In America?

This year Starbucks joined a growing list of companies that have decided not to make the holidays all about Christmas, by failing to put Merry Christmas on their cups this year. The few Christians who tried to make a stink about it were met with a resounding [who the f*** cares?] attitude pretty much across the board.

Gay marriage won out to the chagrin of many Christians.

Creationism (or intelligent design), and prayer has been banished from the public schoolroom. .

More and more public places are being forced to remove signs, prayers, or sayings that have specific Christian undertones.

More and more young people identify themselves as non-religious or check [none] in polling questionnaires.

It seems (to me, at least) that young people are much more socially liberal than the older generation.

So while those who are religious still make up the largest group in the country by far, I'm curious if it can be said that religion itself as a whole is in serious decline.

Yes.


I

Chelsea

As long as people form their beliefs based on popular opinion, religion is winning. If religion is defined is a mass cultural opinion. The herd instinct is alive and well in America.

Charlie Sheen?

It is part of the slow but steady decline of superstition, which has always been a mixture of deception, distraction, and wishful thinking. It did not matter that the stories were outlandish. If people were told that they should believe them to be part of a society, they either did, or they pretended to believe them.

And even astrology was a more common belief just a few years ago than it is now.

But religions that include a strong enforcement provision (Islam and Mormons) will be around for a long long time. Believable threats are effective at changing people's behavior. Promises of "everlasting life" (but only after you are dead and decaying) are somewhat less effective. Christianity also had a strong enforcement provision for centuries, but Thomas Jefferson and others disarmed them as part of the "freedom of religion" laws.

I can't believe I forgot to include this in the OP. It was this last news article I read yesterday that caused me to post.

Mormons were resigning from a church in Utah that would not let children of gay parents be baptized. Even the Mormon faithful seem more willing these days to stick up for common sense over religious dogma. Hence the question: Is religion losing?

True, but it seems religion is becoming much less influential. When Mormons start resigning the church because they will not allow the children of gay couples to be baptized, I think that says something pretty powerful. No longer are churches calling the shots with people blindly following along. Members seem more willing to tell religious leaders "NO", whereas before it would have been accepted without question.

Post WWII, about 95% of Americans were Christian/Catholic. Now, those percentages are in the low 70s. In the same time period, Atheism has gone from about 2% to 15% (or higher depending on which poll, but I'll go with the lowest number I found).

The percentages in the those born before WWII are 85%, while it is in the 50s for those under 30. Based on these numbers, the next generation or two will see Christian/Catholics become a minority.

Religion is still "winning" in America in almost all cases. All you need to do to understand that is how much of a story it is when religion does lose to realize what a juggernaut the Church still is in this country. In about 50 years, there won't be a struggle over religion in America because the current young generation will not indoctrinate their children and grandchildren into the Church. Once this link is broken, then the Church will become a powerless splinter in society.

I'm an Atheist, but I'm actually not sure that this will be a good thing for the country as a whole. I would hope that when we lose our Religious identity as a nation, that we don't lose all of our identity as a nation.

Yes I think organized religions are losing their hold over people. I find most places I've lived that it is almost taboo to call yourself religious.

2 days ago: Religious nones are not only growing they're becoming more secular

So at least insofar as "religion" means mostly traditional religion the answer is certainly yes. Maybe it gets more nuanced if you consider religiosity as a broader concept.

Likely. Education levels are also rising worldwide and average wealth goes up as well (even though the news often give another impression), both these things usually spell a decline in religiosity as a trend.

I sure hope so. I don't think many people really believe that garbage. Only the nutjobs. They just pretend to believe out of fear that they'll be ostracized by everyone they know. Now the scales are tipping and people are starting to not be afraid to treat them like the droolers they are. I think it's a good thing. Anyone over the age of 9 who's stupid enough to believe in such outlandish fairy tales and explanations for everything we don't yet know is a disease.

This is false in almost everywhere except a few big cities. Most atheists over the age of 30 have spent their entire lives in the religious "closet".

Just bow your head when everyone else does and keep quiet when everyone else is singing and praying. It's actually pretty easy to pull off in the Midwest, because everyone assumes that your Christian unless you get in their face otherwise.

Where do you live/work that people are always singing and praying? Lol, I've never seen that outside of church. Christian shaming is pretty big in the media and hollywood and they are the culture makers. I can think of countless times I've heard of someone in real life referred to as a "crazy Christian." I can't think of any times someone was referred to as a crazy atheist or something like that. Besides, being an atheist or christian isn't something you wear on your sleeve, you can choose to not talk about it.

Religion will probably keep declining but it will be a long process. I also expect religion will adapt somewhat, become less dogmatic. There is undoubtedly a demand for a sense of purpose in life and religion can provide that.

Yes, to the deists and nondescript theists.

And you can't really downplay the advent of the internet in the importance of brining down the religious numbers. In addition to being able to look up any fact at any time and say "huh, x holy book is totally wrong about this thing we know with 100% certainty now" it allows those who have been doubtful all their life to find like-minded communities where doubt turns to outright rejection of the outdated policies of the books.

This is the main reason the none numbers have shot up in the last decade. More access to information and community for non believers.

Absolutely correct. Or, as we used to repeat, "The darkness cannot overcome the light".

Hence the NFL and fantasy football. I would say these two things combined have hurt organized religion possibly even more than science. At least as far as church attendance is concerned.

The agnostic approach should be a sweet middle ground. Absolute indifference without offending them to the extent of creating moral concerns. :-)

Every bit helps!

I

Chelsea

Christmas Blend is decent enough.

Swifties and Beliebers. The old structures are still there in collective worship.

They just try to make more meaningful use of it than simply for their own gratification.

Being also human, they have their own lives too. :/

No.

But at the same time, there are some incredibly alarming extreme positions held by some of the people that are involved in leading / governing the country, including presidential candidates.

Just a couple of weeks back, bigot Pastor Kevin Swanson held a conference (the National Religious Liberties Conference) that was attended by Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, and Bobby Jindal (so, two presidential candidates, anyway...), which included him expressing views on executing homosexuals.


Alarming video from about 6 minutes in: http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-s...s-563178051820

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/conten...lly-appearance

btw, that conference has Ted Cruz declaring "Any president who doesn't begin every day on his knees isn't fit to be Commander-in-Chief of this country."

Bill Clinton had a similar view regarding his interns.