Social evolution happens. While they technically still exist, really how many flat earthers are there?
For all intents and purposes, religion will one day make about as much sense to society as a whole.
i realize that many here still have a form of spirituality or faith, and i mean no disrespect to those individuals.
i suppose i am posting this question to those, like myself, who have come to the conclusion that religion in general is a major hindrance to the progress of our species and needs to be put aside so that we can advance to our full potential.
so my question is, do you think this will ever actually happen, and how do you think we can get there?
Social evolution happens. While they technically still exist, really how many flat earthers are there?
For all intents and purposes, religion will one day make about as much sense to society as a whole.
one reason is because the governing body's policies allow them to run loose in the congregation with their secrecy/kangaroo courts.
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to keep jehovah's name untarnished(organization sock puppet) they have put the little rank and file member at risk.. one member of the gb was a child molester.. sexual repression also seems to aggravate the situation and make matters worse.. the governing body main concern is not children but how to keep the scam going and so if they can get the victim to shut up and not go to the police as it offers a temporary fix.. etc.....
according to this article, a recent pew research concluded that until 2050, an estimated cumulative net number of 65.050.000 will opt out of the christian faith, and the trend is accelerating.
on the other hand, the "unaffiliated" will have a net growth of 61.490.000.. eden.
What Phizzy said is basically about right, even in the US, (at least on either coast, maybe not the Midwest or deep south, as much).
Religious people have been in the minority for quite some time, and for the most part, the particularly religious are considered misfits. Many claim a religion, but pretty much interpret their "religion" they way they want to, and this has been this way at least as long as I have been around, (since the '70s). It is likely that fewer people today "identify" with a religion, because they have a greater degree of honesty about it.
Despite how the USA may appear to the rest of the world, most people are not religious fanatics by any stretch. The main issue here is the minority on the religious right have a disproportionately large voice in our political system, due to the way our state representation works. When this is fueled by a plutocracy that preys on the uneducated for its own gain, you have what you see from abroad looking at the USA. (Obviously, this should be its own thread, didn't mean to hijack).
d4g
found the latest copies next to the toilet {witnesses must have visited my wife} and had a look after not reading anything for a year.
its a pamphlet not a magazine!
only a few pages long with shallow articles.it felt like my "spiritual food" was now those cheap home delivered diet t.v meals!!
Witness007 - What happened to the solid and deep material?
Was there ever any?
d4g
it's hard enough for businesses to enter these areas the government once had to offer up tax breaks to service them.
in watts, california it took decades for city residents to get a grocery store after the thugs burned their businesses to the ground.
you can see the insanity taking place, when you allow mobs and fools to burn building down nothing good comes from it.
Simon-That's because I didn't claim that. The riots are a reaction to perceived bias and shootings. Shootings are a consequence of having so many guns. If cops are expecting guns to be drawn then some are going to be quicker to draw theirs. The chances of accidental / over-reactive shooting incidents is an inevitability.\
This is a good point, but requires people to take a step back and understand the containing system, (the environment within the USA and its gun policies and how they relate to violence overall), and the contained system, (the actual immediate system that is causing the violence). Most people will probably not take this "big picture" view into consideration.
Hint: The big picture matters
d4g
inherited religiosity: what it means for how most believers believe.
by yoginder sikand.
03 april, 2012countercurrents.org.
Good article.
It has a lot to do with personality types, also. Guardian types, (a broad MBTI category that includes ISTJs, ESFJs, etc.), make up about 40% of the population, (the largest broad category). These types have a natural tendency, (more than most), to uphold traditions, including the religion of their parents. They tend not to be the best independent thinkers by nature, and are likely the least negatively affected by cognitive dissonance, (so they don't really feel the pressure to fix any mental conflict). These are the types it typically takes a personal event to rock their world hard enough to make them "think"...
Not sure if this is good or bad news, but likely is reality.
d4g
credit goes to mike & kim.. .. https://youtu.be/yj3x6wjrsaq .
.. .. atlantis!.
Did the couple eating lunch together @3:31 have a chaperone?
we were waiting for my mother in law to come out of surgery.not much was talked about on "spiritual" matters (since i haven't been to a meeting in years).however, i got to hear about :government conspiracies to shut down alternative energy.. gmos are bad.
gmos are bad.
gmo's are bad!!!
Brokeback Watchtower - "Government conspiracies to shut down alternative energy. GMOs are bad. GMOs are BAD. GMO'S ARE BAD!!!! Poor Dr. Oz is being persecuted for speaking the truth about the food we eat."
Vidiot:JWs (particularly older ones) seem to be especially susceptible to right-wing conspiracy theories, mostly because the "everything is bad everywhere"-style fear-mongering affirms and reinforces the WT worldview.
In other words, pretty much all fundies are susceptible to the same amygdala triggering nonsense. Big surprise.
d4g
its a rainy day and have been reading posts.. i would like to respond to the comments of those still in, post to those who have decided to leave.. what ever you have been told or may think about what will happen without "the truth" , is not true.
my life without the wbts is fantastic.
no stress, live in a beautiful place, great new friends and total peace of mind.
I know people who have left the Witnesses and they're lives are in shambles. They needed structure and without it they are lost. I know people who have left and they are fine. Strictly speaking from my own extended family: all the ones that have left are all screwed up.
It's called self-fulfilling prophesy. Of course, if someone is browbeat their whole life, told they are sinful, imperfect scum deserving of death, (especially if they leave), in addition to being unprepared for real life, with no education, no prospects for improvement, and also believe it is wrong to want to improve their life... Isn't it kind of obvious someone in this situation would be set up to fail? Duh...
d4g
so, the anti-gmo movement scored another victory today.
chipotle has opted to only use non-gmo food items.. hooray for them.
i'm pretty neutral on the subject, mostly because, other than questionable treatment of farmers, i have seen no evidence to avoid gmo's for health reasons.. basically, my neutrality boils down to the stance that i'll buy non-gmo, so long as the price is reasonable.
What Viviane said, at least from a health perspective.
However, also because of evolution, any direct modification to the genetic makeup of an organism, could change evolutionary patterns that have long term effects on the ecosystem overall. Not that this is by necessity an issue, just part of what happens with evolution. Sometimes good, sometimes bad, sometimes no known immediate effect.
Think Africanized bees. When African honeybees were introduced to Europe and North America in the 1950s to improve honey production, it was not expected these bees would take over European bee populations, and produce so-called "killer" bees. By the 1970s, these relatively aggressive bees were overpowering European bee populations, and replacing them, earning the name "killer". At that time it was thought these would potentially become a serious threat to humans. That threat was unsubstantiated.
Longer term, beekeepers have adapted, and found ways to keep these bees in their farms, and use them for productive honey producing purposes. Likely, any evolutionary change forced by GMO will force some adaptation in the future, at the worst.
d4g