Non-believers world

ArmCandyBaby

What does the world look like after everyone has stopped believing in God?

• If religious holidays disappear, what sort of non-religious holidays replace them (national, community, family etc.) or do we have to suck it up and work more?
• Are the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus strong enough to hold the fort on their own or do Christmas/Festive Season and Lent/Easter disappear?
• What happens to weddings? They're not very religious now so would it stay on in their present form?
• A lot of very good charities and schools are run on a religious basis - does anything change here?
• Do we still have weekends?
• Will stripping the masses of the "do bad and go to hell, do good and go to heaven" outlook change the nature of society?
• What else would change?

I've thought about this a little but can't come up with anything of value so I'd like to get other peoples opinions. Apologies if this has been done before.

ChocolateSauce

http://www.ebonmusings.org/atheism/ruletheworld.html

Is a fairly good essay on what it might or should be like.

Overblood

Less abused/raped Irish children.

pH

ArmCandyBaby wrote: »

What does the world look like after everyone has stopped believing in God?

Pretty similar to the how the UK and lots of northern Europe look now.

Overblood

Did I mention less raped babies?

Dades

Overblood wrote: »

Did I mention less raped babies?

Yeah you did, and the next time you'll be ejected.

Some people may want to actually discuss the question.

ChocolateSauce

God bless the unfaithful northern Europeans! They provide a model for the rest of the world to follow.

Overblood

pH wrote: »

Pretty similar to the how the UK and lots of northern Europe look now.

Doesn't the UK have a fairly high (and growing) muslim poulation now?

mickeydevine

ArmCandyBaby wrote: »

What does the world look like after everyone has stopped believing in God?

• If religious holidays disappear, what sort of non-religious holidays replace them (national, community, family etc.) or do we have to suck it up and work more?
• Are the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus strong enough to hold the fort on their own or do Christmas/Festive Season and Lent/Easter disappear?
• What happens to weddings? They're not very religious now so would it stay on in their present form?
• A lot of very good charities and schools are run on a religious basis - does anything change here?
• Do we still have weekends?
• Will stripping the masses of the "do bad and go to hell, do good and go to heaven" outlook change the nature of society?
• What else would change?

I've thought about this a little but can't come up with anything of value so I'd like to get other peoples opinions. Apologies if this has been done before.

1. We'd work less cause we could do more of what we enjoy without feeling guilty about it.
2. Christmas is a religious holiday, are you sure? Thought it was a retail invention.
3. You can get married wherever you want now, even the pub (classy) and a priest will do it for the cash no doubt.
4. Less time in religion class, more in physics.
5. Er, of course cause it'll still be the end of the week.
6. Only if your a psycho whose religion keeps you from embarking on a murderous rampage.
7. Dunno.

seanybiker

I would still be doing the exact same as I am doing now. Going to the pub and not wasting(imo) time in mass.
If everyone took their religion seriously there would be billions of babies in ireland. No contraceptives allowed and the likes.
Woo emmerdale is on ill be back .

Zombrex

• If religious holidays disappear, what sort of non-religious holidays replace them (national, community, family etc.) or do we have to suck it up and work more? We keep the holidays, most "religious" holidays are merely cultural now anyway, such as Christmas
• Are the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus strong enough to hold the fort on their own or do Christmas/Festive Season and Lent/Easter disappear?
  Yes - I'm not sure anyone seriously associates them with religion any more, bit like the holidays
• What happens to weddings? They're not very religious now so would it stay on in their present form?
  No - The present form contains a lot of religious ritual, without religion weddings would take on a much more free flow form, basically being what the people want rather than that the church says.
• A lot of very good charities and schools are run on a religious basis - does anything change here?
  No - The idea that the charities disappear only works if one assumes that these people are only doing good out of religious need. I would believe that this isn't true, that without religion they would still wish to help others
• Do we still have weekends?
  Yes - Weekends are so culturally entwined with us that they have almost zero religious significance any more.
• Will stripping the masses of the "do bad and go to hell, do good and go to heaven" outlook change the nature of society?
  Yes - I would cause people to reevaluate why they believe things, they won't be able to run to the church to justify beliefs.

Charlie3dan

Something not mentioned by the OP is sexual behavior. No other institution attempts to influence sexual behavior in the way the church/ religion does.

Without their influence do people think sexual behaviors’ would change?
The church take a firm stance on things like adultery, sexual orientation, sexual practices etc. What would happen without their influence?

Look at changes in attitude in modern society.
-Some of the UK's biggest TV personalities are openly gay, extremely camp and explicit. (Gok Wan, Allan Carr, Graham Norton).
-A multitude of sexual preferences and fetishes are catered for.
-Blurring gender lines like the "man" giving birth example last year.

Now I think atheists agree that morals are not formed by religion, however, in world where religion doesn't interfere in sexual behavior and where sexual attitudes continue to become more liberal, would sexual practices change?


Of course some huge benefits would exist, without religions influence there would be an immediate end to things like genital mutilation that still exist in some faiths for example.

Galvasean

ArmCandyBaby wrote: »

[*]What else would change?
[/LIST]

- Condoms for Africa
- Less opposition to the theory of evolution

Everything else I can think of has been mentioned.

ebmma

Civil ceremonies for weddings have no religious component. Doesn't make it less meaningless imo.
At least for me and a bunch of other people I know who didn't marry in church.

Goduznt Xzst

The religion & spirituality forum and its sub-forums will be merged under Mythology. There will no longer be a need for the Atheism and Agnosticism forum but it will archived under mythology regardless as an example of a simpler time when, only in the case of religion, the lack of a persons participation in it was reason enough to have a forum to discuss there reasons for not participating.

Dades will be out of a job

Dades

Goduznt Xzst wrote: »

Dades will be out of a job

Surely the Museum of Religion will need a curator!