Are we approaching the end times for religion in the west? [freethoughtnow.org]
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I see religion as continuing to fester like a wound that does not heal in the west for decades if not centuries to come.
anglophone
Level 9
Feb 3, 2022
3
This is folklore about folklore.
The devil (so to speak) is in the details.
The term “nones” does not refer to non-belief. It refers to no affiliation with organized religion. What’s replacing organized religion is disorganized religion. If you thought organized religion was bad… wait til you see what disorganized religion delivers!
Costly behavioral traits that serve no adaptive purpose would have been removed from the gene pool in the 60 thousand years religion has persisted. It will not be going away inside a single lifetime.
Science gives a more accurate picture of reality than folklore. Funny that this would need to be said, but humans are human, and no brand of human loves science when it tells them something they don’t want to hear.
skado
Level 9
Feb 3, 2022
5
@darren316
I hope she doesn’t hold her breath.
Take a look at the data, and ignore the folklore.
@darren316
Best to diversify the portfolio. Check the Pew Research projections for world religions.
@darren316
Also… I welcome suggestions that would counter my own view, if you know of studies that say otherwise. Thanks.
@darren316
I know the nones are on the rise in the US, but declining worldwide.
[pewforum.org]
@darren316
I would be thinking the same as you today, and welcoming it, if I had not (only by accident) learned about the evolutionary connection. I expect religion to be changing, as it really always has, albeit slowly, but now that I am aware of its adaptive roots, I don’t expect it to go away until our species goes extinct. But that might be sooner than we all think.
@darren316
I’m not sure… can you name some?
@darren316
Interesting study. Thanks.
The actual study [royalsocietypublishing.org] has a more scientific tone than the article about it. I’m enjoying reading it, but may not finish it tonight (it’s long).
The relationship between nature and nurture is very complex and there’s a lot we don’t know yet. We have to say that religion is probably mostly a cultural adaptation itself, and one that has been around long enough to have imprinted to some degree in our genes, as the study mentions. None of us know the future but it seems unlikely that an adaptation, cultural or otherwise, that has been with us in some form or other for at least 60,000 years is going away in a single generation or two.
It may well modify to something 21st century humans wouldn’t recognize as religion, but I don’t currently see a path for it to escape entirely, as long as humans are extant.
Then again, my definition of “religion” is not what most folks think of when they see/hear that word. Often I find arguments about religion are really just arguments about semantics anyway.
To me, religion is not about believing in God, or praying, or going to church. It’s about culturally modifying those evolved instincts that become problematic in environments that vary from those of our ancestral development. In that sense, it appears to me we will be needing exponentially more, rather than less, of that modification as our environment continues its increasing rate of change. Hopefully it can transition from a mythology-based practice to a science-based practice. That would be a huge improvement.
we still got a long way to go
Is religion dying or just changing its face? The "end times" were around when Jesus last spoke to his disciples and told them what to expect. Today so many take this simple idea of end times and incorporate it into their ideas about the book of Revelation. It matters little to the believers that this book was added to the bible as we know it today some 300 plus years after the time of Jesus. The book also barely made it into the canon but did so because what was needed in the big bible book was a beginning as well as an end. People have been talking about this rubbish ever since. Revelation has as many interpretations as words of Nostradamus.
DenoPenno
Level 9
Feb 3, 2022
4
While on one hand, this is GREAT news, Nones are growing, the way things are organically just trending in this direction, that is awesome, especially with the way younger generations are more tolerant of those different.
But there is still a BIG FACTOR in the way. All the Hard-Right wing judges appointed by Chumpie will be there for a long time, say 30 years, so nothing is going to be easy unfortunately.
CuddyCruiser
Level 8
Feb 3, 2022
2
But it could be these extremists are the ones driving the loss of religion.
I think that it religion is unlikely to recede into the background in the foreseeable future. There will probably be a slow continual decline in the numbers of the faithful. Unless or until there is an acceptable replacement religion is not going to disappear anytime soon.
ASTRALMAX
Level 8
Feb 3, 2022
1
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