NationStates Jolt Archive

Do you think that there will be more people that don't believe in Religion at the end of this century then at the end of the last one? If so do you think that there will be more people of the non-faith then of the faithful?

I think by the end of the century, there will still be more people who are religious. I believe there is about 20% of the world's population that is non-religious.

Do you think that there will be more people that don't believe in Religion at the end of this century then at the end of the last one? If so do you think that there will be more people of the non-faith then of the faithful?

I think it will about the same. I mean, its not like NS General is going to convert many people. People are brought by religious people, can go to religious schools, there are so many factors that its impossible to say.

1780 Man burned to death in Spain for sourcery.

1873 Luthern minister publishes book in America saying that the notion that the earth goes around the sun is sinful.

1917-1945 Surge in religion as both facist and Marxist-Lenninism heresies of Christianty spread.

2000 In all first world countries except United States religon now reduced to level of hobby.

2030 Islamic reformation complete. Rise of Islamochristians.

2035 Terrorist acts performed by Islamochristians discredit religous thought thoughout world.

2044 Vactican IV declares mass orgies okay, draws line at having sex with own clone.

2053 Vatican purchased by Eurodisneyland.

2073 Religious nostalgia revival results in Dogma Parties gaining in popularity. They invaribly degenerate into mass orgies, however.

2077 Religous studies now subsumed under history.

2100 Aliens convert earths entire population to their religion using a combination of mind control and anal probing.

Religion has it's place, for various reasons, but mainly for those who need something to explain the unexplained, and to provide morals for life.

So I think there will always be religion, although it may fluctuate in popularity, depending on how many people are given a scientific education, and how readily available it becomes.

I'm not religious, although, you could call science my religion, and I have my own set of morals that I stick by, which have strong links with many religions, mainly Christianity, because of a loose Protestant upbringing. There will always be believers and unbelievers, depending on the level of education that people have, for example Medieval English Peasants only had the Church for an education, so they believed entirely in Heaven and Hell.

For those who study science in relative detail, such as biology, physics, and perhaps more importantly, archaeology, you can see that there have been innumerable religions, the Iron Age "Water Cults", and the Druids, and before then, in the Neolithic, they appear to be heavily into ancestor worship. And that's only Britain. From this, no religion has ever been more successful than the other, and any stand out perhaps in terms of how prolific they were, or whether they were particularly brutal. But never for being more "right" than the last.

I seriously believe that a belief system similar to what I have adopted will be the norm by the end of the century. Agnostic. The order of the universe lends itself to some sort of plan, but it's becoming more evident that the religions of today cannot successfully explain everything, that they don't have a true grasp on the big picture.

A wise man believes that there is some sort of unifying force in this universe but recognizes his incapacity to grasp or percieve it correctly.

Aside from the debate of whether or not god exists, we have to remember that religion is a separate entity from god. Religion is a human construct, the inspiration for which being subjective - either you believe that god exists or you don't.

Since religion is a human construct, it is subject to change. We have observed this in the development of the Christian church and its subsets (Catholic, Protestant) , the Judaic faith and its subsets (Hasidic, Masorti), the Islamic faith and its subsets (Sunni, Shiite). Whether divinely inspired or not, religion is subject to evolution like other sociocultural construct. With opportunities for dissemination of religious philosophy, religions can adopt ideas from each other.

That said, I think that the proportion of individuals who need religion in their life shall continue to exist, just as those who don't need religion shall continue to exist. Religion may change, but it will always be necessary.

Why does Religion have to be necessary?

I believe there is about 20% of the world's population that is non-religious.

aye, and they are mostly concentrated in some places like belgium :p.

seriously, i know very few people of my age that say they are religious, and even less that will not just say they are it and will also pray and go to church. While i believe that most of our population isn't religious at the moment, the part of it that is religious will die in the next 50 years, with most of them dying in the next 15 years. Enter a random church in belgium and you'll see that the average age is 60-70.

There will be many more people that aren't religious as well as that are, since the world population is still booming.

I think that religion will still be around in about the same numbers as it is today. Wheter or not its the same big 3 as today is open for debate however.

Why does Religion have to be necessary?
I was speaking from a wholistic perspective. As long as there are human beings who require structured religions through which they can sate their need for spiritual fulfilment, religion will always be necessary. It may not be necessary for you, or for me, but it is necessary for a proportion of the population, and thus will never completely be out of vogue.

Why does Religion have to be necessary?

Because some people need answers and reassurance. Alternatives like science cannot provide all those answers they seek (or like), nor is it likely it will since questions like "is there a God" cannot be answered through the scientific method. The overwhelming majority of people also do not have the capacity to comprehend some of the more advanced theories - while religion in basis is very simple.

Do you think that there will be more people that don't believe in Religion at the end of this century then at the end of the last one? If so do you think that there will be more people of the non-faith then of the faithful?
I suspect, although I obviously have no way of knowing, that more people will be spiritual by the end of the Century, but fewer who are "religious" in the traditional sense. ( At least I HOPE so! ) :)

If you're just talking about Europe and North America, then the number of religious believers might have fallen by the end of the century. If you're talking worldwide, this is very unlikely.
Christianity is still huge in South America, in Central and Southern Africa, in China, in the Far East. Islam has North Africa, the Middle East, most of Indonesia. There's over 750,000,000 Hindus in India!
Here in the West, we're living in a bubble of secularism that is not representative of worldwide trends. Christianity is spreading so fast in China that the structures of the "Underground Church" can barely cope.
When the bubble might burst, I don't know.

Define "religion", please.

Does "religion" mean, believing in a god or several gods? If so, you can count our most of Buddhism, as they don't follow god, rather an enlightened human being.

Does "religion" mean believing in things you can't prove? That would quailfy all of mankind at the moments, both atheists and non-atheists, as everybody tends to believe in things that cannot be proven (evolution is a theory, not fact. Political structures like communism function as substitude for faith, patriotism seems in some countries to inspire the same kind of fanatism as religion...)

Or does "religion" mean something completely different?

I think even Jesus Christ wasn't much of a fan of religion.

In the west, it's already dead. Won't make it another twenty years. It's been pushed out of American life rather successfully, and no one noticed.

Drudiville are you a Athiest or some other faith?

Education and religion move inversely amongst a population. As the economic development becomes more pervasive, education will grow, and religion will diminish.