Skwim
Veteran Member
Look again.
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"Americans’ confidence in religion hits a new low"
- Thread starter Skwim
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Monk Of Reason
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I don't know if that was the point of the article. But the Catholics have had very little trust it seems in recent years and even with a slight increase over the years and a good bit of that increase has been the result of those leaving the faith thus increasing the potency of those remaining faithful. Though I don't think that trust in the church could drop much lower than in the early 2000's during the renewed scandals.
Could science fulfill this definition? After all, it is answering life's questions one at a time.I had it in the original version of that last post... knew I shouldn't have cut that out.
At core, religion is about developing or holding to meaningful narratives about our lives and how we relate to the world around us. It's about asking life's big questions and seeking answers to them in ways that fulfill us and connect us (the etymological roots of the term "religion" come from the same root as "ligament" or ligare - a thing that connects). In a fashion, it's the axis around which one's worldview spins. I don't care whether or not someone uses the word "religion" to describe that axis - that thing they use to spin meaning and story into their lives. It's always there, in all cultures, in all peoples. It's part of our blessing (or curse) as animals with the level of self-awareness that we have. We are myth makers, meaning finders, story tellers, world explorers. I don't see that ever changing until our species evolves into another species entirely.
The understanding of religion that guides the article and this thread is inherently unworthy of trust, so by that measure, sure, I expect it to eventually settle into the 3%-5% range. It may take a couple of decades, though.
More to the point, I don't think that is an understanding of religion worth having at all. It is just superstition and fear, wrapped in unhealthy habits and shielded by tradition and presumption.
True religion is something far more respectable and far less supernatural-like.
I don't think so. Science may and probably shoud explain and help religion, but it can not fulfill the role of religion by itself.
I suppose it is fair to describe religion as a technology of sorts, though, or perhaps as tending to become one. Technology is the application of science.
"Americans’ confidence in religion hits a new low"
On the other hand I see a steady increase in what I will call 'Post-Abrahamic Spirituality' in the western world. By this I mean spiritual beliefs not based on the society's ancient traditional religions and scriptures. I see this as a good thing like trading in the old Ford Model T for a modern vehicle.
On the other hand I see a steady increase in what I will call 'Post-Abrahamic Spirituality' in the western world. By this I mean spiritual beliefs not based on the society's ancient traditional religions and scriptures. I see this as a good thing like trading in the old Ford Model T for a modern vehicle.
True, I suppose my point is religion has always served as a place holder with an explanation when nothing else exists. Once there was a belief that a team of Gods controlled the weather, the sun, the moon, the tides, etc. All of which, once explained, allowed those traditions to fade into nothing. This trend seems to continue.
Monk Of Reason
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I can say for sure that paganism is still on the rise. It isn't booming like it was in 2008 or 09 but its still on the rise. Islam is increasing rapidly in the western world as well.
Yes, but I see them as just transplants from the east into the west. Not something organically growing from modern western society.
Shadow Wolf
Certified People sTabber & Business Owner
I just read an article, from Marcelo Gleiser, theoretical physicist from Dartmouth, that postulates the idea that the scientific approach of unification and a theory of everything that would describe all natural phenonima within one formula is derived from the Western tradition of Monotheism.
I think it addresses some major components of it, yes, though not all. Science as a way of knowing and exploring the world has some great strengths and assets to it, but it also has limitations. Such is the case with a discipline like philosophy as well, which also covers some of that territory. In religion, there's often more art and story built in - mythology, as it were. Not mythology as in lies/falsehoods, but as in stories that convey personal and/or cultural meaning. We're still doing a lot of that in the form of pop culture, which I tend to regard as modern mythology, though we're not as deliberately mythical about it in many cases. Still, if you look at pop culture, it tells you a lot about a culture's values and the stories it tells itself. That we have so many stories told about, say, artificial intelligence going rampant or apocalypse scenarios tells us something about how we relate to the world around us and see our place in it.
Monk Of Reason
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Well not always. I know several women who are marrying Muslim men and converting. But I would agree that they aren't taking people from Christianity and making them Muslim. Though it doesn't really matter if the numbers increase they increase.
Skwim
Veteran Member
So, what is "true religion," Buddhism?
I would say it has more akin with the eastern concept of non-dualism (God and creation are not-two).
That sounds more like Humanism than anything I would call religion. It springs from the supposition of materialism. I want a religion that teaches what is beyond materialism.
I suppose. But that is a minor, if not altogether unproper, role of religion. At its best it has little time to spend with such so-called explanations.
Yes... but I don't think it is much of a meaningful thing, at least for religion proper.
Isn't it mainly a vegetative growth thing? Muslim populations are notoriously quick to breed, not so much to convert.
Not really. Judaism is more of a true religion than much of Buddhism, for instance.
It is more of an approach matter, not one of origin. Mainly, it takes being Dharmic in one's practice - which means among other things having little time to waste with superstition and with "religious" fear.
I wonder how you reached such a conclusion, and why.
Is there any reason not to favor Humanism? It seems to me that if anything it is a necessary component of healthy religion.
I won't comment on materialism because I'm uncertain what you mean by it. If it is the absence of reliance on deities and afterlives, though, then I can only call it a good thing.
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