Changing Demographics

[Jonathan H. B. Lobl]

 

 

 

[Jonathan H. B. Lobl]

 

 

 

[Jonathan H. B. Lobl]

 

 

NONRELIGIOUS

Watching Religion Die

 SEPTEMBER 14, 2020 BY ADAM LEE

 

  4 COMMENTS

 

 

By James A. Haught

Religion is fading more quickly in the United States than in any other nation, according to a forthcoming research book.

Religion’s Sudden Decline: What’s Causing It and What Comes Next, by University of Michigan scholar Ronald Inglehart, is to be released in January by Oxford University Press. Writing in Foreign Affairs magazine – in an advance summary titled “Giving Up on God: The Global Decline of Religion” – Dr. Inglehart said:

“The most dramatic shift away from religion has taken place among the American public. From 1981 to 2007, the United States ranked as one of the world’s more religious countries, with religiosity levels changing very little. Since then, the United States has shown the largest move away from religion of any country for which we have data.”

 

A profound cultural transformation is in progress – mostly happening quietly out of sight, little-noticed in daily life. Old supernatural beliefs are vanishing among intelligent, educated, science-minded western people, especially the young. Religion is shriveling into the realm of myth and fantasy. Here are some indicators:

Almost two-thirds of teens who grow up in a church drop out of religion in their twenties, according to both Barna and LifeWay surveys.

The number of Americans who say their religion is “none” began to explode in the 1990s – rising to one-tenth of the population, then climbing relentlessly to one-fourth. Among those under thirty, “nones” now are forty percent.

American church membership fell twenty percent in the past two decades, according to Gallup research. Southern Baptists dropped two million members since 2005.

Tall-steeple Protestant “mainline” denominations have suffered worst. United Methodists fell from 11 million in 1969 to below 7 million today – while America’s population almost doubled. Evangelical Lutherans dropped from 5.3 million in 1987 to 3.4 million now. The Presbyterian Church USA had 3.2 million in 1982 but now is around 1.3 million. The Episcopal Church went from 3.4 million in the 1960s to 1.7 million now.

 

These highbrow mainline faiths with seminary-educated ministers once drew public respect. But religion is shifting to lowbrow, emotional worship that is less admirable. One-fourth of the world’s Christians now “speak in tongues,” researchers say. Christianity is moving from advanced, prosperous, northern nations to the less-developed tropics. It’s going from respected to pathetic.

Retreat of churchgoing in America may undercut the Republican Party, which depends on white evangelicals as the heart of its base. In contrast, godless Americans tend to be compassionate progressives who have become the largest faith segment in the Democratic Party. The loss of religion may shift national political values to the left.

Personally, I hope the Secular Age continues snowballing until supernatural religion becomes only an embarrassing fringe. After all, belief in gods, devils, heavens, hells, miracles, visions, prophecies and the rest of dogma is extremely questionable. It’s all a fantasy, a bunch of falsehoods, as far as any science-minded person can tell. It lacks factual evidence. The more religion declines, the more integrity is gained by society.

Come to think of it, maybe there’s a correlation: White evangelicals swallow the falsehoods of faith – and they swallow the notorious falsehoods of President Trump. Psychology researchers should study this gullibility pattern.

 

(Haught is editor emeritus of West Virginia’s largest newspaper, The Charleston Gazette-Mail, and a senior editor of Free Inquiry magazine. He has written 12 books and 150 magazine essays. As a blogger at a dozen websites, he has 1,200 essays online.)

Image credit: Pasquale Paolo Cardo, released under CC BY 2.0 license

•  

Edited September 14, 2020 by Jonathan H. B. Lobl

[RevBogovac]

13 hours ago, Jonathan H. B. Lobl said:

Quote

[...] Come to think of it, maybe there’s a correlation: White evangelicals swallow the falsehoods of faith – and they swallow the notorious falsehoods of President Trump. Psychology researchers should study this gullibility pattern. [By James A. Haught][...]

 

 

But is it gullibility or plain self interest...?

[Jonathan H. B. Lobl]

12 minutes ago, RevBogovac said:

 

But is it gullibility or plain self interest...?

 

 

To my understanding, it comes down to conditioning.  People are trained, from early childhood, to believe.  To disregard evidence and facts and simply believe impossible nonsense.  When these reality impaired children become adults -- they are conditioned to believe falsehoods.  They lack critical thinking skills.  They can be lied to by politicians and they have no defense.  People who are conditioned, to accept the Bible as true and literal, are ready to believe a liar like President Trump.  Because facts don't matter.  Only belief is important -- and they are free to choose what they believe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jonathan H. B. Lobl]

 

 

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NONRELIGIOUS

Good news: Religion is fast going down the tubes in America

 SEPTEMBER 14, 2020 BY BARRY DUKE

 

  11 COMMENTS

 

 

 

Image via YouTube

 

ONE of the world’s leading social scientists – Ronald Inglehart, above, of the University of Michigan – claims in a book soon to be published that the United States is experiencing a more dramatic shift away from religion than any other nation.

