Huff post article : Atheism to Defeat Religion By 2038

Yavvy

Thats good news - not quick enough in my opinion but progress none the less

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nigel-barber/atheism-to-defeat-religion-by-2038_b_1565108.html

Most interesting in this article is that loss of religion is directly related to loss of fear

Cabaal

While atheism might become a majority in some countrys, religion will never not exist because ignorance will always exist and religion fills a handy gap when ignorance and lack of knowledge exists.

Science could prove 100% how the universe was created and how life on earth was created with all the proof in the world and it wouldn't matter.

You'd still have people that would say "god did it", its no different to now when you have people that believe the earth is the center of the universe and the sun goes around the earth.

antiskeptic

Cabaal wrote: »

Science could prove 100% how the universe was created and how life on earth was created with all the proof in the world and you wouldn't matter.

That sounds suspiciously like a statement of faith rather than fact..[/QUOTE]

robindch

antiskeptic wrote: »

That sounds suspiciously like a statement of faith rather than fact.

No, it's a prediction concerning the behaviour of religious people.

You should open your mind a little -- there do exist things in this universe which are not "statements of faith".

FouxDaFaFa

"Defeat" makes it sound like it's some kind of competition.
Who cares if people are religious? The only time I find religion annoying is when it is used to hurt others or to impose its teachings on me through law.

I think humanity will always be religious. Probably to a smaller extent in the future but there will always be religion.

I'm watching Battlestar Galactica at the moment and a lot of them are religious. I think that's all the proof we need.

Weathering

Article seems like bs to me and why does anyone care. Why should it matter to you OP if someone is or isn't Religious? How sad. If I was religious I'd pray for you

Cabaal

FouxDaFaFa wrote: »

"Defeat" makes it sound like it's some kind of competition.
Who cares if people are religious? The only time I find religion annoying is when it is used to hurt others or to impose its teachings on me through law.

Thats the thing,
I don't think a large or largish religious group are capable of not trying to force their views onto people that don't believe in their god,

Thats the problem with having a god who is 100% right, you believe your views are also right and as such others should live their life by these views and "teachings". This is especially the case when your god (some guy wrote this) tells you to spread the word.

I'm watching Battlestar Galactica at the moment and a lot of them are religious. I think that's all the proof we need.

BSG doesn't prove anything about our future,

FouxDaFaFa

Cabaal wrote: »

Thats the thing,
I don't think a large or largish religious group are capable of not trying to force their views onto people that don't believe in their god,

Thats the problem with having a god who is 100% right, you believe your views are also right and as such others should live their life by these views and "teachings". This is especially the case when your god (some guy wrote this) tells you to spread the word

It's a fair point but I would predict that as religious belief declines and there's a greater desire for secular government (even among some religious who are less zealous) it will be harder for religious people to join together and form one cohesive argument or set of belief systems. It will fragment, even more than it has now.

Brian Shanahan

robindch wrote: »

You should open your mind a little -- there do exist things in this universe which are not "statements of faith".

According to antiskeptic the only statement which is not a "statement of faith" is "goddidit".

Yavvy

Weathering wrote: »

Article seems like bs to me and why does anyone care. Why should it matter to you OP if someone is or isn't Religious? How sad. If I was religious I'd pray for you

Peoples personal belief system isn't my concern at all, but its the prevalence of organized religion in politics and decision making and general public concerns. I just returned from Canada and felt the influence of North American relergiourness.

Im looking forward to a time when politicians can be openly secular (cause right now they absolutly cannot) Further more I look forward to a time when religion no longer takes a disproportionate amount of consideration in policy and procedure.

by all means pray for me.. it really doenst matter if you are religious, the effect shall be the same

shruikan2553

The using of the question "is religion important in your life" would make Ireland meet their requirements so I wouldnt pay too much attention to it.

Kidchameleon

Yavvy wrote: »

Most interesting in this article is that loss of religion is directly related to loss of fear

I feared I would miss the Luas today but I didn't become religious as a result

Geomy

Cabaal wrote: »

While atheism might become a majority in some countrys, religion will never not exist because ignorance will always exist and religion fills a handy gap when ignorance and lack of knowledge exists.

