Religion: Is it on the way out?

[Minoriteeburg]

I sure as hell hope so.

At least me and my fiancee will contribute to it as much as possible. If we have children they will not be allowed to follow any religion or go to any church until they're old enough to make the decision for themselves. (Which would be about 14-16 or so). So, yeah - there will be absolutely no god in our house, we feel that as both parents are scientifically educated in our case, we don't need fairytales to explain their questions about life.

That is how my wife and I are approaching religion with our son.

And whatever decision he chooses later in life is his own, and I will support 100%.

[Divair]

Well, this is just my opinion. No, I don't think it's fading because people always need something to believe in in times of crisis, and they'll believe in religion.

Except no.

[Tyriece]

I don't think it will ever go away.

[Minoriteeburg]

Well, this is just my opinion. No, I don't think it's fading because people always need something to believe in in times of crisis, and they'll believe in religion.

Except no.

Agreed.

Another thing I never understood about religion. Why is it that most people only go to it when in times of trouble? One should turn to religion for good and bad if they were truly religious.

[Unidox]

I'm pretty sure that most people don't seem to care about religion any more in the UK and I'd say that most people who identify as religious are hardly what you'd call "devout",

That's pretty accurate.

I would say that is true in the US too, to a hilarious degree. With most proclaimed religious somehow blurring rules in their everyday life, then you have the hypocrites, the con-men, and the ego-trippers.

[Divair]

Agreed.

Another thing I never understood about religion. Why is it that most people only go to it when in times of trouble? One should turn to religion for good and bad if they were truly religious.

It's a way for religion to hold on to people who don't really need it for much beyond a safety net. A safety net that, might I add, is easily replaceable and is now being replaced by a variety of other means.

[Nidaria]

Despite what atheists want to think, religion will never disappear. Rather, irreligion has become sort of a "fad," with society encouraging it. It is a goal of some to shrink the size of the Church, so that it will appear to be a "faction" and would be more easily corrupted. Religion has survived persecutions both passive and active before, so your dream will be just that: a dream.

[Valkalan]

Good riddance. Hopefully religion will be replaced with self-control and a strong curiosity regarding the natural world and the universe (possibly mulitverse) at large.

[Divair]

Despite what atheists want to think, religion will never disappear. Rather, irreligion has become sort of a "fad," with society encouraging it. It is a goal of some to shrink the size of the Church, so that it will appear to be a "faction" and would be more easily corrupted. Religion has survived persecutions both passive and active before, so your dream will be just that: a dream.

And that's another post bookmark'd.

[Grad Duchy of Luxembourg]

Except that the rich-poor divide has and continues to increase since the 1970s: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16545898

It doesn't matter. Religion isn't a result of the gap between the rich and the poor, it's a result of extreme poverty.

Actually, Urumgard may have a good point. The rich-poor divide is often used to get people to focus on economic injustice of our time and lead them to religion for salvation.
I'll just post something I found on internet from Bahai information site:

[Minoriteeburg]

Despite what atheists want to think, religion will never disappear. Rather, irreligion has become sort of a "fad," with society encouraging it. It is a goal of some to shrink the size of the Church, so that it will appear to be a "faction" and would be more easily corrupted. Religion has survived persecutions both passive and active before, so your dream will be just that: a dream.

Because religion wasn't full of corruption when it ran the world so very long ago?

[Divair]

It doesn't matter. Religion isn't a result of the gap between the rich and the poor, it's a result of extreme poverty.

Actually, Urumgard may have a good point. The rich-poor divide is often used to get people to focus on economic injustice of our time and lead them to religion for salvation.
I'll just post something I found on internet from Bahai information site:

In the past perhaps, not so much in the present. There was no mention of religion when the social injustice protests happened here in Israel.

[Soberkistan]

I do too, but I hope it does.

I just hope that people choose Atheism because they believe in it, not because everyone else is doing it.

I dropped religion because of the former, and started watching Game of Thrones because of the latter. Haven't regretted either decision.

