Religion Becomes Extinct in Several Countires

Discussion in 'Religion Archives' started by Arkonos, Mar 23, 2011.

  1. Arkonos Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    34
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12811197

    Study was done. Predictions made etc.

    Just wondering what you people think about the future of religious belief. Is there any? Do you think that Agnosticism, Atheism and Anti-Theism will reign supreme in the age of scientific forward-leaping or does modern day religion have what it takes to hang on? And where will it be eliminated first and why?

    Many points of discussion here, and I will answer this questions simply to begin the discussion.

    1. No.
    2. Yes, it will. Religion has been losing for a while now and when they lose their government influences and the fear campaign then they will be done.
    3. Hopefully Australia.
     
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  3. Thoreau Valued Senior Member

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    Well, my personal opinion - based on observation and my own logic - is that superstitious beliefs (such as theology) will always be apart of human existence, at least until we can move past our fear of death. I do however believe that eventually, with science and knowledge, that theism will quickly become the minority. We can already see the change (within the U.S.) when we look over just the past 50 years. Granted, things are getting better; proportionately,we have a lot less religious fundamentalists to deal with than we did in teh 50's and 60's, however there are still those that cling on to religion.
     
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  5. lightgigantic Banned Banned

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    Is this like a sock puppet fest for atheists?

    We already have two threads on this exact same topic and now we have a third.
     
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  7. Pinwheel Banned Banned

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    If we keep talking about religion it wont go extinct....
     
  8. lightgigantic Banned Banned

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    lol
     
  9. glaucon tending tangentially Registered Senior Member

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    Ah, but maybe it will transubstantiate....


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  10. Cifo Day destroys the night, Registered Senior Member

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    By definition, religion seems relatively static (ie, everything is already known/explained). So, I think the speed at which science advances has a distancing effect between the "believers" and the "knowers".

    At those times in history when science advanced little, the knowledge of the world was relatively static, and religious leaders/doctrine could reconcile differences, and their beliefs made sense for long periods of time ... perhaps centuries. As the speed of gaining knowledge increases, religion must reconcile discrepancies more often, and so, beliefs appear "out of date" more frequently, and belief systems must play "catch up" and reconfigure themselves more frequently. A "tortoise and hare" situation.

    As it is today, it seems that even science has a hard time keeping up with science, and religion simply hasn't got a chance. Almost by definition, belief must not question itself, and there's where, in an important way, it will seemingly lose -- ultimately.

    I wish someone would write a book on this; maybe I should. Galileo's moons of Jupiter, Darwin's origin of species, Men reaching the moon, Venter's synthetic life, etc. These have all left religion in the lurch, and they're happening at a quicker pace.
     
  11. Yazata Valued Senior Member

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    5,902
    It's important to keep the idea of religiosity distinct from that of religious adherence.

    Non-religious individuals often are members of churches. Perhaps they joined for social reasons. And people who belong to no organized religious group are nevertheless oftentimes highly religious individuals.

    Of course. I don't see the basic underlying level of human religosity declining a whole lot from where it is now.

    The "age of scientific forward-leaping" might be largely past us at this point. I think that the rate of scientific discovery and technological change is slowing, but I can't say whether that's a long-term trend. I suspect that it might be.

    I think that religion has been changing with the times and that will definitely continue, probably at an even faster pace.

    In the West, during the 15'th and 16'th centuries, we saw the rise of a more this-worldly culture (the renaissance) and growing antipathy towards the established Christian church (the reformation). In the 17'th and 18'th centuries, we saw the rise of deism and the heyday of natural theology amid growing skepticism about special revelations. In the 19'th and 20'th centuries we saw the arrival of full-frontal atheism, and along with a whole assortment of new-style pseudo-religious movements like Marxism, Freudianism, Naziism, spiritualism and the flying-saucer faith.

    So what's likely to happen in the 21'st and 22'nd centuries? My guess is that religion will become globalized and less territorial. It will be individualised as people start to have adherents of many different religions living around them as neighbors, and as the internet brings every religious tradition on earth just a mouse-click away.

