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except that does NOT indicate lack of belief in god.
for those excited about the 30% nones in North America, the "none" does NOT mean there is no belief in god.
it means they don't affiliate with a religion. They are the religious nones, meaning no religious affiliation.
And among that group of nones, Wiki puts the overwhelming majority 72% of the nones believe in God or a Higher Power. Pew puts it at 95% of the nones believe in God or identify as "spiritual but not religious." In 2021 Pew reports that for the nones, only 9% of the nones are atheist or agnostic.
just so readers don't misconstrue what is presented. "nones" is NOT referring to belief in god. it is referring to no religious affiliation. big difference.
But don't brag too much, either.
I think we would find that while they may believe, that doesn't necessarily mean they live their live in any particular way. I mentioned earlier today the phrase "casual christians", or perhaps I should expand that to say "casual godists".
except that does NOT indicate lack of belief in god.
for those excited about the 30% nones in North America, the "none" does NOT mean there is no belief in god.
it means they don't affiliate with a religion. They are the religious nones, meaning no religious affiliation.
And among that group of nones, Wiki puts the overwhelming majority 72% of the nones believe in God or a Higher Power. Pew puts it at 95% of the nones believe in God or identify as "spiritual but not religious." In 2021 Pew reports that for the nones, only 9% of the nones are atheist or agnostic.
just so readers don't misconstrue what is presented. "nones" is NOT referring to belief in god. it is referring to no religious affiliation. big difference.
Just so readers don't misconstrue what is presented, Tzap is actually agreeing with what the article says, but pretending it says something different.
She is correcting the quoted post by agreeing with it.
Understood. There are atheists who do not believe in any god and do not do religion, the irreligious such as deists,who do believe in a god but do not do an organised religion, and 'agnostics' who are actually atheists but want to avoid using the name. It is not denied that irreligion does not necessarily mean 'non - theism'. But god - belief is relatively harmless;it is the influence of organised religion that does that harm.
except that does NOT indicate lack of belief in god.
for those excited about the 30% nones in North America, the "none" does NOT mean there is no belief in god.
it means they don't affiliate with a religion. They are the religious nones, meaning no religious affiliation.
And among that group of nones, Wiki puts the overwhelming majority 72% of the nones believe in God or a Higher Power. Pew puts it at 95% of the nones believe in God or identify as "spiritual but not religious." In 2021 Pew reports that for the nones, only 9% of the nones are atheist or agnostic.
just so readers don't misconstrue what is presented. "nones" is NOT referring to belief in god. it is referring to no religious affiliation. big difference.
Well the Bible DOES say that the path is narrow... and few will find it.
I think among what we are moving toward (in fact are already there) is "casual godism"
And I really wish that we wouldn't act like this is such a new thing. Quite a few of the original European colonists and framers of the founding documents of our country were this sort of casual, non-practicing deist persuasion. It's easy to find things they wrote that prove that this country was not founded as a "Christian nation" even if groups of religious zealots were also among those who came here originally. (We like to say that they were "fleeing religious persecution" but I've had British friends tell me that what they've read is that they were nutty, cultish zealots and everybody really wanted them to leave. Interesting two sides of the story eh?)
Not that it matters a ton what people hundreds of years ago were doing, just saying this isn't a modern invention.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TRANSPONDER
Understood. There are atheists who do not believe in any god and do not do religion, the irreligious such as deists,who do believe in a god but do not do an organised religion, and 'agnostics' who are actually atheists but want to avoid using the name. It is not denied that irreligion does not necessarily mean 'non - theism'. But god - belief is relatively harmless;it is the influence of organised religion that does that harm.
I always thought that agnostics were more along the lines of thinking that any or all religions could be correct but they don't know and haven't chosen one. Where atheism is a more strong position of "I believe that there is not a god; I do not believe in the existence of a god" (even if they say that if presented with evidence their mind could be changed and it just hasn't happened...) Agnosticism is more accepting of all religions, than denying them all.
Also makes sense of the use of the word as used in tech circles to describe a piece of plug & play hardware or software that would work with a wide variety of different platforms or systems. Apps designed to work well on all smart phones regardless of OS are said to be "agnostic."
Semantics, I guess.
Yeah where I see the harm is, as I've mentioned, the institutions and power structures. And even where it all melds into a greater mindset, the increasing authoritarianism, nationalism, xenophobia... It just seems to me that there are certain people I know who crave a strict and rigid hierarchy with bullies at the top, filled with cruelty and demands by threat of force to conform, labor, obey, consume, obey, breed, any nail sticking up will be beaten down...where suffering is a virtue and righteous language can cover the stickiest of sins and the deepest of hypocrisies. And these individuals, they have also fallen for scams, they have paid for "get rich quick" schemes and MLMs...they are just really eager to be told things they want to hear, and will readily follow around any figure they accept as an authority. And the connection between this political and social mindset, and certain religious organizations, is very well known.
(EDIT - In the privacy of my own mind I have begun to refer to these people that I know as "BOBs" to mean "Believers Of Bullcrap/BS.")
Actually now that I am thinking about this, the ones I know most closely who are in the deepest with this kind of thing, are men who had abusive father figures in their lives growing up.
I think among what we are moving toward (in fact are already there) is "casual godism"
Spirituality light?
Not sure how any form of godism is what the trend suggests toward it's end, but maybe as the need or want or compulsion to believe in supreme beings diminishes so too goes the godism. Otherwise, if the flame continues to flicker there is no real end to the fire...
except that does NOT indicate lack of belief in god.
for those excited about the 30% nones in North America, the "none" does NOT mean there is no belief in god.
it means they don't affiliate with a religion. They are the religious nones, meaning no religious affiliation.
And among that group of nones, Wiki puts the overwhelming majority 72% of the nones believe in God or a Higher Power. Pew puts it at 95% of the nones believe in God or identify as "spiritual but not religious." In 2021 Pew reports that for the nones, only 9% of the nones are atheist or agnostic.
just so readers don't misconstrue what is presented. "nones" is NOT referring to belief in god. it is referring to no religious affiliation. big difference.
Point well taken as these distinctions should certainly be understood...
I gather from this study or trend that religious fundamentalism is on the decline, and I think this is because many of the same reasons to "part company" with religion more generally speaking applies to fundamental beliefs in God as well. For more and more people anyway.
A bit like so many other beliefs that we humans have slowly "shed" over time even though remnants of past beliefs can persist in one form or another for long periods of time until finally put to rest. That we humans and the earth were the center of the universe for example. Just think how long it took and what it took before that belief could be finally put to rest.
Not sure how any form of godism is what the trend suggests toward it's end, but maybe as the need or want or compulsion to believe in supreme beings diminishes so too goes the godism. Otherwise, if the flame continues to flicker there is no real end to the fire...
Yes, you could call it "spirituality light".
Except I rarely see the "fire" anymore (except among the right-wing christians, and often that fire is hate).
I think we would find that while they may believe, that doesn't necessarily mean they live their live in any particular way. I mentioned earlier today the phrase "casual christians", or perhaps I should expand that to say "casual godists".
The trend toward less in the way of fundamentalism is a good thing in any case, and I think the reasons for this trend are what's most important to recognize and/or understand. We can certainly do with less of the bigotry, intolerance, prejudice and imposition that "too much religion" has imposed on the world over the course of human history. Not that there hasn't been some good that has come from religion. Maybe even plenty, but we certainly don't need more of the fundamentally religious that have perpetuated all too many wrongs for too long now. That's what we need much less of and hopefully that's what this trend seems to suggest is going the way of the dinosaur...
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