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Whether it leads to religion or away from it, the Internet empowers. I am all for human empowerment, whether it leads to religion or away from it.
I would rather that someone become religious if it what they truly want than become an atheist through peer pressure. There you are.
I am just encouraged that, for whatever reason, people do seem to be questioning their way to doubt and to irreligion. That is how it should be if reason and evidence counts for anything and the internet is helping to put both sides of the argument. If religion seems unable to put a convincing case across, it isn't the fault of the Internet.
Thanks AREQUIPA
I seem to have an innate ability to spell words wrong, even with the benefit of spell-check.
If you are right (and I would wager a huge bet you are dead wrong) you had better hope that god is the one you believe in or you could be in hot water. at least.
LOL! I just love it that that thought never, ever enters the minds of religious zealots of whatever stripe or variety they are!
For purposes of this post I'm speaking of religion generally, with no special pleading for any particular belief or god concept, including yours. Including claims that you have a relationship rather than a religion or that your belief is living rather than dead, etc.
The internet allows groups to form irrespective of geographic proximity, reducing the pressure on individuals to participate in a religious community to meet basic social needs.
I have already addressed this but in brief for those who missed it ... the Internet has some upside for religion and to the extent it's used for social media / community building purposes it actually becomes a tool to further religion. But the overall effect of the Internet is to facilitate unregulated information transfer. Religion has to participate on a relatively level playing field. The same Internet that has YEC web sites has evolution science sites too. Or for that matter, porn sites. The Internet doesn't facilitate the construction of hermetically sealed intellectual ghettoes. There is always bleed-thru. Any young person today who is on the Internet knows there are many, many ways of being, thinking, and believing, with varying levels of justification.
The most significant aspect of this IMO is that if this were 1985 and I were a believer with doubts and existential issues I would generally be reduced to furtively mail ordering a relatively meager selection of books, some of them dense unapproachable philosophical texts, or perhaps library research. But because it's 2015 I can quickly Google my way to a wealth of alternative arguments and viewpoints, and sift them at leisure.
In other words, the more access people have to information and knowledge, the less likely they are to believe in ancient superstitions. And your suggesting that this phenomenon is directly connected to the rise in unbelief?
In other words, the more access people have to information and knowledge, the less likely they are to believe in ancient superstitions. And your suggesting that this phenomenon is directly connected to the rise in unbelief?
As an IT person old enough to remember a world without the Internet, I tend to think it is at least a strong association. A direct cause? Nothing is that simple, but I'd be unsurprised to find the Internet instrumental if not a primary impetus for particular individuals breaking out of lockstep with the collective. At a minimum, it reduces "friction" as they say in internet marketing ... the Internet makes it less difficult / effortful to do research and fact-check than it used to be.
As an IT person old enough to remember a world without the Internet, I tend to think it is at least a strong association. A direct cause? Nothing is that simple, but I'd be unsurprised to find the Internet instrumental if not a primary impetus for particular individuals breaking out of lockstep with the collective. At a minimum, it reduces "friction" as they say in internet marketing ... the Internet makes it less difficult / effortful to do research and fact-check than it used to be.
Clearly the church leadership should urge the new Republican congress should look into this "information" stuff that the internet is providing such easy access to. Frail minds may not be able to handle such facts.
When I saw that bit of the film I immediately translated that as 'I don't want people to know the truth and "You can't handle it" is my pretext for not revealing it.' How arrogant of him to presume what Tom Cruse (in character) could or could not handle.
When I saw that bit of the film I immediately translated that as 'I don't want people to know the truth and "You can't handle it" is my pretext for not revealing it.' How arrogant of him to presume what Tom Cruse (in character) could or could not handle.
For centuries the Catholic church considered it a capital crime for a layman to learn Latin, because they didn't want the common folk to have access to scripture. Those in authority have always tried to restrict access to information. Information is dangerous. It can cause people to think about things and reach conclusions that those in authority can not control.
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you had better hope that god is the one you believe in or you could be in hot water. at least.
