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Old 03-31-2021, 10:59 AM
 
9,345 posts, read 4,302,670 times
Reputation: 3022

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Quote:
Originally Posted by BaptistFundie View Post
Wow. I must have touched a nerve for you to go on that rant.
His rant was due to your continously show of total ignorance of how evolution operates and bringing up very ignorant arguments into this thread. And I use the word ignorant in its true meaning, not having knowledge of the subject, worse yet you refuse to even try to understand any basic concepts of what you are arguing against.

If church attendance has been declining in the States over the last two decades maybe your country is finally catching up with the other developed countries in being less religious and the church being less important in many Americans lives.

Instead of addressing the question posed you lash out against those who do not believe simply as you cannot seem to comprehend how a person cannot believe like you do yourself and you drag out the argument that the alternative to your creation myth cannot be right because it doesn't happen overnight or during a commercial break. Nor do you grasp that many believers and some large denominations actually accept evolution and other parts of science.

Are you aware that the States is the stronghold of evangelical believers and other countries view people like yourself as extremists and of being anti science and against progress?
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Old 03-31-2021, 11:09 AM
 
5,912 posts, read 2,591,793 times
Reputation: 1049
Quote:
Originally Posted by BaptistFundie View Post
Wow. I must have touched a nerve for you to go on that rant.
Why do you have me on ignore BFUN?

To many nerves smacked?
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Old 03-31-2021, 11:35 AM
 
Location: North America
4,430 posts, read 2,686,188 times
Reputation: 19315
Quote:
Originally Posted by LargeKingCat View Post
Point is, you are either uneducated or ignorant about science, or you are pretending to be, just to further an unhealthy stereotype on this forum.

Were you Eusebius a few years ago on this message board?

Back to the topic.

The Problem with church attendance is churches.

For one, many have failed to move with the times, to move forward with the socio-cultural evolution of our world. The one's that do embrace society, change and welcome all are the most successful.

Sadly, for many people, this means entertainment AKA the MEGACHURCH. There is a lot at work in the psychology behind the megachurch. Group psychology has always been a focal point of religion. The idea that not only do people want to belong to a social group, or the need humans have to be part of something, is filled by church attendance. And what better place to attend than with thousands of other people at a megachurch? There is also an aspect of group thought we refer to as Normative Social Influence. It was demonstrated back in the 1950s by Solomon Ashe in his experiments showing the degree of group influence and social conformity. In a church, a person will go along with a belief just to be a part of a group, and even knowing that the group is wrong, will verbalize agreement out of social pressure and a need to belong.

Church has become for many, entertainment, with professional choirs, TV stages instead of altars and replacing the worship experience with a theatrical one. And some people like that, but many do not.

However, with the internet, it is now possible to find non-religious social groups to fill this need. A person does not have to conform to a belief which they do not want to hold in todays society.

When I was growing up in a small town last century, there was little to do on a Sunday. The state of Texas had "Blue Laws " at the time, which restricted business from being open. (I was one of the people who later went door to door to get petitions to end those laws.) There was very little to do except go to church. The churches in town wanted it that way. Many people would go, because "everyone else does" or because of tradition, or boredom, but there was little else to get out and do. Now, thanks to the internet, we have much more to do, and Texas is even no longer burdened with socialistic laws.

Second, the churches have been their own greatest enemy. And this is nothing new. Stories of abuse, cultic behavior, crime, all out of the church have soured many Americans towards avoiding religion. It is not just a liberal think, but it does mean thinking for oneself and choosing to do what is in one's own best interest. I would never ever put myself or my family into an abusive situation, like my parents did. I learned from their mistakes. I can spot abusive behavior, social control and avoid it like the plague.

People are getting tired of fear and hate, and fear and hate is what drives many churches. And people are getting really sick of that, so they stay home. All I heard growing up was fear and hate, it destroyed so many lives. Unnecessarily I might add.

I have told many Christians "I do not go to your church because I do not want to be like you" That feels good, and it shuts them up. It is one of the few things that sums up why to avoid certain churches. One smart mouthed pastor responded with "Well we are all going to heaven" to which my response was, "well if Heaven is full of people like you, then it must suck there. I cannot think of a worse company in which to spend eternity than you and your followers" THAT shut him up. But think about this: Why would I want to spend any time around shallow, hateful people? Who would? We have enough of them on this forum already. I do not want to sit in a room for an hour with them. And that is what so many churches have done, they have isolated people into an us against the world mentality which which is not only Elitist but very unhealthy as well.

Finally, the internet, social media, has allowed for information to be exchanged. There was a time when I was growing up that the only information available and encouraged was the Bible itself. Now, with the stroke of a keyboard, connections to libraries full of documents which were not ever available at our mall town library can be read. More than even the college library. More than the Medical school library even.
And social media allows us good ol' Atheists to share stories, to find out that we are not alone. I grew up thinking that I was the only one out of a few hundred that hated our church so much that it made me ill to even dress up to go! I was certain no one else felt as I do. Guess what? I have found THOUSANDS of people in America who had similar experiences, who share my distrust and dislike of religions, who do not believe in a god (Because there is not only ZERO evidence for one, but there is ZERO need for one as well!) and it has been liberating, even as much as the day I walked outside of the Baptist church and loudly announced to everyone my renouncement of my membership and baptism.

