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Religious exodus post discovery of anti-aging?

Do you think inevitability of death is the main reason people can't let go of their faith?

Let's imagine there is a breakthrough medical discovery and human age can be extended to 200y+ and even more over time...

How much of world population will let go of religion?

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  • 4 votes
farru86 3 Apr 30
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13 comments

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0

We are already at about 30% non-believers in 2018. The lack of death would boast those numbers by at least twice.

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Only when the power and money that organized religion aggregates and arrogates to itself begins to wane, will it’s influence do likewise. It exists primarily as an instrument of social control. It won’t release its grip so readily

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"Let's imagine there is a breakthrough medical discovery and human age can be extended to 200y+ and even more over time.."
Then you have a different problem
We cannot radically extend all human life and keep increasing population, so either having children becomes a privilege or life extension. Radical life extension would be a privilege at the outset by nature of invention alone, reserved for those with the capital to afford it; something for the wealthy.
Thus the poor would remain faithful, and tendency would be for the wealthy to hoard that tech and leave the poor with faith instead to resolve the population issue.

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No hope for mass exodus from religion as people must learn to question,

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I said 10% as a guess. I really have no idea.

Gohan Level 7 Apr 30, 2018
1

Between 10-20% not much change-some religion is so engrained in some people. Their lives revolve around their churches.

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I think you need to ask yourself what is your purpose in life to live more than 200 years
Is there a purpose

Rosh Level 7 Apr 30, 2018
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Religion does use death to its advantage. The fear of eternal punishment after death is probably a pretty big motivator for many. If people were to live significantly longer, it doesn’t seem likely that many would give up religion except that they would have more opportunities to change their minds. Since the faith virus is so strong, I’m going with less than 10%.

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why guess?

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I cannot even guess. I do not think that it is the fear of death that keeps people glued to religion. It is the fear of life.

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I think that there is a strong possibility that the majority of the population would abandon religion if given enough time to do so by extending the human lifespan. Most people aren't fully matured until they hit their 40's and by the time they have finished raising their kids they are into their 50's and staring retirement and the prospect of having to face their own mortality in a couple of decades. Rather than change their religious beliefs it is just a lot easier to coast through the golden years to the grave. No upsetting the apple cart for family and friends or ones own world view and still hedging ones bets in the event that there really is an afterlife.
I think most people wouldn't be able to cling to those religious beliefs if left to dwell on it for a couple of centuries instead of a decade or two. Give people the chance to see what negative effects religion has on them and their kids, grandkids and great grandkids, the blinders will come off before they reach the century mark. I would suggest that 80% of people would abandon religion by the time they reach 100 years of age or at the very least have developed serious doubts about religious doctrines.

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Whilst I agree that mortality is probably a huge reason for a lot of people, I think this may be hard to judge. As we advance our sciences and technologies as a species (health science included), we see less and less youth prescribing to a religion. So whilst they may happen in unison, it may be hard to pin point it down to life extension or any other particular scientific breakthrough. Of course I could be wrong and it could be the largest reason!

2

This claim has been made and there is some truth to it. In this case people will still have to face death eventually so I do not know that the fear of death would lessen. The fear of Hell and loosing ones community does seem to also be a huge factor that may actually be a bigger fear than actual death.

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