Imagine a country where church and state are one

Each of the following would be legally punishable by stoning (based on various religions):

• Working on Saturday
• Having an affair
  
• Getting an abortion
• Rejecting an arranged marriage
• Disobeying your husband
• Converting to another faith
• Sex before marriage
• Shaving your beard
  
• Being gay
  

New rules we would have to follow:

• Prayer mandatory in schools
• Sacrifice an animal regularly
• Slavery is A-OK
• Study your holy book weekly
• Cannot trust yourself to know what is right or wrong, you must consult with clergy
• Theft could mean the loss of a limb
• No stem cell research whatsoever

Simply compare the countries today that are the most religions and the least religious, in how they separate church and state, and the overall health of that country. If that doesn't tell us whether separation is a good or bad thing, nothing will. According to a study from Pitzer collage, the following countries are the least religious:

1. Sweden (up to 85% non-believer, atheist, agnostic)
2. Vietnam
3. Denmark
4. Norway
5. Japan
6. Czech Republic
7. Finland
8. France
9. South Korea
10. Estonia (up to 49% non-believer, atheist, agnostic)

The survey concluded that "high levels of organic atheism are strongly correlated with high levels of societal health, such as low homicide rates, low poverty rates, low infant mortality rates, and low illiteracy rates, as well as high levels of educational attainment, per capita income, and gender equality. Most nations characterized by high degrees of individual and societal security have the highest rates of organic atheism, and conversely, nations characterized by low degrees of individual and societal security have the lowest rates of organic atheism. In some societies, particularly Europe, atheism is growing. However, throughout much of the world -- particularly nations with high birth rates -- atheism is barely discernable."

What more do we need to know?