Whither religion?

[mahnmut]

We've often heard of the Evangelical segment of the electorate. Or the Mormon segment. Or the Jewish segment. But little is being told of the second-largest segment in America, and arguably the fastest-growing: atheists, or more broadly, non-believers. And they're rising worldwide. And surprisingly or not, being an open atheist may no longer be a

Comments

[luvdovz]

That Dawkins video that you linked there...

Seeing that amount of patience from Dawkins was surprising. But he evidently kind of lost interest in the end, realizing what a wall he was trying to talk to. What astounded me the most was the blank looks in those faces, as they spouted whatever standard talking-points they had been spoon-fed by their parents. It's as if the barrier that was shutting the minds of those kids was almost physically visible.

And this is more wide-spread than we might like to think it is.

[ddstory]

Well, Dawkins is fine as far as promoting Evolution is concerned, but I couldn't help noticing that he's absolutely incompetent in anything regarding physics, or cosmology. "I disagree that there could have been no time before the Big Bang". If he ever read anything about quantum physics, perhaps he might've had an idea or two about that. Sure, you can't be competent in all domains, but at least have the nerve to acknowledge that, instead of presuming to give an opinion about something you evidently have little to no knowledge about

[luvdovz]

I know. He comes across as someone who takes himself way too seriously.

[garote]

Richard Dawkins has gotten to about the same point Bruce Lee got to in Hollywood

[luzribeiro]

[dreamville_bg]

This one is even better.

[dexeron]

Regarding your question regarding whether religion is truly declining or simply transforming, certainly there are lots of folks who are reacting to the slowly evolving nature of modern mainstream belief (which is really becoming more and more a "god of the gaps" sort of religion, where so much is explained by science, and god occupies the ever-shrinking spaces outside of that.) I think it goes two ways: some are offended when their religion "admits" to not being in touch with the facts of the modern world, and they break off to found their own more "fundamentalist" churches. Others, however, especially those who have grown up in a church (and are not recent converts) might simply accept this slow evolution, and think of themselves as less "religious" (and report themselves as such in surveys;) for them, church is more of a spiritual thing, a social support, an organization that they feel helps them participate in a moral life. They are still believers, but they may be reporting themselves as "less religious" (especially if they are

[airiefairie]

Bookmarking that blog.

[anfalicious]

I think you're right; heaps of people have always been atheist/agnostic, but now it's socially acceptable to say so. Kinda like how I don't think there's more gays than there was 50 years ago, just a lot more honest people.

[oportet]

Too many denominations - too many branches on the tree

[anfalicious]

We've known for some time now that the Catholic Church was actually a freaky sex cult, but after our Royal Commission into institutional child abuse, it's been shown that pretty much all religions are places for old men to protect each other while they abuse children. This really undermines their moral authority, because none of them have been spared; they were all doing it. It's really shown what religion really is: a bunch of old men protecting their own interests by telling everyone else what to do in the name of something that no one can prove doesn't exist

[geezer_also]

"The terrorism coming from white Christians in the next 50 years is gonna make these fundy Muslamics look like the IRA."

Hmm, I'm not sure on what you base that (totally irrational ;D) statement on; however, the wonderful thing about it is that only a few of us (generic us, since I won't be) will be around to point out how wrong you were.
Personally, I think that the 'Muslamics' will bring about the apocalypse way before then...oh say in about 25 years...but then it's highly unlikely I will still be around for you to tell me I'm wrong :D

[anfalicious]

An increasingly marginalised, heavily armed group who feel something has been taken from them? No reason to see them becoming terrorists. Sorry, lone wolves.

Most terrorism in the US is already white men.

I think islamic fundamentalism will largely wither and die over the next 25 years.