    Religiosity around the world will be "Californicated", turned into a cultural supermarket, with people pushing their computers (or portable internet devices) down the many aisles, choosing this and that item to create their own personal brand of religiosity that suits their individual tastes. We already see that trend illustrated on the shelves of many 'new-age' bookstores, where goddess-worship, channeling, ritual magic, eastern religions, celtic mythology, ESP and UFO beliefs, esoteric Christianity, kabbalah, yoga... you name it, all rub elbows and compete for space.

    I guess that Islam show signs that it is going to put up the most determined resistance to that trend.

    So formal religious adherence might continue to decline. It's definitely going to become a lot more fluid, as people feel increasing freedom to leave traditional faiths for new ones, and feel growing freedom to create new religious ideas for themselves.

    But the underlying religious impulse is still going to be there, the same as it always was.
     
  12. YoYoPapaya Trump/Norris - 2012 Registered Senior Member

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    It's dangerous to say always... Here's why: If there's something history teaches us it is that things that never happened before do happen.

    Maybe some day our brains might evolve to a point where magic thinking is no longer an "impulse".
     
  13. lightgigantic Banned Banned

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    16,330
    as opposed to teaching that history repeats itself?

    and instead think " ... unless science do sumthin 'bout it ... an I knows dey workin onnit"
    :shrug:
     
  14. YoYoPapaya Trump/Norris - 2012 Registered Senior Member

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    No..No... Not as opposed to "history repeats itself", which it doesn't.
    Saying that "things will always be like this because they were always like this in the past" is wrong. If it was true every day would be groundhog day.

    I'm not quite sure i understand your last line. If i get it right, you are comparing religion and science. Is that correct? Is that not like comparing a fish to a spacecraft for instance? I mean the two are very different. One of them pretends to know all the answers. The other one knows that it doesn't but tries to at least explore some of reality instead of blindly believing a popular ancient fairytale.
     
  15. lightgigantic Banned Banned

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    I'm not sure what you are exactly referring to as religion claiming that "things will always be this way", but even science requires a few constants in order top render their findings meaningful.
    I am saying that even practitioners of science are surcharged with a sense of wonder that often bleeds through to wild speculation.

    On the contrary, if you want to talk about blind belief in a fairytale and assuming to know all the answers, nothing fits the bill better than the historiography of science, especially when given through the eyes of a reductionist world view tempered by atheist values.
     
  16. YoYoPapaya Trump/Norris - 2012 Registered Senior Member

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    I politely disagree. I don't even know what atheist values are. I don't think they are defined other than non-belief in magic.

    I didnt say religion claims that things will always be this way. It was a comment to Yazatas last post about religious impulse always being a part of human nature.
     
  17. lightgigantic Banned Banned

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    talking about religion being a belief in magic certainly rates high on the list ...
    instead there is a tendency for wild belief in ways to interpret information ... which basically amounts to the same thing

    If you are labeling a sense of wonder that has the tendency to bleed through into speculation as a problem, I don't think citing science as a staunch opponent to it is satisfactory.
     
  18. YoYoPapaya Trump/Norris - 2012 Registered Senior Member

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    I never said it was an opponent. I said they aren't comparable. That's hardly the same thing is it?

    Sorry if the word magic offends you. Would you prefer "The Supernatural"?
     
  19. lightgigantic Banned Banned

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    16,330
    and why?
    because they are diametrically opposed (at least in your view)
    :shrug:

    doesn't really change your atheist values any ...
    :shrug:
     
  20. YoYoPapaya Trump/Norris - 2012 Registered Senior Member

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    I still don't know what those values are. I suspect you're just trolling. I would like it if you didn't make assumptions about my views. I haven't said anything about science and religion being mutually exclusive.
     
  21. lightgigantic Banned Banned

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    Just try and talk about religion without it being "magical fantasy", "imagination" or "supernatural" and you will understand quick enough ...

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  22. spidergoat pubic diorama Valued Senior Member

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    He is the troll king. Bow down to his obfuscation.
     
  23. YoYoPapaya Trump/Norris - 2012 Registered Senior Member

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    congrats on your post number 12800
     

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