[quote] America continues to trend secular. According to a recently released Pew study(link is external), almost one in four Americans, 23 percent, now identify as religiously unaffiliated, up from just 16 percent in 2007. This continues a shift that began in the early 1990s, when the percentage of religiously unaffiliated was in single digits. The rise of these “Nones” comes mainly at the expense of Christianity, which saw a drop from about 78 percent to 70 percent in the last eight years. [/quote]
Some consider this drop due to the politicization of religion, but its also entirely possible people just aren't believing.
[quote] In fact, the Pew numbers showing the decline in Christian identity are entirely consistent with a 2013 Harris survey(link is external) of religious beliefs, which showed that most core Christian beliefs are also on the decline. Between 2007 and 2013, for example, belief in miracles decreased from 79 to 72 percent among American adults. Belief in the resurrection of Jesus dropped from 70 to 65 percent, with similar drops for beliefs in heaven, the divinity of Jesus, and other Christian concepts. [/quote]
Basically what is happening is that the house of cards, that is theological beliefs is being knocked over. The answers once attributed to god are being answered scientifically, and when one card falls, the rest of the house is sure to follow.
Now, its important to understand religiously unaffiliated doesn't mean atheist. It would most likely be more agnostic. But the point is the percentage of Americans who are denying the dogma of ancient men is on the rise.
Discuss.
[b][u]Edit:[/u][/b] for all my religious friends who claim the fall of religious dominance will also mark the fall of society, please enjoy this article as well.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-secular-life/201410/secular-societies-fare-better-religious-societies
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[quote]Fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt.[/quote] 'Religion' is often seen by many as 'needless tradition'. Those whom atheists would call 'religious' are often times not 'religious' in the sense that they refuse to practice ritualistic tradition. I, myself, am a Christian, but reject 'religion' and lean more in favor of a modern method in which to practice my faith.
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Is it only Catholics (like myself) that believe in God AND science? The two are not mutually exclusive
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One gripe with the last link. I was reading it, and Australia (where I live) seems to be more multicultural than secular. This is most noticeable in western Sydney
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Le info bump Sorry britton if you didn't like this one
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As society evolves, so does God. Has anyone here read Brave New World? The society has no religion as we think of it nowadays, but there is still a God. One of the characters says that God manifests itself in its absence. It's a little hard to explain, but basically it makes the point that God evolves with society. I do believe in God, but I also believe that God's importance is diminishing. We as a species were children back when the Bible was written. It was meant to guide us in the right direction and teach us morals (love thy neighbor, love thy enemy, etc.) but we're growing up. We are like teenagers now. We are starting to go out on our own. We are discovering things for ourselves now. People often compare God to our father, well fathers eventually let go. God will always be there, just not as obviously as before. So I don't think religion holds society back, but strictly holding on to old beliefs does. We as children stopped believing in Santa Clause when we saw it was just our parents. Now it's time we stopped believing in Creationism because all evidence points to Evolution. That's just one specific example. Letting go of the past doesn't mean letting go of God. That about sums up what I had to say. I know I'm going to be called a hypocrite and not a real Christian, but I don't care anymore. Let's just say I'm a theist and leave it at that. Leave my beliefs alone and I'll leave yours alone. It's okay to disagree, but you don't need to be a jerk about it.
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Edited by steg567: 7/3/2015 5:53:35 PMI expected better of you than a religious thread with noislesspurseish title. Seriously, i am a tad disappointed. I took you for one of those people who makes threads about things that are actually meaningful instead of contributing to the flood of religion based shit posts on here.
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Well I guess were gonna turn into another dirt poor European country
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Yeeaah it looks good but its misleading. People are as religious as they've always been just now more people are honest about it. I wouldn't get your hopes up about a secular humanist society its not gonna happen in our lifetime.
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I still don't understand why people give a shit about someone else's religion. Just let people be.
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Never understood why people are so fixated on anothers beliefs
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...but then I remembered that there's a world [i]outside[/i] of America...
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It's not that less believe I think, just that less lie about believing. Which is fine, no one should live a lie just to fit in. Do I think this is pointing to the downfall of religion... No just a change, and change is good. Perhaps people will begin to see people instead of stereotypes... Sigh Probably not, not yet at least.
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http://youtu.be/x2YlbiyiuMc
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#Inafterangrychristians
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Edited by WIGGLE MY WORM: 7/19/2015 8:16:35 PMCool story bro.
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Necrowave
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hey you! i like you.
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That's a bit rude
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I'm pretty sure my beliefs could align towards a form of Agnosticism. So many ideas and theories... Why turn all but one down? Anything could be possible. I just think that it's better to not worry about it with the short lives we're given. We will all learn a truth soon enough.
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Yay. Now if we could get those idiot right wingers that don't like Isis for wanting to run a violent theocracy but want to run a violent theocracy out of government we'd be good to go
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Agnostics that live their lives as if there were no gods should be considered atheists.
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If as many people who say they are Christians actually were, we would be living in an entirely different society.
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They may be dropping but I still think Christians and Muslims will be the largest population.
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Speaking of which, might want to bump your evolution thread. You-know-who is at it again.
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Im one of them :P