Is religion fading away?
In Europe it cetainly appears to be the case following a study by Stephen Bullivant, a professor of theology and the sociology of religion at St Mary’s University in London.
The study of young people within Europe shows a majority in at least 12 countries hold 'no religion'.
Here is a link to the artical in question,
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/21/christianity-non-christian...
Thoughts?
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It isn't just religious affiliation that is falling. Note the "nones" in the USA, religious affiliation is falling even there. I think it is probably even more important that religious superstition is decreasing too. Most people who believe in god have probably now grasped that religion is man-made. They no longer take the three-for-one Christian offer or any particular claim seriously. They just don't oppose it - yet.
There is still much superstition around though, especially regarding afterlives and ghosts. One of my relatives recently wrote that she thought that she has had much luck in life recently. Her husband got a good job.. and so forth. She said that she thought her much-loved mother-in-law was behind it. Said mother-in-law died a few months before. It is hard to know how seriously she takes the superstition, but her husband said that he isn't an atheist because he would have to admit his Mum is entirely gone. So the superstitions persist but it is important to try and (very gently) challenge them or it seems to me they can get out of hand.
If we can't entirely eradicate all religion and superstition, we can mitigate the worst effects and excesses. The most important thing is to keep it out of schools and away from children as far as is practical. Thank goodness most religionists accept separation of Church and State. That principle is even accepted by Sistani, spiritual leader in Iraq.
Its an inevitable result of the exposure of religious corruption, in the amassing of obscene wealth, the sexual scandals and the blatant political lobbying in recent years for "conservative" inequitable outcomes.
Organised religion, and more, its pernicious influence on the body social and politic is in its last stages. However, it still wield enormous fiscal power. That is where the next danger will appear. As religion loses its popular appeal it moves closer and closer to the money centres where its wealth is concealed. Privilege is not easily relinquished.
Superstitions and fragmented religion along with "pop- up" messiahs, saviours, sons of god, new Thors, golden dawners, will thrive and multiply in the vacuum caused by the failure of religion until we come to our senses and regulate religious claims as we do advertising.
That article was the first time ive encountered a "paywall" (there is irony here) , i guess thats like a toll booth on the information superhighway we all love to- surf on.
The europeans have been on this trend for generations now. Very sad to me. However as you all know theres always been a war against good and evil. And if theres no God in man (As God represents "the good") then evil is free to reign. Pretty simple. The way its always been.
neophyte, you wrote, “And if theres no God in man (As God represents "the good") then evil is free to reign. Pretty simple. The way its always been.”
Please define ‘evil’.
No neo there is no "evil". There is right and wrong and that is dictated by society, not any fucking god. Quit proselytizing!
I think its fading away because people today feel they are more enlightened now then ever before.
Science has taken up space in a persons heart and mind and body and soul and spirit and chakras and ok nm , was going for a 6 in 1 or maybe 7 in 1 but the point is that we are trying to replace the part in us somewhere, that needs a loving father figure type in the highest spiritual way possible. Its just love simply , that in the end gets rejected by so many.
Imagine you were in a horrible accident.. dying in the hospital. How horrible the idea of taking out your loved ones so that instead your room was then filled with professors from all corners telling you their latest theories and ideas, many uprooting all science done up to that moment(even each others!). Penguins are now theorized to remember their offspring better then whats been previously understood. Intels latest xg7 chipsets are 4.2% quicker then previous chipset. Mars rover finds rock formation providing evidence of water or some other bs you wont care about.
Even czechs would agree that Independence Day wouldnt have been as good without its underlying themes of love. Aliens and exploding whitehouseses and love is still the reason for the ,, ok u get what im sayin.
So even in real life , love trumps everything. Well except guns.
Not sayin people love guns more then they love their kids, its just that, as you all know, if i or anyone else decided to take yours out, well then thats that. Its like in star wars remember, the dark side is more powefully destructive then the light side. Thats why it wins so much. Pretty simple just like life.
But as a christian i can say confidently that God too himself has wiped out many people.
Saves the Jews, then kills them off in the desert for 40 years!. Hes always been faithful and hilarious through time!
Why is religion on the decline neophyte? Ramblings like this. ^^^^^^
On my deathbed, my family aside, I would certainly prefer the company of learned scientists informing me of their latest findings about the natural world I lived in and was leaving.
Though not a scientist myself, I have spent a great deal of time in this life learning and reading science, and history, and still believe it is all infinitely more interesting, and entertaining, than any or all fiction.
Before I go, I would gratefully appreciate a final up-date on all the natural things in this world I care about and not had time to explore. I know quite a few scientists, younger men and women, physicists and biologists a chemist or two, who would fit the bill nicely. I talk with them occasionally now, and enjoy some great conversations.
