Religion gone in a generation?

[Hilander]

People should not assume that religion will always be a part of human society just because it has existed for so long, according to theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss. Religion could disappear in the span of a single generation.

Theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss: Religion could be gone in a generation

I guess what he is saying is possible but I don't see it happening. Maybe fewer people will be practicing religion but I don't see it ever totally disappearing. Let the planet have some sort of major disaster where tens of millions of people die and I think there will be a increase in the religious.

Do you think religion will ever disappear?

 

[The_Chameleon]

I guess what he is saying is possible but I don't see it happening. Maybe fewer people will be practicing religion but I don't see it ever totally disappearing. Let the planet have some sort of major disaster where tens of millions of people die and I think there will be a increase in the religious.

Do you think religion will ever disappear?

Religion will never die, it will simply change form. If anyone would like to try to explain to me why they believe in more than 3 spatial dimensions and what these dimensions are like, I for one would think they are talking about some unprovable, untouchable realm that exists because it offers them a way to explain the world around them. I would find this no different than how they would view me trying to describe Heaven and/or God. It's just another religion, only the Atheist religion is built around an unthinking god, where as the god of my faith is a loving and thoughtful entity. Sure, I too can imagine pieces that complete mysterious equations and say that this is proof that my theory is fact, but frankly, it doesn't make it so because there are countless other pieces that would fit just as well. Ask this fellow to describe what the universe looked like the instant before the big bang and what you will hear will have little to no basis in provable fact, but I strongly suspect would be stated as such.


More and more "Christian" sects will adopt ways of ignoring or working around what the Bible says about homosexuality, as many already have. Likewise, other religions will, and in many cases already have, adapted to modern social outlooks on that and other issues. But will religion ever "die"? It can't. It's hardwired into us to believe whatever we need to in order to make sense emotionally and mentally of the world around us. Since not all the answers are or probably ever will be there to see, we will continue to put our faith in what is unseen, be it God and Heaven, or singularities and extra spatial dimensions.



- Chameleon

 

[sunrise]

I was raised a Christian because my mother is a christian, my mum, my sister and I would go to church every sunday up until the point I was in secondary school (high school) and my mother then allowed me and my sister to make the choice of if we wished to continue, my sister did, I choose not to mainly because I hated having to get up and to go to church on a sunday but it was never about hating church and not believing in god. To this day I will sometimes say things asking God for something so in that sense I guess I do still think a god exists, I just don't happen to worship him.

One tangent on religion missing is that it would alter something massively; swearing.

How often do you hear people saying "thank god" when something goes well? How often do you hear someone exclaim "jesus christ!" when something insane happens? There are other examples but I will stop there. Religion itself I don't think will ever vanish entirely, in my opinion it is a strong as it has ever been it may just be people do not hear of it as often.

 

[The_Chameleon]

According to the statistics, religion is becoming more popular globally. It is just being abandoned more in some places. But if you count Atheistic Dogma as a religion of sorts (as I do) then religion is actually pretty universal. Just that the god of one of them has no mind.

"I am Quantum Uncertainty, the creator of everything. I create without purpose or meaning and through infinite trial, without direction or scheme, I bring forth things most ordered, even life. I speak through my prophet Darwin, and the Apostle Hawking so that my mindless glory may be known and appreciated by all... Errr.. I mean... BANG!"


- Chameleon

 

[Hilander]

It seems to me that the countries where people are less educated or they live without modern conveniences are the ones where religion is growing. It often gets misinterpreted or used for extreme behavior by these people to keep people beat down which can give religion a bad name. At least the one they are practicing.

In developed countries is where you see people leaving it or just not practicing religion but still may believe.

Maybe religion will disappear from some countries but I think it will always be here. Maybe some day it won't carry the power it use to. Which is true now in some countries. Maybe wars/conflicts won't be started because of it like is going on in the middle east right now but that will be about it.

 

[The_Chameleon]

In some developed countries the major religions are thriving. Some places seem to be rather churched-out though. This is most predominant in certain areas formerly dominated by the Roman Catholic faith, such as Quebec. The major Protestant church in my city is working to bring religion back to those areas and last I heard has been making quite a bit of headway. I think most folks are still very open to religion, but less open to traditional (preachy and/or unrelatable) ways of presenting it. Everybody needs something to believe in, and while the actual scientific facts can be interpreted to support either theistic or atheistic opinions, the choice to believe that life is without purpose, plan, or meaning, while offering a sense of self-reliance and freedom, brings little comfort in difficult times.


Really, since there's no inarguable proof one way or the other, in the end, it all comes down to personal preference. Faith in a god, or faith in no god. It's still faith. Personally I prefer the logical interpretation of scientific facts that suggests (quite loudly in my opinion) a purpose driven design rather than a random statistical blip. The implications of this, even apart from religious dogma, are very powerful, and very comforting as far as I'm concerned, but that's not why I choose it. I choose it because it makes more sense to me rationally. I think if I found the evidence to point more strongly to the blip, I'd be a very different person, and likely a much less happy and content one.


- Cham

 

[CaptainObvious]

No. The fastest growing religion is Islam. Islam should be the worlds dominant religion within the next 20-30 years. It falls into end time predictions both in Christianity and Islam, but that's besides the point. No religion will never die.

 

[MenInTights]

Religion will die the day someone walks into a lab with inorganic material and walks out with organic life. In other words, religion will never die because only God can create life from nothing.

I'm reminded from the events yesterday and the Time cover posted below that often when consensus starts to build that something is dead, it is actually at a turning point and will be stronger than ever. Even though there is a strong movement away from God in Western culture, I wouldn't be surprised to see an epic revival of people turning to God in the near future. In the Western world, we have everything that life can offer at our fingertips and its still void and lacks the meaning that serving and worshipping God offers.


Its a horrible example, but its in the news and was the first thing that came to mind of a movement that was considered dead:

Spoiler

Time Cover from 2009:

 

[The_Chameleon]

If you take any theory put forth by "science" that supposedly proves that there is no god, I will show in short order how that same data can be interpreted to "prove" (strongly suggest) the exact opposite. So I find it funny to hear Atheists proclaim the impending doom of religion. News Flash! They've been proclaiming this since Darwin got published.


- Cham