How can we explain the decline of religion?

Question

I think that in 100 years time religions will become obsolete?

Please state your opposition in a respectful manner.

Answer 1

I think people have just got sick of waiting for the 'second coming'.  Rationality exists in some people who are more evolved than the rest.

Answer 2

someone told me that in the bible it says that all religion will come to an end (man will make this so by outlawing it)  so you need to stand firm and strong in what you believe because this will be the final sign of the end of days and armageddon and all that

Answer 3

~I agree...

~as religion is man made, people will believe in themselves even more...

Answer 4

You'd better check your facts.  Islam and Christianity are both growing faster than ever.

Answer 5

There is one thing you need to know my friend , that religion is not declining in all parts of the world ... maybe at your area , but definitely not all parts !!

The media playes a big , even huge role in manipulating and changing human values . AND its all for PROFIT !

s*x , Crime , and new ideas that attack the most inner human values DO SELL !!! specially on the media ...

the media made s*x out of marriage , drugs , shooting , killing seem so much fun and cool ... even for kids !!! but its really not that much fun when you actually try them out !  

Christianity clearly predicts that there will be times when people will loose faith , and start doing immoral things such as killing , prostitution , greed and selfishness , war and decease will spread . and at these Times the fall of man will be clear .

now in the world , there is so much pain , so much decease , wars , pollution and fatal weapons ... natural disasters and deaths in the thousands are being very common ... and the next is just worse .

if the world looses its religion , it will loose its moral conduct . and we wonder why the world is going through h**l !

people became worshipers of money , greed , and s*x .. not God ... which represents hope , love and faith .

Answer 6

so do I.

Answer 7

Too many Gods and not enough money.

Answer 8

A religion is a form, and so also a limit, which contains the limitless, to speak in paradox; every form is fragmentary  because of the necessary formal exclusion of other possibilities; the fact  that these forms ... each in their own  way represent totality does not prevent them from been fragmentary in respect of their particularization and reciprocal exclusion.

so religion is declining its diversifying

Answer 9

modernism

Answer 10

MTV killed God!

Answer 11

Can you cite a demographic study that supports your argument?  Without such evidence, your premise is merely the assertion of an opinion without any evidence to support your claim.

Answer 12

As population has exploded, and world-wide travel made cheaper, people are coming more and more into contact with people of other cultures. Every culture has their own arbitrary and baseless beliefs. It's just a part of humanity. It doesn't mean it's based in truth. We make stuff up. That becomes obvious when you sit down and have a think about it. Also, with advances in science, all the evidence is pointing towards volition and will (qualities attributed to deities) being solely restricted to humans and other complex organisms. The universe is as cold and indifferent as a mathematical formula. The gaps are closing and there is little room left for gods.

Answer 13

Maturity. Any belief acquired in childhood is learned through a child's mindset and cognitive ability. Everyone questions religions as they age as they come to see that everything that was taught to them as a child is not necessarily true.

Further, as people learn more about people and the world they discover the underlying functions of social systems like religion and their use in individual and social control.

Many adults begin to form their own conclusions about the world around them.

Answer 14

Religion stands on the foundation of its moral code. In today's materialistic world, morals are sold for a dime. The rise of greed and selfishness implies the fall of all religions and spirituality.

Answer 15

"There is no need for temples, no need for complicated philosophies. My brain and my heart are my temples; my philosophy is kindness. "

Dalai Lama

Answer 16

Religion is based on false beliefs that don't hold up when scientifically questioned, so religion appeals to people who aren't all that well educated.... and many of them are dying out.

Answer 17

Religions are still strong in countries where it can get political support.  

It is declining in countries where they separate state and religions.

Answer 18

Religion is declining because it has become stagnant. Societies continually change, as does literature, theater, etc. Religion has not. Its basic tenets have remained the same for a thousand years. Its promises, once evocative, especially for a downtrodden population (as in Rome among the slave population) are no longer enough for a society that sees "miracles" on a daily basis, that has seen doomsday come and go without interrupting their lives.

The ones to blame are their leaders, the heads of the religious houses who continue to demand strict adherence to outworn and outmoded social values. There's a big difference here....morals and ethics are never outmoded/outworn...but their practical application can be.

The old formulaic answers to youth who question are so unpalatable to a generation of thinkers/doers that they are dismissed out of hand before they are even considered. The last 100 years have seen social revolutions worldwide, dissatisfaction with existing in the old roles/estates...its is no wonder that religions have declined, and will continue to decline. Eastern mysticism, cult phenomenon, and extra-terrestrial life, once a belief only on the fringes of society, is now mainstream in society. These beliefs further degrade religious teachings. Who, after all, being human, wold accept the one life then heaven that Christianity teaches if there is even the smallest prospect of having many lives? Who, again based on Christian teachings, would be content to live in one single world when there is the possibility of finding "others" out there somewhere? Man is a questing creature...being apparently alone in the universe is frightening.

There are so many reasons why religion has declined, and will continue. I speculate based only on my own personal feelings. Good question....I hope you'll receive many unbiased, non-rhetoric answers.

Answer 19

Well. . .I don't know that it IS declining, frankly.  But. . .I think that it's not as STRONG as it was hundreds of years ago for TWO reasons:

1)  Technology has replaced our "strong" focus on religion to the television, internet, and CDs.  If those things (for example) weren't around, people would focus their attention on religion MORE because. . .their minds wouldn't be diverted.

2)  The "moral fiber" of the nucleus of the family is breaking-down.  With both parents working (for the most part), NO ONE IS STAYING HOME WITH THE KIDS!  Kids today have no one to stay focused on their mental development.  They're being left to basically raise themselves; unfortunately that usually means BAD ADVICE from peers and contact with "predators"!

