[Discussion] Religion's Role in the 21st Century

[Livewire]

Intelligently Discuss Religion's role in the modern, 21st Century World. How Much influence does Religion still have in everyday life? Are People still Religeous as they once were?, And What can be attributed to the decline of its power/influence? And How has Religion played a hand in World Events/Politics in the past few centuries? Can Science and the Church ever reconcile their differences?



Possible talking points include, But not limited to:

• Argument For/Against Religion
• Creationism Vs. The Big Bang
• Role In everyday modern Life
• Faith vs. Reason
• Religion in the future
• Science Vs. Religion
• The role of the traditional Church
• Islam's situation
• Judaism
• Hinduism
• Sikhism/Jainism
• Atheism/Deism
• Buddhism- The 14th Dalai Lama
• Inter-Faith Cooperation

Article from Newsweek:

According to the American Religious Identification Survey that got Mohler's attention, the percentage of self-identified Christians has fallen 10 percentage points since 1990, from 86 to 76 percent. The Jewish population is 1.2 percent; the Muslim, 0.6 percent. A separate Pew Forum poll echoed the ARIS finding, reporting that the percentage of people who say they are unaffiliated with any particular faith has doubled in recent years, to 16 percent; in terms of voting, this group grew from 5 percent in 1988 to 12 percent in 2008—roughly the same percentage of the electorate as African-Americans. (Seventy-five percent of unaffiliated voters chose Barack Obama, a Christian.) Meanwhile, the number of people willing to describe themselves as atheist or agnostic has increased about fourfold from 1990 to 2009, from 1 million to about 3.6 million. (That is about double the number of, say, Episcopalians in the United States.)






Meaningful Quote:

"God has no religion"

-Mohatma Gandhi

​

 

[bna_li]

Are we even allowed to talk about religon?

 

[Livewire]

Are we even allowed to talk about religon?

tl;dr: Sexual and religious topics are now allowed again in Other Chat, just don't get out of hand and cause problems and it'll all be good.

Thanks,
PC Higher Staff __________________

We are now. It's in the announcements on top of the page.

 

[poopnoodle]

~note: broad topic, so i limited my post to the Christian religion and it's influence on modern America. feel free to expand discussion from my post, i just didn't know where to start xD

Sexual and religious topics are now allowed again in Other Chat, just don't get out of hand and cause problems and it'll all be good.

*_* it's beautiful *_*

i'm not religious, but i do live in an area where religion (Christianity in particular) is a prominent influence on political perspective. i sincerely believe that religion can be the arch-nemesis of reason, and if you live in the US you see it all the time-- the bible dictating a plethora of social issues that, i think, shouldn't even be considered political. i fail to see how the process of removing an embryo from the womb is any of the state's business, i fail to see where the government gets off denying equal rights to an exceptionally large chunk of our population and treating them like second rate citizens in their own country. despite the fact that our country is not founded on Christian principles, despite the establishment of church and state separation, Christian doctrine still manages to govern a lot of heavy issues that stick out in our society. i certainly acknowledge and accept that there will always be disagreements but that doesn't mean there can't be unity-- this blatant pushing of personal doctrines onto an individual/group of people through the government is really disheartening.

 

[Livewire]

~note: broad topic, so i limited my post to the Christian religion and it's influence on modern America. feel free to expand discussion from my post, i just didn't know where to start xD

*_* it's beautiful *_*

i'm not religious, but i do live in an area where religion (Christianity in particular) is a prominent influence on political perspective. i sincerely believe that religion can be the arch-nemesis of reason, and if you live in the US you see it all the time-- the bible dictating a plethora of social issues that, i think, shouldn't even be considered political. i fail to see how the process of removing an embryo from the womb is any of the state's business, i fail to see where the government gets off denying equal rights to an exceptionally large chunk of our population and treating them like second rate citizens in their own country. despite the fact that our country is not founded on Christian principles, despite the establishment of church and state separation, Christian doctrine still manages to govern a lot of heavy issues that stick out in our society. i certainly acknowledge and accept that there will always be disagreements but that doesn't mean there can't be unity-- this blatant pushing of personal doctrines onto an individual/group of people through the government is really disheartening.

