Does lowering the car hurt anything?

[darkMINI]

Your axles will be just fine, your CV joints on the other hand...wear will be negligible. The angle created by the average spring drop is minimal and there is a certain amount of CV angle range factored in anyways due to different loads on the car and suspension travel. Unless your suspension angles are extreme you shouldn't need worry about shortening drive-train life.
I imagine the most important things to worry about on a typical drop is alignment, and of course speed bumps and curb transitions tearing up the front bumper valance and dragging the belly.