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Jeff, are you implicitly admitting that atheism is increasing? Because if you are, you have a (very) loose correlation between the increase of atheism and suicide rates. But if you deny the increase of atheism, then you have no such correlation and you must admit that atheism has nothing to do with suicide.
Which argument would you like to abandon? You cannot hold on to both because they contradict one another.
Oh, I think Jeff has proved that he will hold on to all sorts of arguments that go against each other, based off of his posting history.
And we've already seen what happens in history when atheists get power and become leaders. Stalin, Lenin, Pol Pot. Rivers of blood. Might as well start digging those mass graves if atheists are going to take over. Because if we adopt a society that rules completely under logic and reason, how long would it be before people who can't contribute to society like the weak and elderly are eliminated by law? Because that's the logical thing to do especially if you have limited resources. The world needs empathy and love. That's how you built a better world.
There are positives to this disposal of the "dirty bathwater of religion" but I am concerned for the "baby" (Belief in God) that might be thrown out with it. Fortunately, the "Nones" at least evince a tendency to retain the "baby" in some form minus the trappings of religious dogma.
I'm sure that eventually your "baby" will expire as well.
And we've already seen what happens in history when atheists get power and become leaders. Stalin, Lenin, Pol Pot. Rivers of blood. Might as well start digging those mass graves if atheists are going to take over. Because if we adopt a society that rules completely under logic and reason, how long would it be before people who can't contribute to society like the weak and elderly are eliminated by law? Because that's the logical thing to do especially if you have limited resources. The world needs empathy and love. That's how you built a better world.
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Originally Posted by sanspeur
I'm sure that eventually your "baby" will expire as well.
I don't know about that. People all over the planet have believed in gods and spirits and an unseen realm that interacts with humanity in some form before recorded history. I don't see all of it going away anytime soon.
It's already risen by leaps and bounds world wide.
There have long been predictions that religion would fade from relevancy as the world modernizes, but all the recent surveys are finding that it’s happening startlingly fast. France will have a majority secular population soon. So will the Netherlands and New Zealand. The United Kingdom and Australia will soon lose Christian majorities. Religion is rapidly becoming less important than it’s ever been.
Well according to the same article, religion is growing fast in other parts of the world. Plus, no surprise, the countries you list are also experiencing swelling suicide rates. Especially New Zealand.
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But nones aren’t inheriting the Earth just yet. In many parts of the world—sub-Saharan Africa in particular—religion is growing so fast that nones’ share of the global population will actually shrink in 25 years as the world turns into what one researcher has described as “the secularizing West and the rapidly growing rest.”
Is churchgoing and religious adherence really in “widespread decline” so much so that conservative believers should suffer “growing anxiety”?
Two words: Absolutely not.
New research published late last year by scholars at Harvard University and Indiana University Bloomington is just the latest to reveal the myth. This research questioned the “secularization thesis,” which holds that the United States is following most advanced industrial nations in the death of their once vibrant faith culture. Churches becoming mere landmarks, dance halls, boutique hotels, museums, and all that.
Not only did their examination find no support for this secularization in terms of actual practice and belief, the researchers proclaim that religion continues to enjoy “persistent and exceptional intensity” in America. These researchers hold our nation “remains an exceptional outlier and potential counter example to the secularization thesis.”
You atheists think it's just WONDERFUL the idea of atheism taking over, and the world will be a much better place right? In reality it's more the scene in The Shining where Jack Nicholson is sitting on the bed with his son and tells him, "I would never do anything to hurt you Danny", while Bartok's Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta is playing in the background.
Unfortunately I'm not kidding. I wish I was. That's exactly what this deluded idea is like.
That's exactly how religion already is though. Are you trying to scare with the idea that nothing will change from the dawn of civilization?
With such as jeff and Ozzy as standard-bearers for Christianity - it's flat-out doomed, and will be relegated to the same shelf as the Norse, Roman, and Greek religions within a generation or four - even in the US of A.
The fundies will pretty much be done in two.
Evolution is a more powerful force than ignorance, no matter how determined.
I don't know about that. People all over the planet have believed in gods and spirits and an unseen realm that interacts with humanity in some form before recorded history. I don't see all of it going away anytime soon.
I agree. But there also been times when the nonbelievers have taken over control. We all know the horrors that have resulted.
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