I pretty much agree with everything you just said. I couldn't have put it any better myself, imo.

 

[-Jared-]

~note: broad topic, so i limited my post to the Christian religion and it's influence on modern America. feel free to expand discussion from my post, i just didn't know where to start xD

*_* it's beautiful *_*

i'm not religious, but i do live in an area where religion (Christianity in particular) is a prominent influence on political perspective. i sincerely believe that religion can be the arch-nemesis of reason, and if you live in the US you see it all the time-- the bible dictating a plethora of social issues that, i think, shouldn't even be considered political. i fail to see how the process of removing an embryo from the womb is any of the state's business, i fail to see where the government gets off denying equal rights to an exceptionally large chunk of our population and treating them like second rate citizens in their own country. despite the fact that our country is not founded on Christian principles, despite the establishment of church and state separation, Christian doctrine still manages to govern a lot of heavy issues that stick out in our society. i certainly acknowledge and accept that there will always be disagreements but that doesn't mean there can't be unity-- this blatant pushing of personal doctrines onto an individual/group of people through the government is really disheartening.

Oddly enough, I consider myself deeply religious (Christian, you could say), and I agree primarily with what you are saying. The only thing I would disagree with is the arch-nemesis comment. While it has the potential to be antagonistic to reason, I don't think it is inherently antagonistic. I think one can be both reasonable and religious at the same time.

EDIT: After reading Yuoaman's post, I felt I should add that I totally agree with him. That is one thing that I think separates me from a lot of Christians, is that I don't think I should be trying to force someone to become a Christian. What you want to believe is up to you; I just choose to be a Christian.

 

[Yuoaman]

I'm a definite advocate for secularism. Religion is a deeply personal thing, and should never influence how a government is run, or the decisions made by people in the government.

I also don't think people should try to force their own beliefs onto others, cultures have died because groups forced their ideals onto new peoples, and that just isn't right. It's no one else's business what I, or anyone else believes in.

 

[I Laugh at your Misfortune!]

I'm a secularist first and a weak atheist second. (please note that 'weak' is not to be interpreted literally despite my puny muscles). I also feel that religion's role in society is decreasing, at least on this side of the pond. The recent Papal visit, for example, brought up complaints from quite a lot of people that it was a waste of taxpayers' money. Whether or not this true is not my point - my point is, can you imagine that happening ten or twenty years ago? Not to such a degree, at least. The number of agnostics is sharply rising and the atheist population is growing steadily. That said, Islam is also rapidly growing in the UK, so perhaps it is a little naive to assume that the loss of importance of the Christian church is equivalent to the loss of importance of religion in general.

Well, rambling over.

 

[Livewire]

I'm a definite advocate for secularism. Religion is a deeply personal thing, and should never influence how a government is run, or the decisions made by people in the government.

I also don't think people should try to force their own beliefs onto others, cultures have died because groups forced their ideals onto new peoples, and that just isn't right. It's no one else's business what I, or anyone else believes in.

I agree again. ^^

I think people are beginning to realize that- That religion is more of a personal thing, between one's self and whichever God they believe in. I know a bunch of people that pray alone, at home or in a secluded area now, and have dropped going to church all together.

At least in the United States, secularism is beginning to win, (Although France is many years ahead of us) look at the removal of the 10 Commandments and other religious objects from Federal lands. 30-50 years ago that would be considered inconceivable.

I'm a secularist first and a weak atheist second. (please note that 'weak' is not to be interpreted literally despite my puny muscles). I also feel that religion's role in society is decreasing, at least on this side of the pond. The recent Papal visit, for example, brought up complaints from quite a lot of people that it was a waste of taxpayers' money. Whether or not this true is not my point - my point is, can you imagine that happening ten or twenty years ago? Not to such a degree, at least. The number of agnostics is sharply rising and the atheist population is growing steadily. That said, Islam is also rapidly growing in the UK, so perhaps it is a little naive to assume that the loss of importance of the Christian church is equivalent to the loss of importance of religion in general.

Well, rambling over.

