"Societies worse off 'when they have God on their side'"

Water on the mills of many who were always sceptical about the beneits of church. Probably the conjunctions are a bit more complicated, but this level of contradiction seems new to me.
A quote from the original article in order to let us have a glimbse on the dimension of the discussion:

"[7] The media (Stepp) gave favorable coverage to a report that children are hardwired towards, and benefit from, accepting the existence of a divine creator on an epidemiological and neuro-scientific basis (Benson et al.). Also covered widely was a Federal report that the economic growth of nations positively responds to high rates of belief in hell and heaven.<3> Faith-based charities and education are promoted by the Bush administration<4> and religious allies and lobbies as effective means of addressing various social problems (Aronson; Goodstein). The conservative Family Research Council proclaims, “believing that God is the author of life, liberty and the family, FRC promotes the Judeo-Christian worldview as the basis for a just, free and stable society.”

Due time to talk back, indeed. And the presented figures are remarkable.