[Alambiya]

Okay, I wanted to do a thread like this without it coming off as flamebait. So I want a nice adult discussion/debate here.

I am not a religious person, and although I have no issue with anyone being religious, but with church attendance falling in the US http://www.churchleaders.com/pastors/pastor-articles/139575-7-startling-facts-an-up-close-look-at-church-attendance-in-america.html, and in other parts of the world http://www.whychurch.org.uk/trends.php, are we going to see a great decline in the number of people who are religious in the world?

Now I know that the sources I posted were Christian, so here are some others http://www.examiner.com/article/european-mosque-attendance-declining, and http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/new_york/united_synagogue_turns_inward.

Now I am sure that all of the corruption coming to light (especially in the Christian community) is not helping matters much, but the real question I wish to ask is, have we evolved as a society to the point where religion is no longer necessary?

Science is probably not helping the religious community as well. Atheism is becoming more and more popular as of late (source:http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2012/0815/Atheism-on-the-rise-around-the-globe) due to people turning to science and reason over faith. Now is this a sign of we as a global society evolving past our old way of life? I personally believe that yes this is the case

I myself was raised Catholic, and although I never really attended church on a regular basis, stayed with my faith until about high school when I started getting into the idea of applying reason instead of faith into my everyday life. And sooner than later my love for science drew me away from my faith, and now I am an full fledged Athiest.

But even though my faith dissipated, I never lost my respect for religion. I still see the good it can do, and the good it still does. But it just stopped doing anything for me.

Now again this thread is not an attack on anyone who is religious, nor is it me telling anyone who is religious that their beliefs are wrong, but I would really like the opinions of everyone on NSG both religious and not on what they think about the decline in religion in our society.

Please once again, I want a fair and nice debate on this.

Your thoughts, NSG?

Screw all religions except Roman Catholicism!!!!! Especially the Protestants.....

[Nidaria]

Despite what atheists want to think, religion will never disappear. Rather, irreligion has become sort of a "fad," with society encouraging it. It is a goal of some to shrink the size of the Church, so that it will appear to be a "faction" and would be more easily corrupted. Religion has survived persecutions both passive and active before, so your dream will be just that: a dream.

Because religion wasn't full of corruption when it ran the world so very long ago?

Religion has never been "full" of corruption. People inside of it may be corrupt, but religion is in itself incorruptible.

[Liberated Counties]

Okay, I wanted to do a thread like this without it coming off as flamebait. So I want a nice adult discussion/debate here.

I am not a religious person, and although I have no issue with anyone being religious, but with church attendance falling in the US http://www.churchleaders.com/pastors/pastor-articles/139575-7-startling-facts-an-up-close-look-at-church-attendance-in-america.html, and in other parts of the world http://www.whychurch.org.uk/trends.php, are we going to see a great decline in the number of people who are religious in the world?

Now I know that the sources I posted were Christian, so here are some others http://www.examiner.com/article/european-mosque-attendance-declining, and http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/new_york/united_synagogue_turns_inward.

Now I am sure that all of the corruption coming to light (especially in the Christian community) is not helping matters much, but the real question I wish to ask is, have we evolved as a society to the point where religion is no longer necessary?

Science is probably not helping the religious community as well. Atheism is becoming more and more popular as of late (source:http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2012/0815/Atheism-on-the-rise-around-the-globe) due to people turning to science and reason over faith. Now is this a sign of we as a global society evolving past our old way of life? I personally believe that yes this is the case

I myself was raised Catholic, and although I never really attended church on a regular basis, stayed with my faith until about high school when I started getting into the idea of applying reason instead of faith into my everyday life. And sooner than later my love for science drew me away from my faith, and now I am an full fledged Athiest.

But even though my faith dissipated, I never lost my respect for religion. I still see the good it can do, and the good it still does. But it just stopped doing anything for me.