I agree, a few decades ago this would be unimaginable, although the Christian church has been declining ever so slightly for awhile now, ever since Martin Luther and the 95 theses, the Renaissance etc, Now with the Scandals. :/

I still think Organized Religion as a whole is declining, the UK's Islamic population might be rising, but elewhwere it's being downplayed heavily. Turkey and France would be good examples of secular agendas being pushed. (Turkey wants NATO membership I believe)

 

[Ho-Oh]

I'm Christian, though not a big one or anything. Never really went to church either. The way I see it is that religion is downplayed a lot, I guess, except for Muslims, etc, who have strong traditions and such to uphold. By this I mean if you ask someone their religion they wouldn't really be that proud of it, in today's society, aside from those who are traditiona-- I hope what I'm saying is understood.

I have no problems with what other people choose to believe and I think just believing in God and having some greater meaning is good enough for me. :D;

 

[Livewire]

I'm Christian, though not a big one or anything. Never really went to church either. The way I see it is that religion is downplayed a lot, I guess, except for Muslims, etc, who have strong traditions and such to uphold. By this I mean if you ask someone their religion they wouldn't really be that proud of it, in today's society, aside from those who are traditiona-- I hope what I'm saying is understood.

I have no problems with what other people choose to believe and I think just believing in God and having some greater meaning is good enough for me. :D;

That's essentially my story too, I even went to a Catholic Private elementary school for 6 years, yet I was never really religious. I think the people that are proud of their religion, are very, very traditional and strict in their faith.

 

[Timbjerr]

I was raised in a heavily Catholic environment and I know a lot about church doctrine and dogma. That said, I recently drifted away from the Catholic church politically because a lot of their dogma directly contradicts the philosophies of Jesus Christ himself. XD

Despite that, I'm still a Christian in the loosest sense of the word. I believe in a creation God, however overstated His power may be, I believe that Jesus Christ was His earthly incarnation, and I live my life by Jesus's commandment of "Love one another as I have loved you." That being said, I don't like being associated with those other so-called "Fundamentalist Christians" that exist purely to give religion in general a bad name. You know the type I'm talking about.

As for the poll at the top of the page, I believe that people who have a faith will keep it and pass it on to their next generation and those that don't have faith will pass their lack of faith to their next generation and considering the general trend for youth to revolt against their parents, there will be children of faithful parents growing into atheists/agnostics and children of faithless parents growing up to join a religion. either way, numbers will remain fairly stagnant in the future even if religion shows its head in politics less as the current trend continues.

 

[Sora's Nobody]

In the country i live in no one is deeply religious, but religion is part of our lifes. I'm gonna be confirmed next year even thought I and 3/4 of my class doesent believe in god, at all. Don't hate me, but the whole god thing is a bit weird.. I mean a bearded dude living on a cloud who made the world in 7 days and made the animals out of clay.. I belive in the Big Bang, Something with evidence.

Something to discuss too, is the whole Christianity Vs the other religions (excluding the ones who worship the same god as in christianity) Isn't it a bit weird that all the relgions with several gods have been pushed away like that? And anyone who belived those things were wrong, because there ONLY is one god. How can anyone say that?

 

[Livewire]

I was raised in a heavily Catholic environment and I know a lot about church doctrine and dogma. That said, I recently drifted away from the Catholic church politically because a lot of their dogma directly contradicts the philosophies of Jesus Christ himself. XD

Despite that, I'm still a Christian in the loosest sense of the word. I believe in a creation God, however overstated His power may be, I believe that Jesus Christ was His earthly incarnation, and I live my life by Jesus's commandment of "Love one another as I have loved you." That being said, I don't like being associated with those other so-called "Fundamentalist Christians" that exist purely to give religion in general a bad name. You know the type I'm talking about.

As for the poll at the top of the page, I believe that people who have a faith will keep it and pass it on to their next generation and those that don't have faith will pass their lack of faith to their next generation and considering the general trend for youth to revolt against their parents, there will be children of faithful parents growing into atheists/agnostics and children of faithless parents growing up to join a religion. either way, numbers will remain fairly stagnant in the future even if religion shows its head in politics less as the current trend continues.

Timbjerr <3. you're awesome.