These "professors" would be far better last days' companions than grave and pious theists praying for my non existent soul and urging my conversion and 'belief' as if their supposed omnipotent god would be fooled.
The current state of religion in the West is that it has been heavily softened by secular values, to the extent that even those who worship a jealous god now have a pantheist, hippified view of religious practice.
The sure and certain hope of an afterlife has generally been replaced with a mere hope (i.e. wishful thinking).
Not just i but every man knows evil. It smells like death essentially. Its anything that comes out of malice.
I beat someone up, i killed someone.
I hated your mom so i took a hammer to her grave and smashed it after i hired 3 hawaiians to kill her cuz i know she hated pacific islanders.
I dug the old body up and soaked it in warm water , dressed it , got married. Isnt that evil. You know what it is.
If a baby is ripped out of the mothers womb and starts screaming as its 'born' blood flying evetywhere , we all say its good , its just, its right , dont we?
And as the baby is carried away to be eaten by the head male lion and the rest of its pack falls upon the bleeding antelope mother (me with a burger i pulled from my pocket i snuck in cuz i dislike popcorn) i notice so many thumbdown nature! Sheesh. But when nature murders themselves or some person that jumped the fence. We say oh well and clap. Some
Evil only applies to man like time. Its one of the few concepts that can destroy a human. Because sometimes it takes less then death kill a man
http://metro.co.uk/2018/03/19/toddler-barricades-room-toys-raped-repeate...
So, are you asserting then, that people will do these things if they don’t have god(s)?
@neophyte
If "god" told you to kill a child, would you do it?
Neophyte, if believing in your god is the only thing stopping you from behaving the way you just described, then, by all means, PLEASE continue to believe.
Oh for sure! Its way to easy to rob a bank and take 2 drawers for 10 or 20 or however many thousands. As a matter of fact. If i hide in the bushes in my 80s era gi joe halloween costume complete with cracked Duke mask and Ballistic Action shield, theres a very good chance after i headshot the first guard, and put a 10 rounds into the second guard with my le6920, that there will be plenty of ammo left in my 40round pmag to just make a smiley face pattern over the third. The easy life made so easy.
An we havent even got to rape yet. Lol jk.
Ok maybe im stretching .. i just dont wanna do bad cuz i dont want that on me. Maybe i dont cheat on my wife for that reason however. Its not my fault God made me this way! Jk
There was a kid in the news the other day who claims what your asking. He was shooting at random kids on a playground , i think he killed a kid. But he says he was shooting and through the gun down when he realised he was goin to hell. he says. Im sure someone has not done something outta fear of unknown at least once in this century
If Gods booming voice cracked through the sky and told me to kill my kid and throw my super nintendo off the roof then who wouldnt? You would be to scared to say no, since the sound of thunder saying your name cracking even the ground you walk on has spoken.
Has God ever made a man kill his beloved child?
I cant think of once.
He no longer speaks to man audibly anymore, , no more buring animals or blood spilled sacrifices required like the old days. No more 900 year old people and .. dang can you imagine what reptiles were like given so much time to grow,
I wouldn't kill a child if god told me to, because that would be immoral. You have just revealed that you would however. So please, less of this nonsense about evil being free to reign without god.
Sapporo,
"I wouldn't kill a child if god told me to, because that would be immoral."
When people claim that a God told them to commit an immoral act they are putting the evil on an entity that can't be resisted. When people commit immoral acts of their own volition they are doing them because they simply want to do them. So some people put the blame on an entity that can't be resisted. But since you can resist yourself why would any rational person want to do evil? Because there are no rational people. We don't require a God's approval to do evil. We do what we want, when we want, and we do it because we want to do it.
how did you know all this things???
how come your god gives you trials if he already know what will happen?
hhmm...pretty much sick and twisted if you'd ask me...
"Has God ever made a man kill his beloved child?
I cant think of once. "
seriously??...oh my fucking god..you can't think of once??..oh jesus fucking christ..
boy i'm impressed....
You dont what you would do if God spoke to you. A person dont even know what their willing to do when a barrel is right on them. How low can you go really? You didnt even you were hungry til an ad told you were.
Your point is moot since God has never went as far as your own mind has taken it. Youve been lying to yourself.
You sound like tom cruise in vanilla sky ! You have just revealed yourself. Lol , he really struggled in that film
Its actually possible to prove God is real. Ill show you how in the next post. Then the real mocking
Btw evil already has free reign. I wrongly typed that. Why should God stop evil? Its been ordained by him. He created good and evil. It grew on the same tree in Eden ,same root.
