ALarson Posted April 28, 2015 Posted April 28, 2015 I don't see that this has been posted here and I hope it's ok to post the link (from The Wall Street Journal): http://www.wsj.com/articles/why-the-future-of-religion-is-bleak-1430104785 Today one of the largest categories of religious affiliation in the world—with more than a billion people—is no religion at all, the “Nones.” One out of six Americans is already a None; by 2050, the figure will be one out of four, according to a new Pew Research Center study. Churches are being closed by the hundreds, deconsecrated and rehabilitated as housing, offices, restaurants and the like, or just abandoned.If this trend continues, religion largely will evaporate, at least in the West. Pockets of intense religious activity may continue, made up of people who will be more sharply differentiated from most of society in attitudes and customs, a likely source of growing tension and conflict.Could anything turn this decline around? Yes, unfortunately. A global plague, a world war fought over water or oil, the collapse of the Internet (and thereby almost all electronic communication) or some as-yet unimagined catastrophe could throw the remaining population into misery and fear, the soil in which religion flourishes best. I found the article to be interesting and Mormons are even mentioned:Laughter is particularly subversive. A Mormon watching the episode of “South Park” that lampoons the Church of Latter-day Saints doesn’t just see some outsiders poking fun at her religion. She learns that vast numbers of people find her religion comical, preposterous, ludicrous, as confirmed by the writers’ decision to belittle it and the networks’ decision to broadcast it. This may heighten her loyalty, but it also may shake her confidence, and as soon as she even entertains the hypothesis that belief in God might be a life-enhancing illusion, not a rock-solid truth, she is on the slippery slope.
ALarson Posted April 28, 2015 Author Posted April 28, 2015 Hey mods, this is a duplicate thread. Can you delete one of them? Thanks!!!
rpn Posted April 28, 2015 Posted April 28, 2015 I wasn't impressed by the logic, but I do wonder how the stone rolling forth will overcome the headwinds.
cinepro Posted April 28, 2015 Posted April 28, 2015 The author is woefully uninformed about South Park.
ALarson Posted April 28, 2015 Author Posted April 28, 2015 The author is woefully uninformed about South Park.Now, that's funny Didn't the creators of South Park also write the Broadway musical "The Book of Mormon"?
Avatar4321 Posted May 2, 2015 Posted May 2, 2015 Seems to me you shouldn't make conclusions on the future of religion based on where in the pride cycle you are. 3
Teancum Posted May 2, 2015 Posted May 2, 2015 Seems to me you shouldn't make conclusions on the future of religion based on where in the pride cycle you are.Who?
why me Posted May 2, 2015 Posted May 2, 2015 I don't see that this has been posted here and I hope it's ok to post the link (from The Wall Street Journal): http://www.wsj.com/articles/why-the-future-of-religion-is-bleak-1430104785 I found the article to be interesting and Mormons are even mentioned:The future of religion is not bleak but the future of christianity may seem just a little bleaker, especially in the west. Islam and other faiths are not showing signs of weakness among the faithful. And islam is certainly the fastest growing faith. It is also a faith that tolerates no criticism or investigation into its truth claims. Nor does it tolerate any criticism of the koran. And it sends out strong messages to the people that do. However, with christianity anyone is free to punch holes in christianity and are allowed to attempt to cast doubt in people's minds. Mormonism is certainly one of those christian faiths where people are free to punch holes in the book of mormon and into the life of its first prophet. For sure, this would affect mormons and allow doubt to seep in. But other faith traditions (outside of christianity) would not allow such things to occur.
mfbukowski Posted May 4, 2015 Posted May 4, 2015 (edited) We are, technically, theistic materialist humanists. If God is understood as being human and that human values are God's values, we have a shot at giving something to these folks http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/25/opinion/religion-without-god.html?_r=0 The problem is not God but the classic understanding of who God is. God is not a three in one cloud of who knows what, but a glorified human, who has asked to be our Friend. We just need a dialog with theistic humanists. Essentially we worship the Man of Holiness. We worship the Ideal Man. Our conception of God teaches us to be the best human beings we can possibly be. We offer a social "trinity" in which all our community participates. We are one family with God "Be all you can be" on steroids! That is exaltation! Who can argue that mankind needs ideals? Dawkins himself has said he would believe a religion in which God is a "Friend". So does Rorty. We could be very close to these folks: Religion is fundamentally a practice that helps people to look at the world as it is and yet to experience it — to some extent, in some way — as it should be. Much of what people actually do in church — finding fellowship, celebrating birth and marriage, remembering those we have lost, affirming the values we cherish — can be accomplished with a sense of God as metaphor, as story, or even without any mention of God at all.Yet religion without God may be more poignant. Atheists trust in human relations, not supernatural ones, and humans are not so good at delivering the world as it should be. Perhaps that is why we are moved by Christmas carols, which conjure up the world as it can be and not the world we know. Edited May 4, 2015 by mfbukowski
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