Religion may not survive the Internet

[KichigaiNeko]

http://www.salon.com/2013/01/16/religion..._internet/

Religion may not survive the Internet
THURSDAY, JAN 17, 2013 12:30 AM +0800

This article originally appeared on AlterNet.
As we head into a new year, the guardians of traditional religion are ramping up efforts to keep their flocks—or, in crass economic terms, to retain market share. Some Christians have turned to soul searching while others have turned to marketing. Last fall, the LDS church spent millions on billboards, bus banners, and Facebook ads touting “I’m a Mormon.” In Canada, the Catholic Church has launched a “Come Home” marketing campaign. The Southern Baptists Convention voted to rebrand themselves. A hipster mega-church in Seattle combines smart advertising with sales force training for members and a strategy the Catholics have emphasized for centuries: competitive breeding.

In October of 2012 the Pew Research Center announced that for the first time ever Protestant Christians had fallen below 50 percent of the American population. Atheists cheered and evangelicals beat their breasts and lamented the end of the world as we know it. Historian of religion, Molly Worthen, has since offered big picture insights that may dampen the most extreme hopes and fears. Anthropologist Jennifer James, on the other hand, has called fundamentalism the “death rattle” of the Abrahamic traditions.

Curious

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Further to why religion should NOT attract the secular taxpayers dollars!

http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/if-r...r-dollars/

These controversial exemptions result in the lawful discrimination of employees and prospective employees that don’t act in accordance with the religious teachings, entrenching them as second-class citizens, if they are employed directly by the religious institution.

There are now very loud calls for this discrimination to stop, especially as churches are enriched by the generosity of the taxpayer. The Attorney General is overseeing a major change to discrimination laws. Despite this, she has all but ruled out any change to the exemptions for religions.

It is something I feel rather passionate about. IF this god is so wonderful he can pay for these organisations.