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Christians on Decline, Non-believers Skyrocketing in US

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Retro Rob said:
Anyone describing himself as a militant anything has basically donned the title of being a person of extreme hostility.

Why would I hope to replace religious hate with atheist hate as if there is a difference?
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Maybe his definition of militant is different than yours.
Maybe he meant militant in a "I strongly disagree" instead of a "I'll take an AK-47 to your face if you believe in a deity". Or maybe he does mean it that way.

The point is, you didn't bother to find out did you? You didn't ask him to check what his definition is or what he means by what he said.

You were too busy looking for a way to be intolerant of his point of view. You wanted him to mean it as negatively as possible so you can highlight the error of his ways while avoiding glancing at your own.

Is that what Jesus tried to teach you? Intolerance? Divisiveness? I don't think it is.
 
I have a question for the theists.

Suppose there is a God, and you leave this mortal coil tomorrow and you happen upon the pearly gates. You have an interview with your creator and he says to you that he is disappointed that you wasted so much time worshiping him and asking him for favors instead of doing something more productive like helping those less fortunate than yourself or improving yourself. Suppose he says if he wanted you to to spend all this time on worshiping him he would have made this abundantly clear and undebatable, unambiguous as belief in a tree. Surely there are no people debating whether trees exist, are there?

You're in luck though, because next he says that he will send you back to earth to live out the rest of your life as if this unfortunate incident that caused your untimely demise never happened.

What would you do with the time you have left now that you have all this extra free time no longer devoted to spiritual pursuits?
 
disappoint said:
I have a question for the theists.

Suppose there is a God, and you leave this mortal coil tomorrow and you happen upon the pearly gates. You have an interview with your creator and he says to you that he is disappointed that you wasted so much time worshiping him and asking him for favors instead of doing something more productive like helping those less fortunate than yourself or improving yourself. Suppose he says if he wanted you to to spend all this time on worshiping him he would have made this abundantly clear and undebatable, unambiguous as belief in a tree. Surely there are no people debating whether trees exist, are there?

You're in luck though, because next he says that he will send you back to earth to live out the rest of your life as if this unfortunate incident that caused your untimely demise never happened.

What would you do with the time you have left now that you have all this extra free time no longer devoted to spiritual pursuits?
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For many people of faith, there is much enjoyment in worship. Kind of like watching the NFL for those without faith.
 
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Ventanni said:
Back in the real world, people do need to be continually taught these things (how to treat others, how to love, how to be a good person, etc). I'm going to mirror what OverVolt is essentially saying, but it boils down to education. Christianity provides an excellent source of this for teaching people how they should treat others. Our general education system, and especially atheism (Yep, I said it), doesn't do the greatest job of doing this unless you're lucky enough to afford a high end education.

Still don't believe me? Atheist churches are actually recognizing this and forming church-like congregations to fill this void.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/01/sunday-assembly-atheist_n_5915830.html

So my point is, you want to rid the world of Christianity and religion in general? Fine, I respect that. Your beliefs are perfectly valid. But you better understand the cultural implications of what happens if you remove a system that teaches "goodness", and it won't be good for you. It especially won't be good for your children. Do you want corporations or the government to tell you what's right and wrong?

Enjoy your cats and bacon.
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What he wrote
OverVolt said:
Yup, I already knew about the trend and already decided I'm staying religious.

It has more to do with people who identify with the internet as "their people". So, they typically are not living in the real world and live more so in the digital world. They have no friends or connections IRL is what I'm getting at. Religion is just one more link to the real world. Atheists could be twice as prevalent and I still wouldn't have to interact with many of them because they would be too busy sharing cat pictures and infographics and poorly researched news articles about science (you know the journal of huffington post, the premier source of misunderstood and reposted out of context science articles) and shit.

You guys at this point have built up an entire system of common beliefs and don't even realize it yet. Many of them are incorrect, like thinking technology will eventually solve most of our bigger problems (someday!) instead of people needing to adjust their expectations about the future.
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Then linking to Huffpost =
200.gif
 
"atheist churches"?

sounds like a bunch of mustachioed fixy-riders with their cup of Philz coffee, trying to form a club. Not so much atheists.
 
To reiterate what I have been typing for years. Religion will continue to adapt to science. It is the primary reason it will continue to shrink until it is no more relevant or seriously taken by 1st world societies than a bronies club.

The choice is adhere to ancient texts, as many do now. Or adapt religious doctrine to be more compatible, and constantly reframe the format you present your faith in. Both are doomed in this, the information age.

It is good to read the reasons the religious here are bitter. The internet, a tool you thought would let you spread your gospel more effectively than ever, has turned out to be your worst enemy. The free exchange of thoughts, ideals, and information has provided the tools for the brainwashed/indoctrinated to see what they were taught by religion from another perspective. And you are indeed losing to cats and bacon.

