Decline of religion

[The Grand Nudger]

They'll just import child predators from overseas.

[Fake Messiah]

They'll just import child predators from overseas.

They already are, but, apparently, that is not a viable solution

In order to combat the lack of clergy, Irish priests are looking for help abroad. Some are contracting younger, foreign priests from places such as India and Africa to help deal with the workload.

But this is only postponing the inevitable, some priests believe, and the focus should be on preparing the laity to take up parish roles such as on parish finance committees and leading funerals and weddings.

[Fake Messiah]

Māori atheism on the rise: the legacy of colonisation is driving a decline in traditional Christian beliefs

Religious beliefs among Māori have shifted significantly over the past two decades.

The number of Māori identifying as having “no religion” in the census between 2006 and 2018 increased from 36.5% to 53.5%. Māori affiliation with Christianity has fallen from 46.2% to 29.9%.

Most participants framed their rejection of religion as an expression of resistance against the colonial systems of belief.

In fact, participants’ ideas of “religion” were primarily shaped by their experience of various Christian denominations and their knowledge of the Christian missionary history in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Accordingly, most of the people we spoke with viewed religion as a colonial tool for the oppression of Māori people and culture. Another participant noted:

I’ve only become very angry against religion over the last five years after I found out what they’ve done to my culture […] We’ve lost a lot of our culture from the Anglican missionary societies […] Removing one’s culture and then assimilating them into religion is […] like a double-edged sword of colonisation.

Some interviewees spoke about how Christianity had been used as a way to exert cultural superiority, labelling Indigenous beliefs and practices as “evil”.

Others argued that the God of the Bible is not indigenous to Aotearoa, but rather a creation myth from the Middle East and therefore inherently irrelevant to Māori people.

For most participants, “atheism” equated to non-belief in the existence of God and the rejection of monotheistic traditions, specifically Christianity.

In other words, being a Māori atheist did not necessarily mean the rejection of all supernatural beliefs.

While some individuals were confident in their non-belief in all supernatural phenomena, others were either ambivalent towards certain wairua (spirit, soul) beliefs or emphasised the need to understand Māori beliefs as metaphors for a way to live.

https://theconversation.com/maori-atheis...efs-214701

[Fake Messiah]

Ordinary parishioners to oversee funerals for first time in Catholic diocese due to lack of priests in Ireland

Traditionally, Catholic funerals are led by a priest as the ceremony usually includes Mass, which can only be said by a priest. However, due to the decline in vocations and the lack of priests in Ireland, the church is introducing new lay ministries and adapting services to offset the lack of manpower.

The 40 funeral ministers in Clogher will operate in 12 parishes. Other parishes in the diocese, which has a wide geographical spread, encompassing all of Co Monaghan, most of Co Fermanagh along with portions of Tyrone, Donegal, Louth and Cavan, have indicated their willingness to nominate people for another training course for lay funeral ministers in the Spring of next year.

Last July, Bishop Duffy wrote to the people of his diocese warning them that the figures indicated that in less than 20 years there will be fewer than 10 priests covering all of its parishes and churches and at most, there will be just one priest ordained in the next seven years.

Encouraging lay people to embrace a different way of doing things where laity and priests work together, he warned, “We cannot afford to wait any longer!”

Earlier this year, Bishop Donal McKeown warned that very soon it might “no longer be the norm” for every individual to have a Mass as part of their funeral.

https://m.independent.ie/irish-news/ordi...70616.html

[Ahriman]

Māori atheism on the rise: the legacy of colonisation is driving a decline in traditional Christian beliefs

Religious beliefs among Māori have shifted significantly over the past two decades.

Just as a quick aside, you know that little line above the A in Māori? Yeah, why is that necessary? Who thinks that little line should be taken into consideration every single time this word is pronounced, or any other word that has letters with little lines?

[Fake Messiah]

Just as a quick aside, you know that little line above the A in Māori? Yeah, why is that necessary?

It's a macron so that you pronounce the word Māori with respect, and not how Christians (missionaries) pronounce it as "savage pagans".

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Māori atheism on the rise: the legacy of colonisation is driving a decline in traditional Christian beliefs

Religious beliefs among Māori have shifted significantly over the past two decades.

Just as a quick aside, you know that little line above the A in Māori? Yeah, why is that necessary? Who thinks that little line should be taken into consideration every single time this word is pronounced, or any other word that has letters with little lines?

It's necessary because stupid people (or at least, the grammatically ignorant) should know how to pronounce things. Not everything needs to be Anglicized to accommodate waterheads like you.

Boru

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Just as a quick aside, you know that little line above the A in Māori? Yeah, why is that necessary?

It's a macron so that you pronounce the word Māori with respect, and not how Christians (missionaries) pronounce it as "savage pagans".

The number of tourists we get who pronounce it 'may-OR-ee' is stunning. Hurts my ears every time I hear it.

Boru

[SeniorCitizen]

Atheists have taken over the social activities of the church in Ireland. A smart move ... rather than attempt to dismantle the church they've taken control of it. Atheist women now run things. This is very noticeable in small towns. Maybe Sinead O'Conner's outburst had something to do with it?

[Fake Messiah]

Atheists have taken over the social activities of the church in Ireland. A smart move ... rather than attempt to dismantle the church they've taken control of it. Atheist women now run things. This is very noticeable in small towns. Maybe Sinead O'Conner's outburst had something to do with it?

Not atheists, but Christians who are not clergy. But look at it this way: the Church could have perhaps had priests if they let women ordain into priesthood, but no. The Catholic Church would rather have laypeople ordain mass and other rites than let women be priests.

Besides, to me this seems like a step forward: why wouldn't laypeople do the rites like funerals and baptisms, or, in other words, why would Christians need people who are better (holier) than the rest, and just do the stuff they need themselves in the family?