Decline of Christianity and Religion

[setarcos]

Apologies, I misunderstood what you were trying to say.
What is wrong with consensual casual sex?

I think we have to go beyond what is merely consensual. For instance if a dog mounts a woman and she lets it isn't that consensual with both parties? If it is is it wrong?

 

[Fallen Prophet]

why do you suppose christianity is on the decline? evidently religion is on the decline altogether.


a pew research poll shows christianity down 12% from a decade ago.


Christians continue to make up a majority of the U.S. populace, but their share of the adult population is 12 points lower in 2021 than it was in 2011. In addition, the share of U.S. adults who say they pray on a daily basis has been trending downward, as has the share who say religion is “very important” in their lives.

I believe it is because the rising generations are dumber, more selfish, distracted and spoiled.

 

[Clara Tea]

kentucky has one of the top ten highest illiteracy rates in the US, one of the top ten poorest in the US, in the top ten religious, and the number one for neglect and abuse of children.


it is also predominantly GOP. so the old adage keep them dumb and poor, seems to be working for the GOP

You are going to get a lot of letters about that from Kentucky (when they learn to write). But the prayers against you are probably pouring in. Incantations, hexes, voodoo dolls, powders, toads, and a variety of other backwoods remedies are headed your way.

 

[Clara Tea]

Money does change people. More than that I don't wish to guess about.

Don't they hire people to change for them? I think that power (aka money) corrupts.

 

[Clara Tea]

I believe it is because the rising generations are dumber, more selfish, distracted and spoiled.

Dumber (huh?), more selfish (mine, mine, mine), distracted (what did you say?), and spoiled (I'll get my butler to argue with you about that).

 

[Clara Tea]

Faith is inversely proportional to the "size of our bellies".

Jesus famously said:
"For the rich man to get to heaven is like the camel passing through the eye of a needle".

Wealth is a major distraction from remembering G-d.
When we stop remembering G-d, our deeds become more selfish
and that takes us further away from G-d.
The converse is also true.
Those that do good deeds [in the "name" of G-d / righteousness], their faith increases.

Many poor people are duped into giving their last dimes to chiselers who take their money under false pretenses. They claim that if they give their money to their church, their money will come back to them ten fold (it never does).

Generous fools lose, greedy manipulators win. I think that the phrase "cheaters never prosper" is wrong (probably written by cheaters).

 

[Clara Tea]

Faith is inversely proportional to the "size of our bellies".

Jesus famously said:
"For the rich man to get to heaven is like the camel passing through the eye of a needle".

Wealth is a major distraction from remembering G-d.
When we stop remembering G-d, our deeds become more selfish
and that takes us further away from G-d.
The converse is also true.
Those that do good deeds [in the "name" of G-d / righteousness], their faith increases.

Something got lost in the modern translation....now camels are smaller and needles are bigger.

One can't worship mammon and God at the same time. I think this is one of the major faults with the modern marriage of religion and politics.

 

[Clara Tea]

Faith is inversely proportional to the "size of our bellies".

Jesus famously said:
"For the rich man to get to heaven is like the camel passing through the eye of a needle".

Wealth is a major distraction from remembering G-d.
When we stop remembering G-d, our deeds become more selfish
and that takes us further away from G-d.
The converse is also true.
Those that do good deeds [in the "name" of G-d / righteousness], their faith increases.

"Faith inversely proportional to the size of our bellies".....very good observation.

 

[Clara Tea]

Morality has always been on the decline throughout the centuries, and licentiousness on the rise. Each year the TV shows are becoming more and more racier and audacious, the radio broadcasters are lewd (eg; Howard Stern), the movies more graphic and violent, video games more illicit, porn stars and gang bangers are celebrated, music videos are raunchy, etc... There is much to distract people from the more wholesome and beneficial aspects of life, which the latter never seem appealing in face of the superficial allurements and quick fixes.

Christianity was always meant to be a minority demography, as many are called but few are chosen. And, the enticements of this world tend to demarcate who were the mature Christians, and who were not. Ultimately, evil must reign in order for Armageddon to take place, so that Christ may return and sickle the sheep from the goats.

Christians aren't more moral than atheists. I can cite plenty of examples of corrupt religious leaders.

 

[Brickjectivity]

Don't they hire people to change for them? I think that power (aka money) corrupts.

Money even subconsciously corrupts. Sometimes it makes you think that you have changed your mind when actually the money has changed your mind. It is scary that the human mind is pliable.

 

[PruePhillip]

Christians aren't more moral than atheists. I can cite plenty of examples of corrupt religious leaders.

You need to define 'moral.'
Below is a set of stats from the Gallop Poll showing how our view of morality has changed.
We can be 'moral' by saving whales these days, but feel that narcotics, gambling and
adutery are ok. The Japanese in 1941 thought it quite 'moral' to attack the USA because
America had embargoed their oil and challenged their own empire with its own. So it's
relative. But Christian morals, as specified in the Gospels, is not relative and is defined
by example, ie love your enemies.