 

Religion’s Sudden Decline: What’s Causing It and What Comes Next is to be released in January by Oxford University Press. Writing in Foreign Affairs magazine – in an advance summary titled “Giving Up on God: The Global Decline of Religion” – Dr Inglehart said:

Growing numbers of people no longer find religion a necessary source of support and meaning in their lives. Even the United States – long cited as proof that an economically advanced society can be strongly religious – has now joined other wealthy countries in moving away from religion.

Several forces are driving this trend, but the most powerful one is the waning hold of a set of beliefs closely linked to the imperative of maintaining high birthrates. Modern societies have become less religious in part because they no longer need to uphold the kinds of gender and sexual norms that the major world religions have instilled for centuries.

Although some religious conservatives warn that the retreat from faith will lead to a collapse of social cohesion and public morality, the evidence doesn’t support this claim. As unexpected as it may seem, countries that are less religious actually tend to be less corrupt and have lower murder rates than more religious ones.

Needless to say, religion itself doesn’t encourage corruption and crime. This phenomenon reflects the fact that as societies develop, survival becomes more secure: starvation, once pervasive, becomes uncommon; life expectancy increases; murder and other forms of violence diminish. And as this level of security rises, people tend to become less religious. 

 

He points points out that:

The most dramatic shift away from religion has taken place among the American public.  From 1981 to 2007, the United States ranked as one of the world’s more religious countries, with religiosity levels changing very little.  Since then, the United States has shown the largest move away from religion of any country for which we have data.

Trump and the Republican Party are driving people away from religion

Inglehart  says that other factors beyond rising levels of economic and technological development help explain the waning of religion.

In the United States, politics accounts for some of the decline. Since the 1990s, the Republican Party has sought to win support by adopting conservative Christian positions on same-sex marriage, abortion, and other cultural issues. But this political appeal to religious voters has had the corollary effect of pushing other voters, especially those who are young and culturally liberal, away from religion.

A typical Trump supporter. Renowned writer H L Mencken coined a phrase for people like him: Boobus americanus. Image via YouTube.

Commenting on Inglehart’s finding, James Haught, editor emeritus of West Virginia’s largest newspaper, The Charleston Gazette-Mail and author of 12 books, said:

Retreat of churchgoing in America may undercut the Republican Party, which depends on white evangelicals as the heart of its base.  In contrast, godless Americans tend to be compassionate progressives who have become the largest faith segment in the Democratic Party. The loss of religion may shift national political values to the left.

Personally, I hope the Secular Age continues snowballing until supernatural religion becomes only an embarrassing fringe. After all, belief in gods, devils, heavens, hells, miracles, visions, prophecies and the rest of dogma is extremely questionable.  It’s all a fantasy, a bunch of falsehoods, as far as any science-minded person can tell.  It lacks factual evidence.  The more religion declines, the more integrity is gained by society.

Come to think of it, maybe there’s a correlation:  White evangelicals swallow the falsehoods of faith – and they swallow the notorious falsehoods of President Trump.  Psychology researchers should study this gullibility pattern.

 

“The Happiness Researcher”, as Inglehart is known, celebrated his 80th birthday in 2014. In a piece published to mark the occasion, he was quoted as saying:

There are two paths to personal happiness. One is tied up with traditional religions, the other with achieving material well being. Did you know that the happiest people in the world are in Denmark and Sweden – these are countries where secular values and the desire for self-fulfillment predominate.

The fact that these countries are leaders indicate that even harsh winters can’t stop people feeling happy.

A 2018 United Nations study showed that Finland had overtaken Norway to become the happiest nation on earth, according to Christian Today that said it was “striking” that:

The happiest 10 countries in the world are also among the least religious. Equally the most unhappy countries in the world are also among the most religious.

 

The ten happiest countries from the 2018 report are below, with the percentage of the population who say religion is important to them in brackets, if the data is available.

• Finland (28 per cent)

• Norway (21 per cent)

• Denmark (19 per cent)

• Iceland (N/A)

• Switzerland (41 per cent)

• Netherlands (33 per cent)

• Canada (42 per cent)

• New Zealand (33 per cent)

• Sweden (17 per cent)

• Australia (55 per cent)

When compared with the world’s unhappiest countries it is clear they tend to come from poorer nations with lower average incomes and less access to social support and a lower life expectancy. They also tend to say religion is more important in their daily life.

