Huge Rise In US Religious Disaffiliation

metatron

http://www.technologyreview.com/view/526111/how-the-internet-is-taking-away-americas-religion/

An interesting analysis of the view that the internet is killing off religious affiliation. At any rate, the trend is there, whatever the cause.

metatron

snowbird

Have you read some of the comments following religious articles?

The questions attacking God, the Bible, Jesus of Nazareth are the same ones to be found on here.

People are simply fed up with anything that is remotely suggestive of the above three.

Sylvia

Well, atheism seems to be growing but I don't know if the hostility expressed about the Bible/Jesus is really a cause of a general decline. You can disbelieve in something without hating it or even feeling strongly negative. You just say, 'this doesn't work for me' and let it go. I don't comprehend the sort of 'evangelical zeal' that some people have against Christianity in general. Watchtowerism,........well, that's different!

OTOH, maybe the internet is changing our culture so as to demand transparency and results. Less pie in the sky and empty promises.

metatron

snowbird

Yes, and then you find those voices that express the same sentiments as yours, and you think, I'm not alone in feeling this way.

Group think is a powerful motivator to action.

People are fed up, I tell you.

Sylvia

Crazyguy

I think 2000 years of hope and faith that someone from above is going to rescue us from all that is bad and death itself has run its time. In the days of the bible for those that believe the bible. Those people got proof that the person was from god by prophecies or miracles, well its time to put up or shut up, that what i think most people are now thinking.

DJS

Met,

Nice article. Nice analysis. I didn't know that the rise of the 'Net correlates so strongly to a decline in religiosity. The world wide web is a powerful tool. Thanks.

Pistoff

I wonder if the reasons people are leaving religion are just as complex as why they stay.

I think some do it because they believe and feel it is a must; others stay for the community.

I think Joseph Campbell has a valid point, that modern man has debunked his myths and is suffering the loss of what myth did for ancient man.

Giordano

Here's some data that may frame this discussion from Pew.

http://www.pewforum.org/2012/10/09/nones-on-the-rise/

“Nones” on the Rise

The number of Americans who do not identify with any religion continues to grow at a rapid pace. One-fifth of the U.S. public – and a third of adults under 30 – are religiously unaffiliated today, the highest percentages ever in Pew Research Center polling.

In the last five years alone, the unaffiliated have increased from just over 15% to just under 20% of all U.S. adults. Their ranks now include more than 13 million self-described atheists and agnostics (nearly 6% of the U.S. public), as well as nearly 33 million people who say they have no particular religious affiliation (14%).3

One thing that is striking is that while Non's are increasing at a regular pace, there is hardly any perceptible trend in the percentage of people who express atheist or agnostic beliefs. In part because they might not feel comfortable in expressing that point of view.

On this forum I feel a huge majority are not only not looking for another religion to join but have also stopped beliving in a god. The JW experience definitely posions the well.

FlyingHighNow

My take on this is that people who were children of the 70s and on didn't take their kids to church. Then those kids grew up and didn't take their kids to church. My daughter didn't take her children. I know a lot of people who simply never did go to church. It seems more a product of modern times when church stopped being the center for activity in any given town.

jam

Why people are leaving. "Virginia Christian school asks 'tomboy' to

leave. Sunnie Kahle is 8 years old. A letter to her folks from the school,

"the school can deny enrollment to applicants for condoning "sexual

immorality," homosexuality or alternative gender identity. Principal Bowman

wrote" we believe that unless Sunnie as well as her family clearly

understand that God has made her female and her dress and behavior

need to follow suit with God-ordained identity.

Sunnie's cut her hair to donate it to a program that provides wigs for

cancer patients.

Huge Rise In US Religious Disaffiliation

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