Current Events > Americans' belief in god drops to record lows.....

(+) Yeah! (+)

74 percent believe from this new poll i read. Do you believe that in your lifetime that it could drop to over half don't believe? Just in 2017 like 87 percent said they believed

Does it have something to do with this?

https://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanlewis/2023/07/16/the-brics-go-for-gold/?sh=67b30d9d5eb3

When the boomers die off, I expect a huge sudden drop in believers

Humble_Novice posted...

Does it have something to do with this?

https://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanlewis/2023/07/16/the-brics-go-for-gold/?sh=67b30d9d5eb3

what?

Zikten posted...

When the boomers die off, I expect a huge sudden drop in believers

oh really, you're sure of this?

GranTurismo posted...

oh really, you're sure of this?

Not the guy you asked, but I have a relative who used to be a pastor. Around a decade ago, Protestant churches were starting to think that an entire generation of young people just weren't going to go to church. The few times I've gone to a regular service, the average age has to be 60+. You don't even get a good turnout anymore for Christmas and Easter.

GranTurismo posted...

oh really, you're sure of this?

Sounds like he thinks it will happen, not that he's sure.

I would think that would contribute to a lower percentage

yes. i could ask 1 person i know and it will drop below that...

AbstraktProfSC2 posted...

yes. i could ask 1 person i know and it will drop below that...

what?

Zikten posted...

When the boomers die off, I expect a huge sudden drop in believers

Fair bet. Overall education improves with each generation.

Dark_Arbron posted...

Fair bet. Overall education improves with each generation.

It does? Aren't fewer people going to college now?

GranTurismo posted...

It does? Aren't fewer people going to college now?

I don't know about that, but the Republicans have been attacking education systematically for decades

I don't believe in God personally but this makes me even more thankful to have the opportunity to attend church and be part of their community.

What are Christians even offering? Stop being kind, accepting liberals and come join us, ignore our Bible with us, spread your hate! You too can be a constant hypocrite and act like an asshole in public when you have a Bible to hide behind.

Why aren't people joining our religion?!

It's so easy to be a good Christian and yet so many idiots fuck it up.

Love thy neighbor. Don't be a fucking prick. It's that simple.

and lo, for as the people slowly began to abandon their Father, so, too, did the Father begin to abandon his children

It's hard to believe in an all loving God when things keep getting worse and worse.

MabusIncarnate posted...

What are Christians even offering? Stop being kind, accepting liberals and come join us, ignore our Bible with us, spread your hate! You too can be a constant hypocrite and act like an asshole in public when you have a Bible to hide behind.

Why aren't people joining our religion?!

This too.

Kaiganeer posted...

and lo, for as the people slowly began to abandon their Father, so, too, did the Father begin to abandon his children

He started it.

"Wheneth Hell cometh to Eartheth, thou shallt see with thine eyes, that thy faith was misplacedeth."

Book of William, 19:54.

Looking at the temperatures on the planet right now, hard not to see why faith in God is at an all-time low.

Maybe I'd have believed it during the times before christ or.. idk, a few hundred years ago.

But it's just been too long since god did anything important that was so obviously God and so undeniable they added it to the bible.

Reading the new testament you get the impression from some of the scripture that even back when it was written/spread people expected Christ's return during their life times. that the next huge biblical thing was just around the corner, and everyone would get to witness it.

That and just so many other things, in the bible and observing religious people, make it hard for me to even begin to believe.

GranTurismo posted...

74 percent believe from this new poll i read. Do you believe that in your lifetime that it could drop to over half don't believe? Just in 2017 like 87 percent said they believed

These kind of polls can fluctuate pretty wildly. I think it'll plateau eventually and I don't see it going below 50 percent in my lifetime.

You can't save the faithless when they don't even want to save themselves.

People who question faith normally still say they believe because they don't want to be ostracized

MrResetti posted...

People who question faith normally still say they believe because they don't want to be ostracized

Yeah, honestly. A lot of religious families will lash out and ostracize them if they don't maintain the same faith, not only through childhood, but adulthood. My wife's brother married a super religious girl, he wasn't at all, but joined her church, and a literal percentage of his paycheck is taken out for the church weekly. He maintains to her and her family he believes, he tells me he has to or her family will reject him, he has no option.