• Malawi (96 per cent)
1

• Haiti (75 per cent)


• Liberia (94 per cent)


• Syria (89 per cent)


• Rwanda (95 per cent)


• Yemen (99 per cent)


• Tanzania (89 per cent)


• South Sudan (93 per cent)


• Central African Republic (94 per cent)


• Burundi (98 per cent)

 

• Please report any typos/errors to barry@freethinker.co.uk

If you’d like to buy me a cup of coffee – and boy, do I get through a LOT of coffee keeping this site active – please click the link below.

 

Edited September 15, 2020 by Jonathan H. B. Lobl

[Jonathan H. B. Lobl]

 

 

 

[RevBogovac]

23 hours ago, Jonathan H. B. Lobl said:

To my understanding, it comes down to conditioning.  [...]

 

Yes, so there is an interaction between gullibility and self interest then...?

 

20 hours ago, Jonathan H. B. Lobl said:

Good news: Religion is fast going down the tubes in America [...]

 

So, there is hope...? 

[Jonathan H. B. Lobl]

3 hours ago, RevBogovac said:

Yes, so there is an interaction between gullibility and self interest then...?

 

So, there is hope...? 

 

 

Yes, so there is an interaction between gullibility and self interest then...?

 

These "self interest" issues tend to be religious agenda.  For instance, the "right" to restrict the human rights of gay people.  Or the "right" to insert Creationism, into the Science program of secular schools.  A key feature of these "self interests" is the "right" to damage the lives of others.

 

So, there is hope...? 

 

There is always hope.  In my own lifetime, I have seen changes, that I never thought I would live to see.

 

1.  Homosexuality used to be a mental illness, according to the official diagnostic manuals.  Now, we have marriage equality.  Religion seems to be the only source of opposition.

 

2.  Smoking used to be cool.  Now, it is considered disgusting.  A major cultural shift.

 

I think this is likely the future of authoritarian religion.  It won't be outlawed.  The majority, will simply come to think of it as silly.  Like Flat Earthers, the religious will be disdained as lunatic fringe.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 16, 2020 by Jonathan H. B. Lobl

[Jonathan H. B. Lobl]

 

 

 

[Dan56]

3 hours ago, Jonathan H. B. Lobl said:

 

 

 

 

The decline is actually a prophecy that would precede the second coming of Christ. As Paul put it; "That day shall not come, except there come a falling away first." (2 Thessalonians 2:3).

How about that, you've meticulously documented the evidence that you often seek, the bible said it would happen and you've inadvertently proved it to be true.   

[Jonathan H. B. Lobl]

18 minutes ago, Dan56 said:

 

The decline is actually a prophecy that would precede the second coming of Christ. As Paul put it; "That day shall not come, except there come a falling away first." (2 Thessalonians 2:3).

How about that, you've meticulously documented the evidence that you often seek, the bible said it would happen and you've inadvertently proved it to be true.   

 

You're still quoting Scripture -- at me?  What ever, Dude.  Have fun.     

 

1. Proverbs 26:11
   As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly.

   In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations

    
2. 2 Peter 2:22
   Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,” and, “A sow that is washed returns to her wallowing in the mud.”

   In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations

    

    

    

Edited September 18, 2020 by Jonathan H. B. Lobl

[Jonathan H. B. Lobl]

 

 

 

[Jonathan H. B. Lobl]

 

 

 

[Jonathan H. B. Lobl]

 

 

 

[Jonathan H. B. Lobl]

Islam is also expanding.

 

 

 

 

Edited September 22, 2020 by Jonathan H. B. Lobl

[RevBogovac]

11 hours ago, Jonathan H. B. Lobl said:

Islam is also expanding. [...]

 

I find that more worrying...

 

[Jonathan H. B. Lobl]

13 minutes ago, RevBogovac said:

 

I find that more worrying...

 

 

 

Islam is no more a monolith than is Christianity.  In Iraq, the Sunni and Shia militants seem to take more joy in killing each other, than outsiders.  It is also a mistake, to assume that everyone in a Muslim dominant culture is religious.  Atheists tend to be smart enough, to know when to stay in the closet.

 

Be patient.  Reality will prevail.  When the fanatics take over, no one is ever pure enough.  The madness consumes itself.

 

 

 

 

 

[Jonathan H. B. Lobl]

 

 

[RevBogovac]

20 hours ago, Jonathan H. B. Lobl said:

Islam is no more a monolith than is Christianity.  In Iraq, the Sunni and Shia militants seem to take more joy in killing each other, than outsiders.  It is also a mistake, to assume that everyone in a Muslim dominant culture is religious.  Atheists tend to be smart enough, to know when to stay in the closet.

 

Be patient.  Reality will prevail.  When the fanatics take over, no one is ever pure enough.  The madness consumes itself.

 

 

I've seen my fair share of collateral damage in Yugoslavia from it... that (collateral damage) is the more worrying part.