Is Religion dying?

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today, the younger generation seem incredibly distant from religion compared to their grandparents. It is becoming increasingly rare to see young people at church. Im not sure if this is everywhere, or just around where i am, maybe y'all could help me with that?

Anyway, the question is, WHY is this happening? maybe people aren't pushed into it as much by their parents anymore? i most certainly wasn't. Maybe the lure of TV, games, and getting wrecked is more appealing than sitting in a church on sunday mornings?

and what knid of an effect is this having on our society? im gonna aim for the 10 commandments for this bit... "thou shalt not steal" if more people followed religion more closely, would there be less crime? would the world be a better place if young people took more intrest in religion?


well, that was my first AoDA post...feel free to decapitate it in many grizzly ways...or just make me look STUPID!

 

I think it's because people have less fear of the 'supernatural' now less people feel the need to seek the protection of the divine powers that are associated with attendance at church. Note that there are many parts of the world where religious practice does not appear to be on the wane (e.g. many Muslim countries).

 

Culture is no longer limited to the state, nobles, rich people, institutions like churches etc. And there's even some kind of "culture" for everyone, anyway. It's no longer a must to be in a good standing with the church. No one really gets frowned upon for admitting his doubts or even downright rejection. That's why the number of people who would claim to follow a religion but only do lip service has decreased. And well, there are more and more ways of spending free time, not all of which are expensive, so people don't spend that much time practicing a religion, either.

I guess this leaves people who care in churches and practicing, people who don't really care - nominally in churches or non-denominational, and people who don't care - rejecting religions and churches totally. There's probably also a number of people who take it seriously but can't find a place for themselves in any organised religion.

Edit: And yeah on what Harbourboy said.

 

Sadly I do not think religion is dying away. Organised religion may be on the wane in parts of the western world but it is gaining momentum in parts of the US and the Middle East and is still a very strong influence in Latin America.

Generally speaking a population gets less religious the more education they get and the more they are taught to think. This accelerates somewhat with the generations as less and less children receive a religious indoctrination from birth.

Sadly though people still seek somekind of greater meaning or purpose and invent all manner of mumbo jumbo to satisfy that big black hole in their for lack of a better name: soul. We as humans seem to have smoe inner need to believe in something we cannot define or explain, be it an infidel smiting god, all encompassing earth godess or small blue men who abducts us at night for anal probing. Anything that keeps people from facing reality and deal with what is tend to be extremely popular.

 

To answer the other part of Firey's question, I don't think a decrease (or increase) in religion has much impact on things such as crime. You'd probably as high a chance of being robbed wandering around Victorian-era London as you would strolling around the East End in the 21st century.

 

@ joacqin

The price of having a highly evolved brain and ability for abstract thought. Sometimes we are just a little bit too creative.

 

wow...my first ever AoDA post and it gets replies

to say the least, im stunned!

 

Religion is always a hot potato around here!

 

In western civilizations, it is fadeing because people are getting educated or more imformed on the subject (I believe getting away from religion is a good thing, but lets burn that bridge when we get there).

People are starting to see that religion isn't as nessacary anymore, unlike when my grandparents were my age and everybody was a good godfearing person.

In the Middle East, and Orient nations religion still has a very strong grasp on the people.

 

Short answer here ...

Religion has always gone through cycles. Believe it or not, America hit an all time religious low just after the Revolutionary War. Then there was the Second Great Awakening and Christianity took a firmer hold on the new world. Europe has seen similar cycles.

In Latin America there is a huge influx of people into religious (some Christian) movements. I expect that in 30-50 years it will decline and stagnate and need revival again.

Speaking for America, we are starting to see a renewal of interest in religious / spiritual matters.

Not to disappoint some of the above, but religion will always be around. That "black hole called a soul" is a spark of eternity that was put in all of us by God. Every where we look there are rumors of another world designed to stir our hearts and make us wonder if there is something / someone else.

Also, American and English history show a socioligical benefit from religious revival. During the Welch revival, prisions were empty. After the Second Great Awakening, crime in America was decreased while sobriety increased.

 

Religion is dying in certain quarters. But there are (quite unbelievably) still people who believe in 'God' and [snip]. It defies belief.

Religion should die out allover the World and people should wake up and [snip]. It irritates me.

