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7.5 Million Americans Lost Their Religion in the Past Two Years
- Thread starter Sunstone
- Start date
Marisa
Well-Known Member
Well, that doesn't appear to be what the statistics indicate.
Look at the statistics 1700 years ago in Europe, Christianity was coming to the fore. At the Middle East and North Africa 1200 years ago, Islam was coming to the fore.
I can see this being fairly accurate. The only issue I see is that some religions, like new age/pagan (and others I am sure) are never represented well in these surveys, as they are heavily geared towards the abrahamic view of religion and god, so the numbers may be off, even if only slightly. I can't take these surveys because I can't accurately answer. I tried to do the pew research one once upon a time.
EDIT: And if I do take them to the best if my ability, I come off as agnostic.
I would say it is very sad, but hardly surprising. The culture, the schools, the government, and surely the entertainment media are all in the business of encouraging a dismissal of the reality or need for God.
Material prosperity tends to draw people away from a need or thought of God or the afterlife. Conversely, deprivation and poor health does the opposite. Noteworthy in the face of a decline of Christianity in the West is the rise in places like Africa where there were an estimated 25 million Christians in the 1950s. But by the year 2000 and estimated 380 million Christians.
“What God has hidden from the learned and clever He has revealed to the merest of children.”
AmyintheBibleBelt
Active Member
It is not very popular in the US to identify as an atheist. I imagine a lot of those fallen from faith identify as spiritual or something similar. And fundamentals are actually the growing lot of Christians now here. Methodist, Lutheran, Presbyterian churches, middle of the road Christian churches are shrinking.
AmyintheBibleBelt
Active Member
New age/Paganism is really a small percent. There are no New Age, Pagan churches, organizations, or institutions. Unless you include Scientology. Scientology is huge in Hollywood. But made a joke of most elsewhere.
AmyintheBibleBelt
Active Member
Not true at all. Christians and Muslims do not think progress will bring people into the light. They feel proselytization will. And any fundamental faith is seldom a friend of progress.
Marisa
Well-Known Member
I didn't say that. The "nones", which are people leaving organized religion but not necessarily becoming atheists, largely cite organized religion's tunnel vision on social issues. The more fundamentalists focus on these issues, the more they drive particularly young people away from the church, but not necessarily away from belief.
I'm not sure that you can paint Islam, which in many places uses death or imprisonmant as a punishment for apostasy, with the same brush. Take fear out of the equation and you may see different results.
AmyintheBibleBelt
Active Member
Evangelican Christians make up the largest religious group in the US. But Christianity is not growing overall.
Islam is growing faster than any other faith worldwide last time I checked. Conversion by the sword seems to be persuasive.
Less and less of America's youth adopt their parent's faith.
Marisa
Well-Known Member
I'm not sure we're having the same conversation.
I've not said religion is growing. Quite the opposite. I'm not sure why anyone would be surprised that "convert or die" creates converts. What I said was remove that, and you might not see the rise. I don't know that, but it seems logical.
AmyintheBibleBelt
Active Member
I agree with everything in that post! HahaI'm not sure we're having the same conversation.
I'm not sure why anyone would be surprised that "convert or die" creates converts. What I said was remove that, and you might not see the rise. I don't know that, but it seems logical.
Actually that is not true of all Christians.
AmyintheBibleBelt
Active Member
Do you think progress will bring souls to god? Can you give an example?
How about the UU CUUPS organization? Or the AODA? There are other ones, but the deal is Paganism isn't a building oriented religion, so I don't see your point.
AmyintheBibleBelt
Active Member
Never heard of them. My point was that a very small portion of the US population identifies as pagan and has little influence.
I run into pagans all over the place: work, school, in town, online.
AmyintheBibleBelt
Active Member
That's great. They still are as influential in the US as hindus or Buddhists. Probably even less so.
You should drive more carefully.
You should stop hacking into the city camera system or at least make the traffic lights less wacky.