Now again this thread is not an attack on anyone who is religious, nor is it me telling anyone who is religious that their beliefs are wrong, but I would really like the opinions of everyone on NSG both religious and not on what they think about the decline in religion in our society.

Please once again, I want a fair and nice debate on this.

Your thoughts, NSG?

Screw all religions except Roman Catholicism!!!!! Especially the Protestants.....

[Alimprad]

I think that certianly in more developed places (europe, america) religion is dieing out, but in developing places like africa, religion is stronger than ever.
Also i would like to agree with Alambiya.

[Nidaria]

Okay, I wanted to do a thread like this without it coming off as flamebait. So I want a nice adult discussion/debate here.

I am not a religious person, and although I have no issue with anyone being religious, but with church attendance falling in the US http://www.churchleaders.com/pastors/pastor-articles/139575-7-startling-facts-an-up-close-look-at-church-attendance-in-america.html, and in other parts of the world http://www.whychurch.org.uk/trends.php, are we going to see a great decline in the number of people who are religious in the world?

Now I know that the sources I posted were Christian, so here are some others http://www.examiner.com/article/european-mosque-attendance-declining, and http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/new_york/united_synagogue_turns_inward.

Now I am sure that all of the corruption coming to light (especially in the Christian community) is not helping matters much, but the real question I wish to ask is, have we evolved as a society to the point where religion is no longer necessary?

Science is probably not helping the religious community as well. Atheism is becoming more and more popular as of late (source:http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2012/0815/Atheism-on-the-rise-around-the-globe) due to people turning to science and reason over faith. Now is this a sign of we as a global society evolving past our old way of life? I personally believe that yes this is the case

I myself was raised Catholic, and although I never really attended church on a regular basis, stayed with my faith until about high school when I started getting into the idea of applying reason instead of faith into my everyday life. And sooner than later my love for science drew me away from my faith, and now I am an full fledged Athiest.

But even though my faith dissipated, I never lost my respect for religion. I still see the good it can do, and the good it still does. But it just stopped doing anything for me.

Now again this thread is not an attack on anyone who is religious, nor is it me telling anyone who is religious that their beliefs are wrong, but I would really like the opinions of everyone on NSG both religious and not on what they think about the decline in religion in our society.

Please once again, I want a fair and nice debate on this.

Your thoughts, NSG?

Screw all religions except Roman Catholicism!!!!! Especially the Protestants.....

I'd take Protestants, or even a different Abrahamic religion, over atheism any day.

[Divair]

I think that certianly in more developed places (europe, america) religion is dieing out, but in developing places like africa, religion is stronger than ever.

Stronger than ever? Not really. It's been fairly stable in the undeveloped world for quite a while. Hasn't increased (it can't) and hasn't decreased (no reason yet).

[Minoriteeburg]

Because religion wasn't full of corruption when it ran the world so very long ago?

Religion has never been "full" of corruption. People inside of it may be corrupt, but religion is in itself incorruptible.

People founded religion, so if people are corrupt, then so is religion.

Now is all of it corrupt? Of course not, but if you take faith and turn it into a source of power, that is some nasty corruption right there.

[Soberkistan]

I'd take Protestants, or even a different Abrahamic religion, over atheism any day.

Do we atheists still rank above Scientologists at least?

[Grad Duchy of Luxembourg]

Actually, Urumgard may have a good point. The rich-poor divide is often used to get people to focus on economic injustice of our time and lead them to religion for salvation.
I'll just post something I found on internet from Bahai information site:

In the past perhaps, not so much in the present. There was no mention of religion when the social injustice protests happened here in Israel.

I wonder if it'll again become more important as the rich-poor divide gets worse, and religious charities have a greater role in people's lives?

[Divair]

Do we atheists still rank above Scientologists at least?

Why do you care what an extremist thinks?

[Pastafarian]

As Divair said, It's slowly fading.

[Divair]

I wonder if it'll again become more important as the rich-poor divide gets worse, and religious charities have a greater role in people's lives?

I have seen no rise in religious charities recently, so I'm going to say no.