Corrupt religious leaders. IMO most of them are corrupt whether they engage in corruption
or not because they have built religious structures which violate the Gospel - so what will
become of those Pharisees who also abuse children?.

 

[blü 2]

First of all we need to define how we determine what wrong means. And for me, what you mean by casual.

In the context of the morality of sexual conduct, 'wrong' means
a) 'contrary to the speaker's moral values' or
b) 'contrary to law' or
c) 'contrary to the values of the (relevant) group',
no?

And if we're talking about a) then my moral values say the sexual encounter should be between competent equals, should be honest with full disclosure, should be consensual and free of coercion, should be safe, and should not involve breach of trust with third parties.

So if I have a sexual encounter with someone who holds similar values, and no breach of the law is involved, what's the problem?

 

[muhammad_isa]

Generous fools lose, greedy manipulators win. I think that the phrase "cheaters never prosper" is wrong (probably written by cheaters).

The real losers are those that wrong their own souls. They cannot be successful in the long run.
All deeds are laid bare eventually.

 

[PruePhillip]

In the context of the morality of sexual conduct, 'wrong' means
a) 'contrary to the speaker's moral values' or
b) 'contrary to law' or
c) 'contrary to the values of the (relevant) group',
no?

And if we're talking about a) then my moral values say the sexual encounter should be between competent equals, should be honest with full disclosure, should be consensual and free of coercion, should be safe, and should not involve breach of trust with third parties.

So if I have a sexual encounter with someone who holds similar values, and no breach of the law is involved, what's the problem?

From a PURE Christian perspective (as opposed to Christian religion today) then the issue is
that consensual sex is only between married partners. I can find reasons why casual sex causes
personal and societal harm, as most Christian churches do, but that's not the point of pure
Christianty. And finding these personal and societal reasons is actually 'self righteousness' to
the bible, despite the good intentions.
Until recent adultery attracted the death penalty in Western societies, as it still does in Islamic
and many pagan socities, so we can be clear about where the bible stood.

In the Gospels there was a specific moral law - don't be an adulterer, don't hate your brother,
don't steal, don't cheat, hate your enemy etc.. And this was a prerequisite for personal savation.

So morals were tied to salvation.
Today's secular morality is classic self righteousness, and as my stats below show, over time
it mutates. All the wars of history had 'moral' overtones to them.

 

[Vinayaka]

why do you suppose christianity is on the decline? evidently religion is on the decline altogether.


a pew research poll shows christianity down 12% from a decade ago.


Christians continue to make up a majority of the U.S. populace, but their share of the adult population is 12 points lower in 2021 than it was in 2011. In addition, the share of U.S. adults who say they pray on a daily basis has been trending downward, as has the share who say religion is “very important” in their lives.

In many ways religion hasn't kept up with the times. Some are stuck in antiquated chauvinistic hateful beliefs. Little wonder people leave, when they see the lack of humanity in that.

The internet provides opportunity to look elsewhere. There is acceptance elsewhere, a lot of it. People get welcomed into new communities, and get to experience more facets of life than they ever did before.

Personally, I don't see it as much as a decline in religion, or religious beliefs, but more a shift in consciousness to something better. The main difference is that this 'something better' is no longer termed 'religion'.

 

[stevecanuck]

why do you suppose christianity is on the decline?

Because civilized, educated people are slowly but surely shucking off centuries of enslavement to an absurd notion.

evidently religion is on the decline altogether.

Not Islam. It's growing for the exact opposite reason that Christianity is declining. Uneducated, superstitious masses are grist for Islam's barbaric and totalitarian mill.

 

[DNB]

Christians aren't more moral than atheists. I can cite plenty of examples of corrupt religious leaders.

Devout Christians are more moral than atheists.
But, I have no idea why you brought that up?

 

[Sand Dancer]

Devout Christians are more moral than atheists.
But, I have no idea why you brought that up?

It depends on what you mean by devout. Those who actually follow Jesus' teachings would be more moral, but there are so few of those. The worshipers are not very moral, but the followers are. Religion based on beliefs do not cause morality. Religion based on action does.

 

[firedragon]

Now, now...I never said that.
I don't find these stats informative. Not about the topic in the OP. I do find them interesting/curious but a spike in atheism in 1970 raises way more questions for me than it answers, so without additional context on the method, etc...*shrugs*

I work with stats and numbers a lot. There's a lot more to it than 'stats good' or 'stats bad'.

WEll. I appreciate you taking that approach. But the spike happened in the early 20th century. In the 50's it kept going, spiked heavily. 70s it declined. So it was not a spike in the 70s, it was a decline in the 70's.

The point is that someone claiming education increased atheism is baseless. It is pure "we are superior" attitude that comes with no stats or "even correlation", and as a statistics person you understand the difference between correlation and causation. This is not even correlating. Thats the point. So for someone to claim causation, it just shows a bias.

Hope you understand.

 

[firedragon]

Devout Christians are more moral than atheists.

I dont think that's true.