Young Americans Losing Their Religion

[BacktoBasics]

Revisionist???

Revisionist?????

The Crusades never happened? The Inquisition never happened? The Catholic Church never ins uted Jesuits to do their dirty work? People who opposed the church were never burned at the stake for being witches? The Holocaust never happened? The Islamic Empire wasn't built with blood? The Sikhs never warred vs. Hindus?

I could go on, and on, and on, and on, and on . . . but you'll probably post some clever response that only a four year old would consider legitimate.

Read a history book before you talk out of your ass.

You forgot G.I. Joe vs. Cobra?

[spurs_fan_in_exile]

Wow, this thread went 50+ posts without a single REM joke. Looks like I just lost a buck...to myself!

[FaithInOne]

As long as they don't replace this void with Government.

As long as they don't look to idiots like Al Gorebage as their thinking scientific figure heads.

[peewee's lovechild]

You don't have to say "you are an idiot if you think this" to label someone as something derogatory. People, even religious people, can infer meaning based on your viewpoint and arguments. By the way your "therefore, you are an idiot" comment is a logical fallacy, try to argue with me, not just call people names. The point you are supposedly trying to make is completely moot because it's a journey of self discovery, for everyone. The single biggest ally you have in your quest to abolish religion from the world is education, yet you come off as extremely uneducated. If you want to convince someone of something, you need to seek common ground, not berate their life style and way of thinking. Again, I am not religious, and I'm not defending religion, I'm simply pointing out the futility of your argument. You sound like some 16 year old high school student with a chip on his shoulder. Did daddy make you go to sermon on sunday instead of watch the cowboys? Get over it, some people like religion, and you aren't going to change that w/ your weak arguments, name calling, and under handed bashing.

You're talking out of your ass.

You're not a "16 year old high school student" just because you make some posts opposing the mainstream view of religiosity. That would make Richard Dawkins a 16 year old high school student, only that he is an extremely intelligent individual that has more Ph.d's than you will ever have if you lived your life 50 times over.

Once again, I never called anyone an idiot for having faith. I called you and idiot because you said I did. And, you surely are an idiot for talking out of your ass.

However, I will admit that I'm a little harsh on some people only because they don't post anything with any merit at all, especially those who only post biblical texts and things that their minister tells them to repeat.

If you want an example of an intelligent post by those who support religion, see posts made by Extra Stout.

Now, if you have nothing credible to say, then keep your mouth shut.

[peewee's lovechild]

You forgot G.I. Joe vs. Cobra?

I was about to get to that.

[peewee's lovechild]

Wow, this thread went 50+ posts without a single REM joke. Looks like I just lost a buck...to myself!

Hahaha.

Michael Stipe for Pope!!

[peewee's lovechild]

As long as they don't replace this void with Government.

As long as they don't look to idiots like Al Gorebage as their thinking scientific figure heads.

There are scientific minds much greater than that of Al Gore.

He isn't much of a scientific mind to begin with, he's just real good at gathering data.

[I Love Me Some Me]

Wow, this thread went 50+ posts without a single REM joke. Looks like I just lost a buck...to myself!

Was that you in the corner?

[peewee's lovechild]

Was that you in the corner?

In the spotlight?

[ALVAREZ6]

Wow, this thread went 50+ posts without a single REM joke. Looks like I just lost a buck...to myself!

lol, it's the first thing I thought of when I read the le...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_XFMCgeI7c

[j-6]

I agree with the first part of you post, but disagree on the last part.

I think more people, in the near future, will abandon living in fear of offending a god who seems to be extremely unresponsive and begin to live in the now. By abandoning religion, people are free to live their lives in anyway they see fit and live according to what makes them happy.

I see things differently. We need organized religion as a society to placate those that do believe. Some people have to believe in something, anything, just to be motivated to function in the society we're all a part of. Additionally, people want to believe in a life after death. You and I may have made our peace with turning the lights out when the party's over, but I bet we're still in the minority. The beauty of all this is that none of us know. Nobody. If faith causes someone to contribute to society instead of having a pity party that their lives are meaningless, I'm all for it.