I think families need to refocus their "values"; want a little less, stay at home with their kids a little more!  That might mean a smaller home, one car in the driveway, less electronics in the house. . .BUT AT LEAST THEIR KIDS MIGHT HAVE A CHANCE!

I also believe the United States needs to bring back the "draft".  Serving in the armed forces helps to raise good moral character.  It polishes young men/women and gives them overall discipline to run their lives.  It gives them a sense of accomplishment, a sense of duty to God and mankind, a sense of pride, and a good "moral" sense of character.

I think we need to bring back the "Pledge of Allegiance" in our schools, prayer, and "home cooking"!

I THINK AMERICA NEEDS TO BRING BACK IT'S CHILDREN FROM THE DEPTHS OF DESPAIR AND DESTRUCTION!  Believe in ourselves as a family "unit" and a sense of pride in what we accomplish toward that end.

GOD BLESS THE KIDS OUT THERE WHO SEE THAT NOW!!!!!  And doing something about it for the BETTER!

Answer 20

religion promises so much and delivers nothing tangable. only the naive can can go on living with the promise of a better death. Take away the social benefits of being related to a group of individuals, and there is nothing left but promises in the wind. good scam really, promise something that the masses can't prove you don't deliver and charge for the service. like telstra. lets hope they are not here in a hundred years as well. with information at your fingertips these days, the questions of life are answered on forums like this, not by going to a priest or church. church requires commitment and patronage, here you can get what you want and log out. no charge. and you won't get sexually abused unless you want to be!

Answer 21

The prediction that religion would decline was made many times in the past.

The Soviet system of government, for instance said that there was no need for religion, and yet religion continued to live in the USSR and is now growing.

Answer 22

As with all things, including ideals and ideas, faith, faith systems and religions are all in a constant state of flux or change.

Such will either continue by adapting to the changes within society or, by a failure to adapt and a failure in addressing what those following the same see as the needs of the ever changing circumstances of the present time, will pass into antquity.

Western culture which has primarily followed various forms of Judaism and Christianity is seeing a decline in the tradtional practice of the same although the number of those who profess to adhere to them is actually on the increase.

This does, however, seem to point to either the hypocracy of those making such a profession or to an inaccuracy in the methodology of how the same statistics have been compiled.

Basically, many formerly mainline faiths have become altered so as to be unrecognizable and to have abandoned original or traditional teachings suhc as with the new "Gospel of Wealth" or "prosperity" as the same is now being preached which seems to have forgotten that one is to focus ones spiritual vision on the hereafter and not the material world of the here and now.

Many are now choosing to seek their own answers and understandings rather than to follow in a prescribes sheep like manner the dogmas and tenents of what they see as the "failed religions" of their parents and society in general.

To this end, some Eastern faith and philosophy systems, such as Hinduism and Buddhism, which are witnessing a decline in the lands of the their origins and former nations where the same were actively practiced and promoted, are seeing a rebirth in the Western world.

However, these have also now been altered, twisted and distorted in many ways to the extent that some of the various sects of the same might not be recognizable to those who practiced the same even as little as one hundred years in the recent past.

Perhaps the reality is or might be understood as  that there are 6 billion religions (approximately) on the planet which would represent one for each person on Earth.  Some of these belief systems are compatible with one another and collectives are then formed that profess to be a single united group although they are often at odds with one another.

Each, referring to each individual,  is perfect in the present moment being that which each is and only as that one is when viewed objectively rather than subjectively wihtout judgment or condemnation.  Simply stated, "All is in being as each is, nothing more or less".

Be well.

Answer 23

I think that naturalism and environmentalism are new religions - with no gods other than the deified human observer in the case of naturalism and a god which is a planet in the case of environmentalism. Both require blind faith and devotion; neither can tolerate heresy.

Think about it.

Answer 24

The decline of religion may be linked to the rise of education, the shedding of superstitions and the change in society that allows ordinary people to think for themselves with less pressure than was historically the case from 'higher' members of society who imposed standards.  We are no longer the obedient surfs and slaves who will follow the direction of the priests or masters.  Many of us are comfortable with an existence, science and culture in which gods have no place.

I would like to say there has been a growth of rationality which has displaced religion, without fundamentally shifting  the non-religious moral base of society.  There is some truth in that though the headlong rush to 'new wave' and 'alternative' belief systems suggests that we have not yet matured very far.  On the contrary, as a society, we seem to be dumbing down which could prompt a re-uptake the old religions along with the new.

As the ability to think analytically sinks beneath the sludge of reality TV and 'internet/iPOD' mentality, I suspect fewer people will have the ability to think for themselves and so argue back against renewed religious/new wave peer pressure.

Answer 25

garrison saying some one is uneducated because they Believe in god is uneducated I'm a agnostic and my father is a scientist and most people who believe in god will tell you that god could have created the big bang and scientist will tell you that he could have to there's no way of knowing

Answer 26

There is a slow awakening to lack of rationality in the basic premises. Master-serf relationships are falling out of fashion in the internet age.

Answer 27

The more you understand your religion from its core the more you will go away from it. Religion was made when an intelligent man met a fool. It is nothing but morals laid down by the wise men for the betterment of humanity as per their thinking. But the world is changing and everyone knows the fact that whatever religious books we have has been manipulated time and again by the religious leaders to favour themselves. Humanity should be the only religion and that is the ability to understand other living beings.

Answer 28

Because people are leaning more towards science and reason. Read this :http://vampires-will-never-hurt-me.blogs...

Answer 29

People arent persecuted for not following religion whole-heartedly any more.  As time has progress,  peoples lives have become so jammed packed with other actions.  Schooling, work, health, information, entertainment etc.  Life has just become too overwhelming for the masses to focus on religion.  I agree with your 100 year assumption, but I can't say it will be a bad thing though.