Its just so much easier to be bad then good. Its like a smile takes muscle but a frown doesnt.
@neophyte
"Its like a smile takes muscle but a frown doesnt."
Incorrect, it takes 26 muscles to smile and 62 to frown.
If you are so blatantly wrong on just that one simple and verifiable fact, my opinion becomes that anything you say is tinged to incorrect propaganda and you are far from the reality of truth.
And for the record, it is my nature and choice to be a nice guy. I'm 6'2" and 280 pounds of hard construction worker. I hold doors for ladies because I choose to.
very well said DK..
i bet he's not reading his bible..or if he does..he's cherry-picking for his bible diet..
probably this guy wont last a week here..
we really got a lot of "passer by" here, they just come and go..come and go
it's ok neophyte...i don't care if you believe these or that...just want to say this to you is "its not knowledge that brings chaos, it's ignorance". so believe what you want to believe but don't expect us to believe on what ever ignorant claims you rant...
you're like karl pilkington from that ricky and steve interview...you're funny..and i don't like tom cruise by the way..i'm a filipino but i'm taller than him..i'm 6 footer
(edited post the missing "like" word)
Lol QUASI, maybe im wrong, , i just cant think if anytime God told anyone besides Abraham to kill his kid??? Where ? Who did it?
Oh. wait a sec , your talking about the flood where he wiped out everyone? Or where He told the jews to wipe out various groups? That whole nazi thing wasnt God too was it?
So many deaths ya know
There have been millions of people throughout history who have claimed to have god speaking them and telling them to do things.
Of course, for a believer, there's no way of telling the difference between a person who genuinely has god speaking to them and someone who does not. There is also no reason to think that god is a moral being.
haaahahaha...and you still dont get it! Jesus that is funny.
@neophyte
Umm, wow, that's some pretty sick stuff you have described. I run with a pretty tough crowd. Just last December I had to look an agitated Harold Howard in the eyes and tell him something he didn't want to hear. But I can't even begin to stretch my imagination to come up with some of the sick s--t you have described.
IMO there is no "evil", it is just a noun, and describes something ascribed to bad behavior. I used to have a saying. "Good intentions are the road to hell, while good deeds are the road to heaven." I have cast off heaven and hell since then, but the principle remains the same, that one should not decide on a course of action based on intentions, but the results. Of course, this conversation can lead down into the rabbit hole debate of free will and objective versus relative morality, but I'm not going there in this thread. We can always start a thread on those issues and not derail this thread about religion fading away.
IMO the internet is playing a big part in liberating more and more from the grips of religion. I was undecided and confused until I started to view YouTube videos from such players as the Atheist Experience. I was finally exposed to both sides of the argument, whereas in the past I heard a lot of arguments in favor of religion, and almost nothing in opposition.
Were not hijacking
Yous guys are hilarious, im still very right tho ,
Sorry for my words, i was trying to be funny
Its the whole nature vs men thing. Oh man i could go on. Diffrent standards, and even legal rights.
. And you are right apparently . The newer science claims that my 80s school teachers were all wrong. But the new teacher info is finally right. Smile vs Frown fact 2.63 updated to 2.64Final you will always be right forever. kudos
i will add a hugesmile is much harder to make then a crappy frown and an over the top frown is harder to make then a crappy smile just because i think this is also true. It certainly feels it.
I think all the info just keeps people from seeing things with their hearts and they just see cold facts. Or is the info to hot since it came flying off the whatever and the cold truth is like right there... no?
But there is a real truth that i know that even the latest facts dont matter. Its a truth that comes from searching the heart and seeing that there are diffrent facts. We can make them what we want and argue, and in our heart know theres still more to it. So i propose right now the '2.64FAbsolute Final Even if the substitute says no answer' which is : (please read in my west side voice)- "It depend on how you make it vato!"
Ideally, scientific understanding changes to match reality. That is why it is superior to dogma, which stays the same even when proved false.
@ neophyte
"i will add a hugesmile is much harder to make then a crappy frown and an over the top frown is harder to make then a crappy smile just because i think this is also true. It certainly feels it."
I actually feel for you, being so miserable so much of the time. A person frowns for a reason. I rarely frown, and well over 95% of my time I have a smile. And that is because I am happy and not miserable. I have no fears hanging over my head, I am like the slave who was freed, life is good.
This is a pointed question neophyte, is it possible that religion plays a big part in your frown?
Why do you "believe' when your heart is not filled with joy all the time?
I don't see how anyone tell if contributors like Neophyte are daft, mentally ill, or trolling. That's why I seldom dispute with religionists and then only if there's a useful point to be made.
and i thought i was the only one noticed it....
mentally ill??probably..nonsensical mentally derange.. most likely
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