I'd assume there are a lot like this also, or children of religious parents that just go through the motions because they are "supposed to"

My mother can't accept the fact that I'm not a Christian. The sad part of it is I'm not an atheist either but she still acts like I am one.

Good riddance. It's not doing any good anyways.

I'm reading stories to my kid from his toddler Bible and he keeps asking me if people really believe this stuff lol.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/4/2/AAACPvAAErnq.jpg

Xatrion posted...

Good riddance. It's not doing any good anyways.

I don't understand how you're able to do much good with all that pessimism. More power to you though.

Vicious_Dios posted...

You can't save the faithless when they don't even want to save themselves.

I don't need saved from a figment of the imagination.

I don't drink.
I don't smoke.
I don't do drugs (hell I don't even like taking my blood pressure medicine).
I don't beat my wife/kids.
I don't have any tattoos (well except for the 6 tiny little glow in the dark dots they gave me for Radiation Therapy).

What exactly do I need saved from other than some peace and quiet when my teenagers start getting loud.

Evangelicals can blame themselves. They've thrown their lot in with a man who'd tick all the boxes for the Antichrist and expect us to take them seriously. A lot of Christianity in America is also rooted in White Supremacy.

God sucks

PT Barnum is often credited with the phrase, "there's a sucker born every minute" however, it was actually the first Pope, St. Peter, who said, "ad stultorum pecuniam".

Barnum just ripped and modernized it

Christians are gonna be VERY grateful they have Seperation of Church and State once they aren't the overwhelming majority anymore.

Or they'll lament their centuries of toil gutting it.

God is dead (good!)

GranTurismo posted...

It does? Aren't fewer people going to college now?

I think it's fewer men these days that are not going to college
-high expectations from parents make them turn away
-struggling academic backgrounds
-leaning towards some physical inducing labor or maybe trade

BigSLM1993 posted...

Evangelicals can blame themselves. They've thrown their lot in with a man who'd tick all the boxes for the Antichrist and expect us to take them seriously. A lot of Christianity in America is also rooted in White Supremacy.

This. Why should I associate myself with people and actions I view as abhorrent? This is no true scottsman fallacy, they are christians.

HANGtheDJ_86 posted...

I don't understand how you're able to do much good with all that pessimism. More power to you though.

People would be less pessimistic if there weren't so many so-called people of faith burning books and spreading blood libels to try to get angry mobs to murder everyone who's LGBTQ.

Funny how they pretend to care so much about the ten commandments, even to the point of wanting them in courtrooms, but that "Thou shalt not bear false witness" one gets easily ignored on the basis of "but I hate them because they're gay/trans, so that makes it okay... God will understand."

GranTurismo posted...

74 percent believe from this new poll i read. Do you believe that in your lifetime that it could drop to over half don't believe? Just in 2017 like 87 percent said they believed

Man that's still a lot. Depending on the surgery you look at only 10-20% of Japanese believe in God (but about 70% have no religion, and most who do are Buddhist, which doesn't require belief in God, so it isn't that surprising).

That so many people are stupid enough to still believe in God is part of why we still have all the problems we have today.

What's the criteria being used for "God" in this polling?

I blame the Christian right

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/3/0/7/AAb05zAAEror.jpg

Belief in a higher power isn't stupid. Those same people who are creating problems would be creating problems without religion.

I can't find the source on this btw, most recent major poll seems to be 81

https://news.gallup.com/poll/393737/belief-god-dips-new-low.aspx

I think America follows Europe's footsteps, and it looks like there is a revitalization of belief in God now after many a few decades of secular thought.

oh no, anyway.

A fear of being ostracized was probably most people biggest deterrent to walking away from religion. But now more and more people seem to not give a damn anymore.

The church's crime and hypocrisy has become pretty common knowldge now due to spcial media.

And more people nowadays are just more accepting of death. Which if you don't fear it or care/believe in a afterlife then religion becomes practically worthless.

not low enough