My hypothesis

[Nihilist Virus]

A religion must contain some kind of supernatural belief.  Most religions contain one or more deities, miracles/magic, and an essence of the self that persists through death.

If the list of oughts and ought nots of secular humanism constitute a religion, then what about law?  Is law also a religion?

By my reckoning, the majority of people with a PhD have no beliefs in deities, miracles/magic, or an essence of the self that persists through death. Therefore such people are without religion regardless of what they believe.

If the standard of education reaches the point where a high school education becomes equivalent to today's PhD, and if you combine this with the trend that we already see of people leaving religion, then the extinction is inevitable.

All we really need is for Islamic nations to modernize because in their current state there is virtually no selective pressure on Islam.

LOL! You post one article from WOPO 2012, listing data from 2008. And another from the Barna Group that has been criticized for their botched data!

Who's pissing on who's leg?

Believe what you want. I am there! In the church and congregation..... so don't tell me anything if you are NOT!

I haven't posted any article. You make less and less sense as time goes on.

[purplepurpose]

Believers are rebels. They aren't content with calm life and permanent death. They are a rare breed of people who wish "eternal" happiness and are ready to pay for it A lot. I think, that's all there is to peaceful believers and its nothing criminal.

[GUBU]

I haven't posted any article.  You make less and less sense as time goes on.

I believe ronedee may have been trying to reply to me, mainly because the "meat" of her response was trying to show that her anecdote was better than my evidence.

As I said last time ronedee, stop pissing on my leg and telling me it's raining. I can see you're wrong.

[Nihilist Virus]

I haven't posted any article.  You make less and less sense as time goes on.

I believe ronedee may have been trying to reply to me, mainly because the "meat" of her response was trying to show that her anecdote was better than my evidence.

As I said last time ronedee, stop pissing on my leg and telling me it's raining. I can see you're wrong.

Lol anecdotal evidence

[The Grand Nudger]

Believers are rebels. They aren't content with calm life and permanent death. They are a rare breed of people who wish "eternal" happiness and are ready to pay for it A lot. I think, that's all there is to peaceful believers and its nothing criminal.

Believers don't pay for a thing, and couldn't even if they wanted to, that's the crux of vicarious redemption Purple. As to being "rebels"..I wasn't aware that the term referred to those who unthinkingly follow in lock-step with cultural orthodoxy...... / shrugs

[Mister Agenda]

A religion must contain some kind of supernatural belief.  Most religions contain one or more deities, miracles/magic, and an essence of the self that persists through death.

Most anthropologists would disagree with your assessment.

If the list of oughts and ought nots of secular humanism constitute a religion, then what about law?  Is law also a religion?

Secular humanism doesn't constitute a religion (and you're misreading me if you think I said it does), nor does law. But religious humanism does, and it contains no supernatural belief.

By my reckoning, the majority of people with a PhD have no beliefs in deities, miracles/magic, or an essence of the self that persists through death. Therefore such people are without religion regardless of what they believe.

That's...interesting, I suppose.

If the standard of education reaches the point where a high school education becomes equivalent to today's PhD, and if you combine this with the trend that we already see of people leaving religion, then the extinction is inevitable.

When that happens, maybe the extinction of religion will be on the horizon. But I don't see why high education levels would induce people to leave religious humanism.

All we really need is for Islamic nations to modernize because in their current state there is virtually no selective pressure on Islam.

I think Islam is under intense selective pressure right now, but I'm not sure that what is being selected for is modernization.

[Nihilist Virus]

A religion must contain some kind of supernatural belief.  Most religions contain one or more deities, miracles/magic, and an essence of the self that persists through death.

Most anthropologists would disagree with your assessment.

If the list of oughts and ought nots of secular humanism constitute a religion, then what about law?  Is law also a religion?

Secular humanism doesn't constitute a religion (and you're misreading me if you think I said it does), nor does law. But religious humanism does, and it contains no supernatural belief.

By my reckoning, the majority of people with a PhD have no beliefs in deities, miracles/magic, or an essence of the self that persists through death. Therefore such people are without religion regardless of what they believe.

That's...interesting, I suppose.

If the standard of education reaches the point where a high school education becomes equivalent to today's PhD, and if you combine this with the trend that we already see of people leaving religion, then the extinction is inevitable.

When that happens, maybe the extinction of religion will be on the horizon. But I don't see why high education levels would induce people to leave religious humanism.  

All we really need is for Islamic nations to modernize because in their current state there is virtually no selective pressure on Islam.

I think Islam is under intense selective pressure right now, but I'm not sure that what is being selected for is modernization.

What is religious humanism, and how do you (or anthropologists) define religion?

[Mister Agenda]

From Wikipedia:

"Religion is a cultural system of behaviors and practices, world views, sacred texts, holy places, ethics, and societal organization that relate humanity to what an anthropologist has called "an order of existence".

"Religious humanism is an integration of humanist ethical philosophy with religious rituals and beliefs that center on human needs, interests, and abilities."

[Nihilist Virus]

From Wikipedia:

"Religion is a cultural system of behaviors and practices, world views, sacred texts, holy places, ethics, and societal organization that relate humanity to what an anthropologist has called "an order of existence".

"Religious humanism is an integration of humanist ethical philosophy with religious rituals and beliefs that center on human needs, interests, and abilities."

Religious rituals? Dafuq?

[Mister Agenda]

From Wikipedia:

"Religion is a cultural system of behaviors and practices, world views, sacred texts, holy places, ethics, and societal organization that relate humanity to what an anthropologist has called "an order of existence".

"Religious humanism is an integration of humanist ethical philosophy with religious rituals and beliefs that center on human needs, interests, and abilities."

Religious rituals? Dafuq?

Some people like them. In the US, Ethical Culture is probably the most prominent version, but you could make a case that Unitarian Universalism amounts to religious humanism in many congregations, particularly those founded as Fellowships. As far as the UU goes (much more common, most cities have one), they attend a service on Sunday morning, there's hymns (but they don't mention Jesus), announcements, an offering (and often half of the collections go to a charity like Planned Parenthood, the Progressive Network, an Animal Shelter, a food bank, homeless assistance, etc.), and a service which is basically a talk on some topic or another. There may be a meditation. Older, more traditional Unitarian churches may be as close to Christian as makes little difference, but many in the South and West established after the Fifties don't have actual prayer or worship. The previous pastor of the UU in my city of Columbia SC was Neal Jones...he's an atheist, so the service was definitely religious humanist while he was around. The interim minister is a little harder to pin down, but her services aren't overtly theistic.