Who's winning...the religious or the secular? (ritual, minority, evolve)

[Faint]

Do you think the world in general is moving more towards a religious state of being, a secular one, or neither?

[lunamoth]

What's the time frame?

lunamoth

[Bishka]

Originally Posted by Faint

Do you think the world in general is moving more towards a religious state of being, a secular one, or neither?

Neither. I don't know if there are any specific statistics on this, but I believe it's neither, we are sort of in a state of limbo, but if you'd ask me just from observance, I'd say secular, but then again, I might say religious--considering on where I live.

[GeneCosta]

Originally Posted by Faint

Do you think the world in general is moving more towards a religious state of being, a secular one, or neither?

Over the next 100 years, I see the Middle East and Latin America becoming more secular. It's hard to tell concerning North America, since religion and secularism are somehow at war with another , but in West Europe I see secularism continuing to climb.

[Sunstone]

Originally Posted by Faint

Do you think the world in general is moving more towards a religious state of being, a secular one, or neither?

I suspect religiosity is a manifestation of several basic, genetically based, human traits. Therefore, until our genes change, which shall never happen to our species so long as it remains our species, we will remain a religious member of the chimpanzee line. That is, genuinely secular folk are and will always be a minority of humans, probably concentrated mostly in the West, especially Europe.

Why Europe? Because of the European Enlightenment, for one thing.

There has for at least a century been a popular notion in some circles that the world is or shall become more secular. I believe the notion is largely false. A minority of people might be becoming progressively more secular -- scientists for instance -- but the vast majority of people remain about as religious as they've always been.

IMHO, none of this is going to end anytime soon until the Great Cosmic Joke calls all of us super chimps home, thus making way for the rise of a new highly evolved order of thoughtless insects. C'est la vie, as the Germans always say just prior to invading France.

[Flappycat]

I figure people will find something more enlightening to do with their time eventually. Until then, whatever makes them happy.

[Elvendon]

I agree with Alister McGrath- I can't see irreligiousness overturning religion yet. From what I've seen of it, most of atheism's (by that I mean "hard" atheism - denail of all things spiritual) claims to authority come from discredited theories and from critiscing other religions - religion can exist without atheism, but in it's current manifestation, atheism can't exist without religion. Atheism, like most great modernist philosophies, is in it's twilight years. There will always be atheists (until the end-times) - we know enough about the world for God to not be needed as an explanation for things like gravity and psychology - but I can't see it growing much more. Theism is considered on equal ground with atheism intellectually, and spiritually atheism offers people less than what other religions offer.

Also - as a Christian, I believe we are working towards a time when everyone will believe, so in the long term I don't think atheism has any shelf-life.

[ChrisP]

I see the people of the world becoming more self-involved and neither secular society or Religious society prevailing. Instead there will be fear, and suspicion.

Except for in NZ, where everyone's ALREADY that way

[Scarlett Wampus]

I can't see there being any major shift in contrast to the recent past towards either a secular or religious direction. Perhaps though, there could emmerge a significant movement that somewhat reconciles these two naturally opposed positions. I suspect we're beginning to see what this may look like in things like Universal Unitarianism.