In the U.S., Christianity loses members while atheism grows. Why?

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Blame it on science, progressiveness, tolerance, reason, or whatever you want; it's not the the first time Christianity has risen or fallen. Humans are innately dogmatic and intolerant of something. As soon as the dogmatic, tolerant, progressive, etc. crowd gets a hold of power, they too will be privy to such treatment and criticism.

Good point. It's always in fashion to be against the establishment, whatever the establishment is.

 

[arimoff]

From an essay on the popularity of atheism:


Why do you think Christianity is on the decline and atheism is on the rise?

one of the reasons is that people have freedom now comparing to how the Church used to control what is right and what is wrong. Not enough strong educated and honest religious leaders, leads people to feel unsatisfied so they just leave.

 

[Ozzie]

So far as I know, there are two factors that tend to increase the popularity of nontheism, and reduce the popularity of religion. The first factor is economic stablity. Studies have shown that when people lack economic stability, they tend to be more religious than when they have economic stability. But Americans do not have economic stability. So we can guess that atheism would be even more on the rise than it already is if Americans had greater economic stablility.

The second thing that increases the popularity of nontheism is the politicalization of religion. American religion is very politicalized, and this is probably what's driving the rise of atheism.

Are the values of American pop culture exported to the world with vaste financial success over the past few decades finally starting to penetrate into the Heartland.

Maybe the contradiction is more apparent today?

 

[truth seeker]

Because the Christian religion but unfortunately does not address the reason

 

[Beaudreaux]

Because atheist are more Christian then Christians and more Muslim then Muslims and so on...

Huh??? Please explain.

Blame it on science, progressiveness, tolerance, reason, or whatever you want; it's not the the first time Christianity has risen or fallen. Humans are innately dogmatic and intolerant of something. As soon as the dogmatic, tolerant, progressive, etc. crowd gets a hold of power, they too will be privy to such treatment and criticism.

Perhaps. What do you think will happen if the next people in power are not dogmatic at all?

 

[RomCat]

Broad is the path that leads to destruction and
many there are who walk it.
Narrow is the path that leads to life and
few there are who find it.

 

[madhatter85]

Broad is the path that leads to destruction and
many there are who walk it.
Narrow is the path that leads to life and
few there are who find it.

That scripture shows that it's the minority that are correct, not the majority.

 

[ellenjanuary]

It is the 4 being revealed! The whole world is about what4!

What4 Christian of one true faith worry about numbers say? What4 atheist support meaningless numbers? Because all this logic finds itself in the paradox of popular appeal, so the Dark Lord Stastistics is on the scene, stirring up idolatry with false number; when 4 is true number!

Not exactly, but if fits my agenda. Everyone has a for, but all I had was an against... so, now I got a 4. 44me, what4 you? Definitely sounds like the wisdom of the fool. If I have an inherent distrust of statistics, what 4, I say. If a person has a valid and functional morality, how is it justified to lead one away from comfort into dangerous waters if the real issue is the fear of drowning?

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Broad is the path that leads to destruction and
many there are who walk it.
Narrow is the path that leads to life and
few there are who find it.

We love you too, RomCat.

 

[DallasApple]

All I know is my husband went off the rocker Christian..I mean all at once he started going to church and dragging us to church all the time and saying weird things like "oohh you said a bad word" (to me) and then I told him Im not going to church with you and he said fine he would go by himself and he would come home and say more weird things like "baby Jesus said to tell you hi and he missed you" ..

Then when that didnt get him laid every single day he became an athiest again.

Go figure..

Love

Dallas

 

[Beaudreaux]

That scripture shows that it's the minority that are correct, not the majority.

I see. So God set up the parameters of the game knowing full well that most people would fail. Kind of like a crooked blackjack dealer?

 

[Copernicus]

I see. So God set up the parameters of the game knowing full well that most people would fail. Kind of like a crooked blackjack dealer?

Except that the crooked blackjack dealer gets something in return for victimizing people. What does God get?