Secondly, once religion is marginalized, the faithful will act like a cornered wolverine. Who's more likely to be a zealot, a liberal New York atheist or a Alabama Southern Baptist with a houseful of firearms? We still have money with God's name printed on it and our elected officials swear before his name. None of that will change without pissing all of those people off, and they'll make radical Islam look like a Sunday picnic.

[Dr. Gonzo]

You don't have to say "you are an idiot if you think this" to label someone as something derogatory. People, even religious people, can infer meaning based on your viewpoint and arguments. By the way your "therefore, you are an idiot" comment is a logical fallacy, try to argue with me, not just call people names. The point you are supposedly trying to make is completely moot because it's a journey of self discovery, for everyone. The single biggest ally you have in your quest to abolish religion from the world is education, yet you come off as extremely uneducated. If you want to convince someone of something, you need to seek common ground, not berate their life style and way of thinking. Again, I am not religious, and I'm not defending religion, I'm simply pointing out the futility of your argument. You sound like some 16 year old high school student with a chip on his shoulder. Did daddy make you go to sermon on sunday instead of watch the cowboys? Get over it, some people like religion, and you aren't going to change that w/ your weak arguments, name calling, and under handed bashing.

You are pretty much dead on there.

[peewee's lovechild]

I see things differently. We need organized religion as a society to placate those that do believe. Some people have to believe in something, anything, just to be motivated to function in the society we're all a part of. Additionally, people want to believe in a life after death. You and I may have made our peace with turning the lights out when the party's over, but I bet we're still in the minority. The beauty of all this is that none of us know. Nobody. If faith causes someone to contribute to society instead of having a pity party that their lives are meaningless, I'm all for it.

Secondly, once religion is marginalized, the faithful will act like a cornered wolverine. Who's more likely to be a zealot, a liberal New York atheist or a Alabama Southern Baptist with a houseful of firearms? We still have money with God's name printed on it and our elected officials swear before his name. None of that will change without pissing all of those people off, and they'll make radical Islam look like a Sunday picnic.

Fair enough.

I guess I'm just hoping that we can figure out a way to placate those still hanging on.

But, good points.

[Extra Stout]

I agree with the first part of you post, but disagree on the last part.

I think more people, in the near future, will abandon living in fear of offending a god who seems to be extremely unresponsive and begin to live in the now. By abandoning religion, people are free to live their lives in anyway they see fit and live according to what makes them happy.

This seems naive.

In my experience, the majority of people who claim faith just give it lip service, but simply go on doing whatever they see fit and whatever seems to make them happy in the moment. They are functional atheists already. All they will do is drop the pretense. Maybe you had an upbringing where you were supposed to live in mortal terror of offending a wrathful God. I really, really disagree that such an experience is generalizable.

One thing that could change is that people won't try to sanctify doing whatever they want to do anyway as being God's will. People in power like to do that a lot. Without the leverage of religion (cf. Nietzsche), they'll next turn to ideology. We already see that now.

Really, we're just going to relive the European experience of the 20th century. Hopefully we won't go headlong into various totalitarianisms like they did, but I'm not hopeful. The northeastern and northwestern secular liberals seem pretty benign, but take Jesus out of Alabama and that Confederate cross starts growing tails at right angles on each end.

So, after we go through this phase, the American versions of Foucault, Derrida, et al. will look around and say, "Yeah, that didn't work," nobody will understand what they are talking about, and people will get all nihilistic.

[peewee's lovechild]

So, after we go through this phase, the American versions of Foucault, Derrida, et al. will look around and say, "Yeah, that didn't work," nobody will understand what they are talking about, and people will get all nihilistic.

That is a possibility.

[CuckingFunt]

End Times Harvest. Book it!

how creepy was that?

Very.

[Cane]

Thank the gods for this.

Christianity is one of the worst things about America.