model will promote re-use, will open up other facets of development and reduce reliance on a single source. You want an example ? Look at China or US. If land area is a matter of concern, then take a look at Japan.
Israel has a high number of PhDs. Now does that have anything to do with religion ? They don't get their PhDs by reading the religious scriptures. Look at the other instances, Canada or Japan. None of them can be termed as overtly religious.
Your most ridiculous example was that of USSR. Did USSR collapse because it was a secular state ? Taking it other way around,according to you, having a single religion will give rise to unity as a state, right ? Then answer me this, why there are so many Arab countries ?Islam was founded there, they have the religion in common, and they even have language in common, which is a far greater binding factor than religion, in my opinion. So, why so many Arab countries ?
Getting back to USSR ? Do you understand what Perestroika and Glasnost is ?
You are drawing wrong inferences all along which are totally out of context.
If one needs to look what real development is, then take a look at how the Western European countries did it or how Japan did it. France, Germany, UK, Poland, all of them were totally devastated after the Second World War, their economies ruined. In economics lessons you will find examples of inflation in Germany after First World war and Second World war. But all of them emerged out of that crisis and created a process for holistic development. This development is not based on a single natural resource that one country has in abundance and the other has none.
