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I think Brazil's growing economy is to blame. As a country becomes more advanced it's people don't see the need for religion. This is also happening in Europe.
I don't agree with you that a bad economy can be influencual in whether someone believes in a religion or not....I don't see religion as ever being a "need",.... be you poor or rich....I think the roman catholic church with it's many rules, and restrictions...it's discrimination, and abundant hypocracys...is the real reason why young people are staying away.
I don't agree with you that a bad economy can be influencual in whether someone believes in a religion or not....I don't see religion as ever being a "need",.... be you poor or rich....I think the roman catholic church with it's many rules, and restrictions...it's discrimination, and abundant hypocracys...is the real reason why young people are staying away.
If you look at the patterns of Buddhism in Asia, it seems to grow during times of great upheaval and economic uncertainty.
I thought that too, but the study seemed to indicate the rise in Pentecostals and Evangelicals was more in the 1990s and that in the 2000s they'd stabilized.
It sounds like a part of what's happening is that the improved economy means "social Catholics" have more alternatives. I think Brazil's long had a good deal of "Social Catholics", people who don't really believe in the religion but like some of the social/communal gatherings of it. Now that they have more money they can find more non-religious places for community and social functions. It doesn't really say that the increase in non-affiliation means an increase in rationalism or non-theism. Some of what it says indicates it might be the fairly common tendency of 18-34 year olds to prefer Movies or Clubs to Church and to want non-marital sex. In the past that tendency was maybe less than now due to custom and poverty.
I have never actually been to Brazil, but I can think back to my childhood and to the importance of church activities in a rural environment and in a pretty irreligious family. It was socially expected and sending us along to religion classes was more a sort of child - minding for which one did not have to pay.
The break was at fifteen when I simply stopped going to church and opted out of the choir. Since then the process of pulling away from the Christian background through comparative religion study and then Bible study meant that other things were more important mainly because the claims of Christianity were less important.
I didn't want to get involved in the Catholic Communion thread but it occurred to me, if one only irregularly attends mass, why? If one believes, then one should not dare to be so casual about it. As Thom R pointed out, it is a very important matter. If one is so casual about it, I wonder why one bothers to go at all?
What I'm getting at is that perhaps many Brazilians and indeed many people are getting a bit casual about religion. It may be that they still believe in a god but see that much of religion is a man - made construct and..if I may paraphrase the Bible..religion was made for man, not man for religion. Thus they can go along when they feel in the mood just as they might go along to see a film they fancy.
Speaking as a non-Christian, I am saddened to see the decline of Catholicism in Brazil, especially as it seems the decline is because of converts to the Evangelical, pentecostal type Christian churches. Just my opinion but if a person is going to be Christian, the only way they can come closest to following the teachings of the Earliest Christians is to be Catholic or Eastern/Greek Orthodox. They did not follow the NT, they made the NT the NT is (in my opinion) not scripture, but the early History of Catholic/Orthodox Christianity. The teaching of Christianity was Catholic/Orthodox doctrine and canons. A person is not going to find Christianity in the NT at best they may find a desire to look for Christianity.
I do not believe Catholics are on the right path to God(swt), but those leaving Catholicism for other Christian denominations are getting so far removed from the path it is almost beyond hope they can ever find God(swt)
The Movement that began in mid 1800s America is not Christianity nor worship, it is entertainment, substitution of emotionalism for worship and possibly even a return to pagan rituals.
I do not believe in Christianity, but if a person does desire to be Christian at least they should follow Catholicism. Otherwise stop calling themselves Christian, realize they are worshiping the NT and are not worshiping God(swt).
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meant that other things were more important mainly because the claims of Christianity were less important.