And yes education is key alright. Problem is, the resources available now make the religion centric teachings from your private educational system far less effective. You are losing the battle for mindshare. And yes, bacon and cats are among the many kicking your asses for it. I say that with tongue firmly planted in cheek. But there is a amusing idea, that your gods cannot even hold sway over felines and cured pork bellies.

The most honest one though, is fear, even terror driving the need for religion. Fear of death, fear of life, fear, fear, fear. Be a god fearing man. What a silly idea.
 
Retro Rob said:
I didn't murder 3 Muslims...one of ya'll did.
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Do you really want to get into modern day atheist killing because of atheism versus religious killing because of religion? How long did it take you to find those 3 because I guarantee you that I can find 3 from today in mere seconds.
 
I don't care much about religions but I do find it appalling that so many christians openly hate on gay's knowing that if you changed the words "gays" to say "blacks" for example then it would be interpreted quite differently, especially with the media despite the fact that it's the same type of bigotry. Hate is hate.
 
Good, it means people are starting to realize that the vast majority of the worlds problems spawn from religious dogshit
 
Notice that evangelicals are dropping off the slowest; it should be obvious, but with all the comments about oh merciful science and oh the enlightening of mankind, it's like people don't realize that these are casual, cultural Christians that identify only because of the social benefits of doing so. The fundamentalists are going to be around much longer. This is also why most other religions are unaffected; people from other countries and religious backgrounds have greater social need to hold onto that to maintain their identity and family contacts, even if they're not fundamentalists. If you're a middle class WASP that identifies as little more than American, that's all you need.
 
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disappoint said:
I have a question for the theists.

Suppose there is a God, and you leave this mortal coil tomorrow and you happen upon the pearly gates. You have an interview with your creator and he says to you that he is disappointed that you wasted so much time worshiping him and asking him for favors instead of doing something more productive like helping those less fortunate than yourself or improving yourself. Suppose he says if he wanted you to to spend all this time on worshiping him he would have made this abundantly clear and undebatable, unambiguous as belief in a tree. Surely there are no people debating whether trees exist, are there?

You're in luck though, because next he says that he will send you back to earth to live out the rest of your life as if this unfortunate incident that caused your untimely demise never happened.

What would you do with the time you have left now that you have all this extra free time no longer devoted to spiritual pursuits?
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What you don't understand is that religious organisations ( Theists ) do more to assist their fellow man than atheists. By Far.

All I have to say is lots of people are going to be shocked when they die and realise they are in Hell. :|
 
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these stats are misleading since these are self-identification based polls and the meaning of religious affiliation changes with the culture.

In Azerbaijan almost everyone in the mainstream population is nominally muslim but if you word questions differently in polls (i.e. importance of religion in your daily life, do you attend services etc.), you find out that it's the least religious muslim country there is.
 
pcgeek11 said:
What you don't understand is that religious organisations ( Theists ) do more to assist their fellow man than atheists. By Far.

All I have to say is lots of people are going to be shocked when they die and realise they are in Hell. :|
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^^ This right here is what makes the religious often look like retards in the eyes of non-believers. The religious will reach out to help others in a material fashion (and many religious folks really do) while at the same time concocting scenes of horrible eternal damnation and suffering for all who don't share similar fantasies of horrible eternal suffering for folks who refuse to imagine scenes of eternal suffering. Why not just act with compassion and skip the sadistic fantasy life?
 
HeXen said:
I don't care much about religions but I do find it appalling that so many christians openly hate on gay's knowing that if you changed the words "gays" to say "blacks" for example then it would be interpreted quite differently, especially with the media despite the fact that it's the same type of bigotry. Hate is hate.
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How about the Atheist or Non-religious that openly hate on the religious... Much like yourself and many on the forum. It is the same thing.
 
pcgeek11 said:
What you don't understand is that religious organisations ( Theists ) do more to assist their fellow man than atheists. By Far.

All I have to say is lots of people are going to be shocked when they die and realise they are in Hell. :|
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They do it out of the fear of damnation. That's not the definition of "good".

An atheist dues it for no other reason than kindness (or an honest tax deduction lol).
 
davmat787 said:
You mean like Georges Lemaître (Big Bang Theory anyone?), and many other scientific luminaries who also happen to be religious? I am not religious myself, but this attitude of yours that is becoming more and more common is very uninformed and simply wrong in this case. It's depressing. 🙄

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Lemaître
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Sure, there are scientists that believe. Most of them don't. Here's some backup since no one here likes backing up their "beliefs".

http://www.pewforum.org/2009/11/05/scientists-and-belief/
 
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