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RE: What date do you estimate atheism will overtake theism in the world population
September 8, 2017 at 12:51 pm
I don't think it's going to happen. There seems to be some level of human instinct to be drawn to faith.
"Of course, everyone will claim they respect someone who tries to speak the truth, but in reality, this is a rare quality. Most respect those who speak truths they agree with, and their respect for the speaking only extends as far as their realm of personal agreement. It is less common, almost to the point of becoming a saintly virtue, that someone truly respects and loves the truth seeker, even when their conclusions differ wildly."
-walsh
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RE: What date do you estimate atheism will overtake theism in the world population
September 8, 2017 at 12:53 pm
There's also a strong instinct to avoid inconvenience.
The granting of a pardon is an imputation of guilt, and the acceptance a confession of it.
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RE: What date do you estimate atheism will overtake theism in the world population
September 8, 2017 at 1:40 pm
(September 8, 2017 at 9:56 am)Coveny Wrote: In the course of 7 years atheism has doubled from 1.6 to 3.1 in the U.S. That's an impressive change.
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/201...-atheists/
The article covers some of the other issues with defining athiest and the misuse of the term in general.
On the world scene we see much the same.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/...-religion/
The article goes into some of the roadblocks to a wider acceptance of atheism.
I gonna predict that a certain someone shows up and starts going on and on and on and on about China.
The fantasy delusion runs deep in that one.
Being told you're delusional does not necessarily mean you're mental.
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RE: What date do you estimate atheism will overtake theism in the world population
September 8, 2017 at 9:45 pm
Seems like if atheism were going to take over theistic beliefs, it would have happened by now. We humans are pretty dumb and probably not much different than people, skepticism-wise, than people 500 or a thousand years ago.
-Teresa
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RE: What date do you estimate atheism will overtake theism in the world population
September 8, 2017 at 9:53 pm
And instinct to kind of keep up with the Joneses, and out in the suburbs, that can mean friday HS pointyball, and church on Sundays.
"For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring." - Carl Sagan
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RE: What date do you estimate atheism will overtake theism in the world population
September 8, 2017 at 10:31 pm
(This post was last modified: September 8, 2017 at 10:32 pm by Whateverist.)
I have no idea when or if it will happen. I'm not even sure what I should hope for. If lots of people can give up superstition and still live purposeful lives, no one would be happier. I just don't know what everybody needs in their lives and it doesn't bother me greatly if many go on needing supernatural bits amongst their beliefs. So we have to go on being vigilant against getting any religion's version of Sharia law installed, but if it wasn't that it would be something else. Our species is not consistently exceptional.
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RE: What date do you estimate atheism will overtake theism in the world population
September 9, 2017 at 8:17 pm
(September 8, 2017 at 9:45 pm)Tres Leches Wrote: Seems like if atheism were going to take over theistic beliefs, it would have happened by now. We humans are pretty dumb and probably not much different than people, skepticism-wise, than people 500 or a thousand years ago.
-Teresa Well ... seems like if Christianity were so compelling it would have better than a one-third market penetration after 2,000 years, even by the most charitable criteria (cultural Christianity).
The length of time something holds or doesn't hold sway is no indicator of its rightness or wrongness, only of its overall (lack of) appeal and the durability of its memes.
I would suggest that the Abrahamic faiths, if you step back that far to look at it, have had the most enduring memes for the past couple thousand years, but began to falter as far better epistemological approaches to finding truth have come forward -- particularly, the scientific method, free compulsory secular education and democracy (as well as the relative wealth that they have produced, giving people more time and energy to reflect on life rather than simply react to it). And we're getting better at these things all the time.
Because of the above factors I think we are becoming more skeptical and better at skepticism, which requires deliberate effort to push back against the faulty thought processes that evolution has given us, as well as to deal more effectively with awareness of both self and mortality.
This is not a fast process and not without flaws and risks, but I am hopeful that it will eventually win out overall. That's why I assume it will take many hundreds or even thousands of years to get to a better place. It's been 500 years since the beginnings of recognizably modern scientific endeavor, maybe 250 years since the modern scientific method was firmly established, and the Information Age has been underway at scale for maybe 50 years. These represent virtuous cycles, assuming they aren't cut short by some man-made or natural crisis that is either existence-ending or a huge setback.
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RE: What date do you estimate atheism will overtake theism in the world population
September 9, 2017 at 9:33 pm
(September 9, 2017 at 8:17 pm)mordant Wrote: (September 8, 2017 at 9:45 pm)Tres Leches Wrote: Seems like if atheism were going to take over theistic beliefs, it would have happened by now. We humans are pretty dumb and probably not much different than people, skepticism-wise, than people 500 or a thousand years ago.
-Teresa Well ... seems like if Christianity were so compelling it would have better than a one-third market penetration after 2,000 years, even by the most charitable criteria (cultural Christianity).
Sure but the OP asked about theistic beliefs which include many more beliefs than Christianity. They all suck, not just Christianity.
A scenario that I find to be more plausible than atheism simply taking over theism is another species of humans or AI that has no need for religion taking over homo Sapiens.
-Teresa
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RE: What date do you estimate atheism will overtake theism in the world population
September 9, 2017 at 9:42 pm
(September 8, 2017 at 12:51 pm)Catholic_Lady Wrote: I don't think it's going to happen. There seems to be some level of human instinct to be drawn to faith.
That is unrelated. The question asks about how many will identify as atheist compared to how many say for example catholic.
The number of people of general belief might not change but organized religion has lost a tremendous amount of steam.
Lucky Pastafarianism is unorganized, We have our weekly meetings at random.
"For the only way to eternal glory is a life lived in service of our Lord, FSM; Verily it is FSM who is the perfect being the name higher than all names, king of all kings and will bestow upon us all, one day, The great reclaiming" -The Prophet Boiardi-
Conservative trigger warning.
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RE: What date do you estimate atheism will overtake theism in the world population
September 9, 2017 at 10:11 pm
(September 7, 2017 at 10:31 pm)Coveny Wrote: For many years now I've felt like the world is losing its religion quite literally. Polls around the world show a trend of fewer and fewer theists. So much so that in some countries atheism is the majority. However on the global scale theism still dominates atheism. We do see the young are far less likely to be theists, and the numbers of atheists there lend support to my idea that theism is dying. So the question is this at what year do you think atheism will become the majority on the global stage?
That is as utopia in thought as any religion thinking it will dominate the world. The problem with our species has always been the majority of our 7 billion pass down the stories, traditions, motifs, religions of their parents to the kids. I don't see that ever going away.
I can see a more secular world like the west has fostered, but not a perfectly godless world ever.
There are even today, just like L Ron Hubbard a si fi writer started Scientology, there are today Star War's fans seeking legal government representation as an official religion.
Even in the age of the internet, crap get's sold, otherwise Trump would not be president.
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