 

[Reverend Rick]

Well, this has become a real religion bashing thread. :yes:

The biggest reason religion is on the decline is because it has been removed from public schools.

Parents have lost control of their children's education and they are being indoctrinated by so called progressives.

This comes as no surprise. It has been prophesied to happen.

 

[dogsgod]

Well, this has become a real religion bashing thread. :yes:

The biggest reason religion is on the decline is because it has been removed from public schools.

Parents have lost control of their children's education and they are being indoctrinated by so called progressives.

This comes as no surprise. It has been prophesied to happen.

Secular schools can never be tolerated because such schools have no religious instruction, and a general moral instruction without a religious foundation is built on air; consequently, all character training and religion must be derived from faith ...we need believing people. Adolf Hitler

 

[Copernicus]

The biggest reason religion is on the decline is because it has been removed from public schools.

Not in England, but religion still declined there. Maybe they weren't teaching the right version of Christianity?

The decline of public religion in the US really began in the 1990s, which coincided with the onset of the information age. Public schools did not suddenly become more secular then. In fact, they have always been under steady pressure to add or increase indoctrination in general Christian beliefs. When I was a child, there was lots of public endorsement for religion. That was when "under God" was inserted in the pledge, and we were all informed that we were free to refuse to say the words if we wanted to be taken for Communists. That was also around the time when I, as a child, began to have doubts about the existence of God.

 

[ohiodude2530]

I concur , it happen for me at a early age also . What the common folks always seem to forget though is this was never at anytime a christian nation. The whole principle behind the constitution was freedom from any type of religious dogma. It was believed (as I do) that mankind has within ourselves the ability to discern right and wrong and the influence of any deity only tries to muddy the waters. Take a more detailed look at ancient history as our forefathers did and realize. Our biggest embaressments as a species , occured after the invention of religion. At one time in our history Science and knowledge was religion....

 

[footprints]

The biggest reason religion is on the decline is because it has been removed from public schools.

That is a perception, from the pages of sociology; many children rebelled against going to religious classes. When the children who rebelled against going to religious classes became adults themselves, they abolished it and forced their right of way.

This was further compounded by other religious values ensuring their right to free speech, some religions themselves rebelled against other sects teaching their religious values in schools. In the end it was easier for most governments to stop it all, that way all were treated equally, albeit not in the manner in which each religion had envisaged for themselves.

 

[logician]

it is a proven fact that the number of atheists increases as the educational level increases. Of course, this would be because obtaining an education teaches people to question everything, including religious tales.

 

[madhatter85]

it is a proven fact that the number of atheists increases as the educational level increases. Of course, this would be because obtaining an education teaches people to question everything, including religious tales.

It's a proven fact that among LDS adherents they become more active in thier religion the more formal education they attain, a trend that is opposite to that found in other denominations.
Latter-day Saint Demographics/LDS Statistics/ Mormon statistics
As Latter-day Saints become more educated, they are more likely to be active Church participants, a trend opposite what is found in most denominations (online source:

A study by Stan Albrecht and Tim Heaton published in the Review of Religious Research in 1984 reported that opposite to the experience of most churches in the United States, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints become more religiously active as they become more educated.
According to lds.org, the study included around 7,000 participants.

The Church funds all Brigham Young University campuses, which include those in Jerusalem, Provo, Idaho and Hawaii. Church members are encouraged to get all the education they can.

"The more students learn in an academic setting - particularly one in which eternal truths and life values are emphasized-the more they realize the truthfulness of gospel principles," said Janet S. Scharman, vice president for student life at BYU in Provo.

"At BYU, as our emphasis on spirituality goes up, so does our academic performance," she said.

The Church has emphasized education since its early history, starting with founder Joseph Smith who formed a "School of the Prophets" in 1833.

 

[footprints]

it is a proven fact that the number of atheists increases as the educational level increases. Of course, this would be because obtaining an education teaches people to question everything, including religious tales.

LOL that isn't proven fact at all. It is speculation based on a limited survey. So much counter evidence for it around the world, it really made it a joke.