I Think people have really begun to sculpt their own beliefs, basically they adopt the views/dogmas/traditions they like, and they don't acknowledge the ones they disagree with. Basically I see Christianity as splitting even further, into even more specific denominations than just Catholic/Methodist/Lutheran/Fundamentalist, etc.

 

[Timbjerr]

Timbjerr <3. you're awesome.

I Think people have really begun to sculpt their own beliefs, basically they adopt the views/dogmas/traditions they like, and they don't acknowledge the ones they disagree with. Basically I see Christianity as splitting even further, into even more specific denominations than just Catholic/Methodist/Lutheran/Fundamentalist, etc.

That's just a natural side-effect of free thought, is it not? Even though I was brought up, baptized, and ultimately confirmed in the Catholic church, I'm not a very big fan of organized religion as it tends to become a perversion of the idea of God so that they can steer their parishioners onto whatever is the most convenient political platform for the one in charge of the group.

I should reiterate that this is a tendency and doesn't apply to all churches. there are a lot of churches/Synagogues/Mosques that aren't corrupt. They offer spiritual guidance and advice and do a lot for their community. I just happen to prefer and would advocate finding God before finding a religion, not the other way around.

...and I've always been aware of how awesome I am thank you very much. ^_^

 

[Esper]

I honestly can't see religion becoming more important to (Western) society as a whole in the furute. I see it becoming more marginalized and/or radicalized, mostly among impoverished groups of people since religion is free and acts like a gateway for people with political agendas to gather a following. I don't anticipate large movements of people looking for a spiritual enlightenment so as much as a way to cope with the bad things in their lives. A crutch, if you will. One that unscrupulous people will take advantage of.

I do want to put in my $0.02 on the religion vs. science topic. I do feel like there is some incompatability, but I don't follow the idea that science is directly responsible for religion's decline as much as I'd say that there has been a slow shift in priorities and worldview that's been happening for several hundred years and that this simultaneously gave science its boost while diminishing religion's place in people's lives. Two effects of the same cause.

 

[dragoniteuser]

Religion is outdated, contervative and not flexible!
People are getting smarter, more educated, and less naive!
Thus Religion starts loosing it's influence until it finally looses it at all, and dissapears, cause there won't be any need for it in the world!
This will not happen so fast though...

 

[Rich Boy Rob]

I'm a secularist first and a weak atheist second. (please note that 'weak' is not to be interpreted literally despite my puny muscles). I also feel that religion's role in society is decreasing, at least on this side of the pond. The recent Papal visit, for example, brought up complaints from quite a lot of people that it was a waste of taxpayers' money. Whether or not this true is not my point - my point is, can you imagine that happening ten or twenty years ago? Not to such a degree, at least. The number of agnostics is sharply rising and the atheist population is grow
ing steadily. That said, Islam is also rapidly growing in the UK, so perhaps it is a little naive to assume that the loss of importance of the Christian church is equivalent to the loss of importance of religion in general.

Well, rambling over.

Quoted because of Englandness.
I think religion has definitely dropped considerably in political power. Non-religious...ness is also the 2nd most popular belief in Britain nowadays, Islam may be growing in the UK, as you say, but it is still dwarfed by the amount of unreligious. The fact that religion (Christianity in particular) is no longer taught as truth in school (outside catholic churches anyway) is probably a major contributor to this.
As for where organized religion will be in the next 20-30 years, I think it's importance/power will be hugely decreased, almost to non-existence (in the western world obviously), due to this largely unreligious generation not preaching religion to their children like was done in the past.

Woohoo for completely unthoughtout rambling!

 

[txteclipse]

The more we cut out faith due to our need for a "progressive, fact-based society," the more we'll wonder why everything's going wrong.

Of course, if we can realize that it's not religion itself, but the abuse of religion that causes problems, then there might be some hope for us still.

 

[Rich Boy Rob]

The more we cut out faith due to our need for a "progressive, fact-based society," the more we'll wonder why everything's going wrong.

Of course, if we can realize that it's not religion itself, but the abuse of religion that causes problems, then there might be some hope for us still.

Why would lack of faith cause "everything to go wrong"?