[Offensive content removed, warning pending.] -Tal

[ September 22, 2004, 13:53: Message edited by: Taluntain ]

 

We'd have to look at other factors around at those times before using these results as a definitive answer that religion is good. Maybe the prisons were empty because of a plague arising from unsanitary conditions. Maybe sobriety increased because the drunk people didn't bother to respond to the surveys, thus only sober people were counted.

 

The fact that there are no longer things such as inquisitions and 'burning of heretics' is probably why the Christian religions are in a decline (percentage of population wise - I'm certain there are more christians now than there were back then simply by the increase in population). People no longer living in fear because they don't believe in a religion (fear from either real or spiritual punishment) and the fact that the bible keeps getting older and older and more questions are being raised about it doesn't help Christianity's cause.

However the muslim religion won't falter for awhile because it seems they are already have a few 'burn the heretics' type groups. And these groups got guns.

 

I would say that while religion is on the overall decrease, spirituality and exploration of faith is on the increase.

Many people may not belong in a certain denomination or religion, but may still possess some sense of faith -- hence, agnostism and other variants.

Exploration of faith is very important these days because a lot of people are trying to find themselves in a very disconnected world. They may or may not find it in a religion, or even find the connection that they are looking for. But, the journey is what matters, right? I can speak from experience because I'm Buddhist myself.

Any thoughts?

 

I wouldn't say that spiritualism and exploration of faith is on the increase. Nobody that I talk to on regular basis gives it a second thought. But I can't speak for the whole world, only my small circle of acquaintances.

 

... and, of course, this means that Religion has not the same entertainment value it used to have.

Big Tank is correct in his assessment: people are still helpless and clueless and look for spirituality to help them along in their lives. People in western cultures seek solace in Buddhism - unheard of some decades ago. Esotericism is widespread, people believe in Mother Nature, in Astrology, in all kind of stuff. Oh, and of course technology has become an item of faith lately.

Mathetais is right: Religion will always be around - we are not designed to be thinking beings; the thought of being alone frightens us.

In Europe, there's a shift away from Christianity, however.

 

Maybe it would be possible for me to believe in God if I had the idea that He actually intervenes in earthly matters to prevent the humans He created from committing atrocities like genocide or torture or other 'evil' things. Looking at what happens today and especially at what happened in the past I don't see any signs that he does.

I'm not a Christian and I honestly don't know much about the faith; I've never read the bible (only parts of it). But I do know that Jezus promised us that it would be possible for us to create God's kingdom on earth. I don't see any signs of it happening yet.

Maybe that's because we humans are not innate 'good' creatures and therefore not able to create a paradise on earth or something that looks like it. We really need God to guide us to that goal, but where is He? If he created beings that are capable of genocide and torture, why did He sent us His son to tell us we could make paradise on earth? And why doesn't He intervene when such atrocities happen?

When I read about the holocaust I begin to ask myself such questions and I think many Europeans do. Maybe that's why faith is on the return in Europe?

 

I pretty much lost my faith the same way Heerscher describes his lack of it. Events such as September 11 got me questioning religion in general.

I'm not going to worship a God that demands devotion without any form of guidence and will punish us for not being devoted when he has made no effort on his part to reveal himself. As far as I know, that is not just and if God claims to be just then he is a lier. The argument that we should not question God is contridictory to the ideals of Christianity. We are taught what is good an what isn't, we are taught that to not attempt to prevent evil is itself evil. If God - in all His glory - does not attempt to prevent evil (and it would be damn obvious if He did) then why does he expect it of us? DO NOT QUESTION GOD! Why not? IT IS EVIL! Why? GOD IS GOOD! What about... <insert random act of evil carried out in God's name - some recorded in the bible if you will, like slaughtering non-believers> DO NOT QUESTION GOD!

As you can see - the mind boggles.

 

Belief won’t die out as there are too many people that feel a need to believe there is something greater than themselves and that their lives have some meaning within the great scheme of things. Although I personally don’t believe in God(s) (Vastly more intelligent beings maybe, the universe is infinite in a bounded sort of way, but why the hell would they be interested in us), I can see why belief in God(s) could be very beneficial to the world at large.

