So there was a recent survey done by the Barna Group, a Christian research organization, which shows that Christianity is in dire straights indeed.
Mindshift did a pretty decent video on it, so I’ll link that below, and the suggestion that I’ve seen on the new research has been largely positive. That things will improve dramatically, as religion dies in the west.
I’m not so sure that’s true though. Here’s why.
First, here’s the video in question. Enjoy it and then come on back.
The reason I say it won’t change anything, and Brandon alludes to this at the end, is because just being non-religious doesn’t make you a good person, any more than being religious does.
I left a comment on his video that said:
Just because you say you’re a Christian, that doesn’t mean you’re a Christian. I’d be willing to say that the number of actual Christians is already below 50%. Most liberal and moderate Christians are only saying they are because they think it makes them look good to the neighbors. They don’t believe it, they don’t practice it, they don’t go to church unless they can’t avoid it and they sure don’t know what Christainity is. This has nothing to do with the pandemic. Regular church attendance was already below 50% before 2020. It won’t be long until the social reasons for pretending to be Christian goes away and people stop playing make believe.
I’ve been saying that for a long time. I cannot know for certain as I don’t reside in anyone else’s head, but I find it hard to believe that a lot of the people who pay Christianity virtually no mind are actually believing Christians. I figure it’s more of a label they wear to help smooth over otherwise-difficult social cohesion. It doesn’t matter what you say you believe, only what you actually believe and I don’t know that we’ll get to 2070 before most “reporting” Christians give up the ghost.
That said, getting rid of religion doesn’t solve all of the problems. Recently, Ana Kasparian, one of the hosts and executive producers on The Young Turks came out and admitted that the liberal media has been lying for years about a lot of the talking points that they push. Again, here’s a response video that I saw on the subject, which I think puts it all in context.
Of course, I don’t think that she lied. Lying implies that you know the truth, you just purposely sought to obstruct it. She was just ignorant and now she’s found the truth. There are almost certainly people on her side of the political aisle who do know that it’s all a lie, but are doing it for political purposes, but most, I figure, just don’t know any better.
This is another instance where both extremes are doing the same thing. I could have kept that series of posts going forever. Both sides exercise blind faith. Both sides act out of a desire to confirm their own biases. Neither side cares at all whether what they are saying is factually correct. I don’t think Ana Kasparian is going to wholeheartedly examine the evidence in every story moving forward because that would make her leave the political left, just as I left the political right. People who really care about the truth, they wind up somewhere in the middle.
Yet even if people do walk away from religion, they are unlikely to walk away from the things that made them religious in the first place. It comes down to indoctrination, which both sides demonstrably make use of, and emotional cues, which both sides openly embrace, because none of them are comfortable living in the world that all evidence shows actually exists.
There is a strong desire among most people to remake the world in the image that they have in their heads. Instead of embracing the world as it seems to be, they want to re-imagine it as they want it and then close their eyes to the uncomfortable reality they actually live in.
Getting rid of religion won’t make things better. The formerly-delusional theists will just move on to delusions of another kind. Politics is just a fashionable quasi-religion that acts in much the same way. For every evil done in the name of religion, you can find an equivalent evil done in the name of politics. It’s the same thing, wearing a different dress.
I don’t think we’re going to get any better any time soon.
We are, from a purely biological perspective, simply breathing pieces of defecating meat, no more significant or enduring than a lizard or a potato. The cradle rocks above an abyss, and common sense tells us that our existence is but a brief crack of light between two eternities of darkness.
re: Getting rid of religion won’t make things better.―💯%✔ The formerly-delusional theists will just move on to delusions of another kind. ―Absolutely 💯%✔ Politics is just a fashionable quasi-religion that acts [functions] in much the same way. ―💯%✔ For every evil done in the name of religion, you can find an equivalent evil done in the name of politics. It’s the same thing, wearing a different dress.―💯%✔
Re: I don’t think we’re going to get any better any time soon.
Living up to cultural roles and values—whether we are called “doctor,” “lawyer,” “architect,” “artist,” or “beloved mother”—embeds us safely in a symbolic reality in which our identity helps us transcend the limits of our fleeting biological existence. Self-esteem is thus the foundation of psychological fortitude for us all. Research has borne out the fact that we strive for higher self-esteem in the face of mortality. After thinking about their death, soldiers whose self-esteem was strongly tied to their driving ability drove faster on a simulator. Elsewhere, those who based their self-worth on physical strength generated a stronger handgrip after they thought about death; those who based their self-worth on physical fitness reported increased intentions to exercise; and those who based their self-worth on beauty reported greater concern about their appearance, et. al. Research finds that after a reminder of death, adults also search for “don’t worry, be happy” thoughts. And it is quite common for adults to react to thoughts of death by turning to comfort foods and luxury goods: “Let’s do lunch and go shopping!”
Self-esteem is the feeling that one is a valuable participant in a meaningful universe. This feeling of personal significance is probably what keeps our deepest fears at bay. People will use -whatever- (religion, politics, culture, et.al.) to get there.
If only it were true that common sense told people that. Sadly, most people are entirely lacking in sense at all. I’m getting really sick of it.
I really don’t get why so many people have trouble just dealing with reality. I don’t. I never have, except, maybe, when I was a theist and I got better. Most people are just selfish, stupid, ignorant imbeciles who would rather feel good for a moment than deal with reality for a lifetime. I’m getting to the point where I hope we nuke ourselves into oblivion. At least then we won’t impose our stupidity on the rest of the universe, if there’s any other intelligent life out there.
re: Most people are just selfish, stupid, ignorant imbeciles who would rather feel good for a moment than deal with reality for a lifetime.
―Absolutely 💯%✔ Delayed gratification is often the first step in finding reality. I would rather make choices that strip me of what I ‘want’ because those are the choices that often give me what I’ll need. Often the best thing you can do is delay gratification. If history teaches anything, it teaches that self-delusion in the face of unpleasant facts is folly.
re: I’m getting to the point where I hope we nuke ourselves into oblivion. At least then we won’t impose our stupidity on the rest of the universe, if there’s any other intelligent life out there. . . .It’s a good point but they could be dumber than we are. Ha, ha, ha, ha. I know that might be hard to imagine. Again, if history teaches anything, it teaches that self-delusion in the face of unpleasant facts is folly but people love it/ feel they just have to have it.
Sadly, you’re right. They could be dumber, but hopefully, if they are as dumb as we are, they’ll never figure out how to get here. At least that’s something.
It really is sad watching people who have no concept of delayed gratification. Those are usually the 40 year old idiots who have never been on a date, are still living with their mother and will never get laid. Actually, that’s probably a good thing.
―Absolutely 💯%✔ If there is intelligent life it’s been just too intelligent to come here.