(October 14, 2014 at 9:38 am)ThomM Wrote: Actually - religion is DYING in the world - it is actually going extinct in a bunch of European countries - and it is suffering its last gasp.
When asked - many young "christians" admit that they don't believe - and only go through the motions to keep peace in the family. But when they have the choice - they ignore that nonsense.
Churches are CLOSING all over the place - congregations are no longer able to support them. IN addition - every major religion in the world has a problem getting enough crooks and cons (I mean ministers) to run the churches that exist on a shoe string. The real cons are having a problem hiding their actions as well.
ANd hat is a BIG problem - because religion is only growing on the areas that cannot afford to support it. Donations to religions (Separating them from charity donations where it is different) have been stagnant - and going down. Donations largely come from older congregation members who are rapidly dying off. Their children simply do not support the nonsense. THey give to real charities - especially food banks and the like. (Interestingly - even the bible says that a rich person must give their money to the poor to be saved - not to a church)
IN many areas - when a church closes - its property is no longer tax exempt - so these buildings are ending up abandoned for taxes.
While it will take another generation - it is obvious that religion will become a minority position - and then die off.
Unlike in the past - REALITY is proving religion to be false - and you cannot argue with reality.
You're wrong abut religion dying out, Thom. In fact, religion is growing at a good clip worldwide, although it is in major decline in Western Europe and also in the US. In fact, while Christianity, Islam and the major eastern religions are experiencing growth, as the number of atheists in the world is in decline while Christianity grows rapidly in places such as China, Korea and the African countries. And, by the way, Christianity doesn't need money to survive and thrive.
As for Europe and here in the US, things don't look very good for Christians as far as numbers go. Who knows, you might have your atheist utopia in a generation or two. But I wouldn't count on it. Throughout history there's been declines and revivals in the church. In the early days Turkey was once the hub of Christianity and England was pagan. Things change. We've been around for 2,000 years and we'll be here till the end.