Oh dear, I’m about to go off on one…

This is where I make the distinction between Belief and Religion (The definition of religion in this particular instance being “particular system of faith and worship” - OED). Religion as an expression of Belief would be superb in theory, providing a moral framework for everyone to live their lives within for the betterment of the human race. Unfortunately as soon as you start making a system you start putting people in charge of different aspects of it, and that’s when the whole thing collapses.
Take the Crusades for example, on a very simplified level, they were set up as a way of getting rid of the youngest sons of noble families to seek their own wealth and land. (Oldest sons getting the fathers property) Of course this was done by attacking, killing and raping the current occupiers of the land. Originally condemned, they were given religious justification by the papal church when it became threatened, and saw the monetary gains to be made. Islam – actually a very peaceful religion which has been twisted by a few so it now conjures up images of murders and suicide bombers.
My personal bugbear is with the Catholic church, for a.) It’s status on birth control (adverts stating condoms could give you aids), and b.) It’s wealth, most of which is generated from the poor who can ill afford it. Also, I disliked the CofE indoctrination of my school assemblies, reciting the Lords Prayer every day for umpteen years does not bring understanding and enlightenment.

I think people are turning away from the traditional centres of worship because they are starting to see that it is not God, but people in charge and making the decisions. The scandals in the Christian churches involving paedophilia, the realisation that marrying your cousin really isn’t the best idea for a healthy family, even the realisation that generally people don’t believe the world was created in 7 days (A friend works in a school, some of the parents are creationalists and there is a running battle over what can be taught to the children from the National Curriculum) is making people question their Religion and seeking their own level of Belief. In additional, there have been news articles saying that spiritualism (in terms of Paganism and other Natural worship) is on the rise, they are linking this partly to the rise in technology - that though we can use it, very few people understand exactly how it works and are looking for ways of balancing the technological with nature. (I do gardening myself, and you can’t beat home made wines, and sloe gin!)

It’s a shame that people can not live by the simple adage – Do unto others as you would be done unto.

Actually, I’ve managed to withhold most of my ascorbic comments on my feelings of Religion, you got off lightly folks!

@ Abomination
Have you read Piers Anthony "And Eternity" (Incarnations of Imortality series) gives an mildly amusing take on the reason God doesn't do anything.

 

Abomination said: "However the muslim religion won't falter for awhile because it seems they are already have a few 'burn the heretics' type groups. And these groups got guns."

And the Christians no longer have them? How about those lovely sects that appeared in the 90s in the USA and Europe? Did you hear what some Israeli Jewish fanatics were saying a couple of days ago, when Sharon announced his retreat from Ghaza? And a reminder: who killed Rabin?

I find it increasingly annoying how everyone points fingers at Islam as the only source of fanaticism in the world.

ALL religions have fanatics. Christians, Hebrews and Muslims more than any other, ironically. And fanaticism, in essence, is simply following one ideology: kill everyone else who isn't us. In this regard, Jewish and Arab fanatics (extremists might be a better term) are so alike it's not even funny.

To return on topic, I really don't see how fanatics of a religion can have any effect on how many people adhere to that religion. Usually those fanatics are despised by the people of that religion more than anyone else, because fanaticism always sheds a nasty (and false) light on the religion itself, especially when people hastily associate the fanatic movement to the entire religion (something made even worse by television and media, unfortunately)

Religion's not dying. It's just that, a few hundred years ago, things were simpler: the Europeans were Christians, and everyone else was an infidel. Arabs and North Africa were Muslims, and everyone else was an infidel. And Jews were Jews, and everyone else... So, to every religious group, everyone who was not an infidel was of this particular religion.

Now that things no longer work that way, that there are so many different "religions" spun off the "mother" religions, that more and more people in Europe and the USA discover Eastern Asian religions, that all of these new and different religions are forced to live next to each other, and even interact, things are much more dilute (for lack of a better word). Hence the impression that "religion is dying" or "people are no longer religious".

One more thing: if you look at religion as something people turn to when looking for an answer to the "meaning of life", then it's easy to see science as an usurper, sometimes replacing religion in people's mind. The way I see it though, Science is itself turning into a religious movement, because it seeks to answer (or better yet, is seen an answer to) this Meaning. I'm not talking about this in theoreticals: I work in the biomedical field, and a fair number of researchers turn to Biology for answers with almost a fanatical approach.