Science could prove 100% how the universe was created and how life on earth was created with all the proof in the world and it wouldn't matter.

You'd still have people that would say "god did it", its no different to now when you have people that believe the earth is the center of the universe and the sun goes around the earth.

How old are you dude ?

Peregrinus

Two points:

The methodology here seems to be seriously flawed. The author takes the “nine most godless countries” (why nine, I wonder in passing?), finds their average GDP/capita, and then assumes that when average GDP/capita across the world reaches that level, the average country will be equally godless. But his dataset excludes all the countries whose average GDP/capita is already at that level, but which are not among the most godless. This is the equivalent of taking a dataset of blue-eyed people over 5’ 10” and then extrapolating from your dataset to reach the conclusion that everyone who reaches 5’ 10” will be blue-eyed.

The other thing is that the assumptions which underlie his method are far from neutral. He tells us that he favours the “existential security hypothesis” - that as people’s existential fear recedes, their believe in god diminishes. Fair enough. But then he glides smoothly from existential fear to material prosperity. He assumes, without actually stating his assumption, that as people become more prosperous their existential fears diminish. He is basically importing philosophically materialist (and godless) assumptions; that only material things are real, that all fears are fears of material want, and that material prosperity soothes all fears. Given certain assumptions tending towards godlessness, he argues, certain godless conclusions follows. Well, duh.

His assumption that material prosperity elminates existential fears is nonsense, and there is abundant evidence that it is nonsense. We only have to look at an extremely prosperous country like the US, and the existential fears that gripped it collectively after 9/11 - and indeed that still grip it. In many respects, far from prosperity reducing your fears it increases them because, the more wealth you have, and the more faith you place in the wealth you have to give you want you want and need, the more you have to lose, and the bigger your fear of losing it. You live in fear that the rest of the world is jealous of you (“they hate our freedom!” - George W Bush) and is envious of your wealth and will try to take it from you by, e.g. swarming across your borders in brown-skinned Spanish-speaking hordes. You convince yourself, in the teeth of the evidence, that terrorists want to establish an Islamic caliphate in your country.

Do I exaggerate? Possibly a little, but I think the point is fair enough. Prosperity doesn’t eliminate existential fear; it just gives you a different set of existential fears. If existential fear is, at root, the fear of death, then until prosperity buys immortality it’s foolish to think that it can eliminate existential fear.

Yavvy

Kidchameleon wrote: »

I feared I would miss the Luas today but I didn't become religious as a result

and because you think that is fear means this is a great place to live. NO need for god here. Thank god.

Yavvy

shruikan2553 wrote: »

The using of the question "is religion important in your life" would make Ireland meet their requirements so I wouldnt pay too much attention to it.

why not ? its a valid question.. just because it would allow Ireland to qualify doesn't mean its wrong it just means Ireland is becoming increasingly secular.

goose2005

The same year that Unix will die, bringing on the Apocalypse!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_2038_problem

CHECKMATE, ATHEISTS

Cabaal

goose2005 wrote: »

The same year that Unix will die, bringing on the Apocalypse!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_2038_problem

CHECKMATE, ATHEISTS

and as we know....Linux is the work of the devil, need proof? I give you BSD

:pac:

B.A._Baracus

2038?
Very precise. lol. here is another thing I pulled out of my butt.... Coke Cola will be no more in 2052 :pac:

shruikan2553

Yavvy wrote: »

why not ? its a valid question.. just because it would allow Ireland to qualify doesn't mean its wrong it just means Ireland is becoming increasingly secular.

While it would show most people dont really give a ****, they still sign up and do some parts because mammy wants them to and makes the church think there are people it can represent.

PrzemoF

B.A._Baracus wrote: »

2038?
Very precise. lol. here is another thing I pulled out of my butt.... Coke Cola will be no more in 2052 :pac:

03:14:07 UTC on Tuesday, 19 January 2038

and it will be the real one :eek:

Hotblack Desiato

Cabaal wrote: »

and as we know....Linux is the work of the devil, need proof? I give you BSD

BSD is a 'real Unix' (originally built around proprietary AT&T Unix)
Linux is 'unix-like' but is not a Unix. (Just ignore what the 'passwd' command says )