The future of the human experience is probably atheism, and we see the evils of religion vs the freedom of non-belief. And many of us, myself included, are happier, more successful and morally Superior SINCE we left religion. People like myself are openly showing others how religion/deity is not needed, and people are learning to empower themselves and take personal responsibility for their lives, their communities and their world. And they are learning that no god is needed. Or wanted. Amen.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BaptistFundie View Post
Wow. I must have touched a nerve for you to go on that rant.
Yes, some people are alarmed by manifest ignorance.

Then there's your type - which willfully wallows in ignorance, and is positively terrified by people who actually have a clue.
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Old 03-31-2021, 12:35 PM
 
Location: Ontario, Canada
31,374 posts, read 20,094,900 times
Reputation: 14069
Quote:
Originally Posted by 2x3x29x41 View Post
Yes, some people are alarmed by manifest ignorance.

Then there's your type - which willfully wallows in ignorance, and is positively terrified by people who actually have a clue.
Fundies aren't shy to demonstrate why they'll never be a Jeopardy contestant.
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Old 03-31-2021, 09:56 PM
 
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
10,941 posts, read 5,916,425 times
Reputation: 5636
Quote:
Originally Posted by BaptistFundie View Post
Wow. I must have touched a nerve for you to go on that rant.
That wasn't a rant. It was a well written, easy to read and interesting post.
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Old 04-01-2021, 01:01 AM
 
Location: California USA
1,714 posts, read 1,143,809 times
Reputation: 469
Quote:
Originally Posted by phetaroi View Post
I recently got a cancer diagnosis. I haven't started doing any praying.(snip)
.
Positive thoughts your way. May you be comforted and heal.
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Old 04-01-2021, 01:01 AM
 
Location: Sun City West, Arizona
50,469 posts, read 24,054,533 times
Reputation: 32779
Quote:
Originally Posted by hd4me View Post
Positive thoughts your way. May you be comforted and heal.
Thank you!
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Old 04-01-2021, 01:31 AM
 
Location: California USA
1,714 posts, read 1,143,809 times
Reputation: 469
Quote:
Originally Posted by TRANSPONDER View Post
Increase of irreligion doesn't claim to be a magic nostrum for all the world's ills. Which Christianity sometimes clams to be - if only the number of bums on church seats was increased. That's the 'bait and switch'. Promise an end all evil if only prayer comes back into schools, and when it doesn't say it will if the next demand for theological indoctrination is enforced. And the next. Oddly it was also the apologetic of the Other Dogmatic Doctrine, Communism, as it was tottering: 'It'll work perfectly if only everyone does exactly what the Party says'.

But I can only hope that those 'very institutions that they (hotbeds of religion) were chummy with' will see that the public will no longer support an administration that that will tolerate, excuse and enable abuses by religion, just because the majority voters are religious. And it will actually benefit religion of their act is cleaned up in the way they wouldn't do themselves.

If irreligion does increase, that 'prophecy' won't validate Christianity because it is just a situation that was seen to happen in the past. After all, when there is a surge of Christianity, that is never wagged about as disproving the 'prophecy'.

You know how it is - predict the obvious..'it will thunder and rain in various places, and those in other places will be found corrupt and embezzlers, and people will drink to excess and spend money on things.'

And, Lo, it will come to pass. Who'd have guessed?
Hmmm you're making some assumptions which I'd like to clarify. Bringing back prayers in school won't solve things just like reciting the pledge of allegiance to a flag wont make for a patriotic citizen. Much of Christianity today suffers because its become more of a routine, tradition, ritual without depth or meaning or deep level of commitment to try to be a better person 24/7. It doesn't help when the lines of church and state are blurred. There is a reason Jesus said his followers would not get involved in politics or social divisions. It isn't conducive to spreading the Good News of God's Kingdom or make disciples and at the same time trying to limit what people with a different lifestyle or belief system can and cant do via the ballot box.

Politics and religion do not mix because one corrupts the other.

By itself the prophecy of the love of the greater number growing cold was not and is not meant to be thought of in a vacuum. There are other "signs" that make up a composite and point to a time when we draw close to the end of corruption. And if tomorrow a survey comes up saying that Church attendance jumped by 100% it would be meaningless...."having an appearance of godliness but proving false to its power."-2 Tim 3:5
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Old 04-01-2021, 06:47 AM
 
15,864 posts, read 6,944,867 times
Reputation: 8520
Quote:
Originally Posted by NatesDude View Post
And the guy that headed the study that showed this is a devout evangelical Christian named Francis Collins who has written books attempting to prove God through science. He has developed the idea of what he calls theistic evolution to explain things, since as a highly qualified scientists he knows undeniably that evolution is true.
.
Can you elaborate on this? Maybe another thread.
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Old 04-01-2021, 06:49 AM
 
Location: Elsewhere
88,298 posts, read 84,311,090 times
Reputation: 114648
Quote:
Originally Posted by 303Guy View Post
That wasn't a rant. It was a well written, easy to read and interesting post.
Exactly. It addressed the thread topic. No rant.
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