People are leaving religion mostly due to science. Yea science!

Courtesy of CNET: 

Pew's latest study is an offshoot of its 2014 Religious Landscape Survey, in which it found that 78 percent of those with no religion were raised with one, but have since shed their religious identity. 

Pew re-contacted 5,000 of the 35,071 surveyed to ask why they left their affiliation behind. Almost half of those who were brought up in the religious firmament explained that whatever belief they had had simply disappeared. 

One reason cited by many? Science. 

Pew offered one quote that will surely move some, including Neil DeGrasse Tyson: "I'm a scientist now, and I don't believe in miracles." 

Other reasons offered might also excite rationalists. For example: "Learning about evolution when I went away to college." It took that long?

Remember my earlier post about the Orthodox Jews not wanting girls to attend college?

Yeah, well this is why.

Let's face it religion is threatened by science.

And as it turns out the reverse is true as well.

You know I may have to move to Sweden.

Courtesy of Eureka Alert:

In Swedish classrooms, religion is often associated with an obsolete time when people just didn't know better - as if religion used to serve a purpose but there is no need for it in the modern world. This is the conclusion of a doctoral thesis from the University of Gothenburg that explores how teachers and students talk about religion and worldviews within the framework of non-confessional integrative Religious Education in upper-secondary classrooms. 

'I found that religious faith is portrayed as incompatible with being a modern, rational and independently thinking human being. In contrast, a non-religious, atheistic position is articulated as a neutral and unbiased approach to religion. I had not expected this discourse to be so strong in all the studied classrooms,' says Karin Kittelmann Flensner, who wrote the thesis. 

Kittelmann Flensner's study is based on observations of Religious Education in three Swedish public upper-secondary schools during the schoolyear 2011-2012. She followed 13 teachers who taught in 24 different student groups. Sweden is often described as the world's most secularised country, and Kittelmann Flensner found that the country's secular attitudes were easily discernible also in the studied classrooms and dominated the talk about religion and worldviews.

Could you even imagine how refreshing a learning environment that must be?  

With almost 80% of Americans identifying as Christians I will assume that we have a long way to go before achieving this level of enlightenment.

Franklin Graham to visit all 50 states in attempt to turn America into a theocracy. Well that's helpful.

Courtesy of Opposing Views: 

Rev. Franklin Graham recently announced his Decision America Tour, which will travel to all 50 states in 2016 to encourage Christians to vote for Christians, and to urge Christians to run for political positions on federal, state and local levels. 

In an op-ed penned for Charisma News, Graham recalled Nehemiah, from the Bible, who supervised the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem in 52 days even though he faced opposition from Samaritans, Ammonites, Arabs and Philistines. 

Graham claimed: "America's walls of biblical morality are crumbling," and "Christianity and our religious freedoms are under siege. Progressives and secularists want to see God removed from everything and to burn every gate of protection." 

Graham didn't say which religious freedoms were "under siege," or name any progressives and secularists who wanted "God removed from everything."

You know usually these Fundamentalist asshats are a little more subtle, but apparently Graham is tired of pussy footing around. 

And who can blame him? With millennials turning away from the church in droves, and science answering more and more of the questions that were once considered unanswerable, Christians are seeing their power base crumbling all around them in this country.

So of course they are going to make an aggressive and clumsy grab for power.

However Franklin Graham is going to have to face the fact that he is a dinosaur, and his superstitions are no longer finding favor with many of the young people who will someday lead this country into the new enlightenment.

I only hope I can hang on long enough to see it fore myself.

Pastor enrolls in seminary school to earn his Master's Degree in Theology. Becomes enlightened instead.

Courtesy of the Friendly Atheist:  

For a few years now, Pastor Justin Vollmar has been releasing YouTube videos in which he explains biblical concepts and answers theological questions — all in sign language — as part of his “Virtual Deaf Church.” 

But his latest video came as a shock because of the secret he revealed: He’s now an atheist. in short, Vollmar explains that he enrolled in seminary to obtain his masters degree in Theology. 

But his intense study of the Bible didn’t strengthen his faith. It led him away from it.

"A profound, wonderful change occurred in my life." I LOVE hearing that!

You know we always say that the best way to turn a Chrisitan into an Atheist is to have them REALLY read the Bible.

I think a lot of people assume we are simply being snarky.

But nope, we're not.

What he said.

New study claims that religion will disappear by 2041. Finally, something to live for!

Courtesy of Guardian Express:

 Author and noted biopsychologist Nigel Barber has completed a new study that shows Atheism is most prevalent in developed countries, and, according to his projections, religion will completely disappear by 2041. His findings are discussed in his new book “Why Atheism Will Replace Religion.” A new study that clarifies his earlier research will be published in August. His findings focus on studying trends within countries around the world and the fact that “Atheists are heavily concentrated in economically developed countries”

"- In my new study of 137 countries (1), I also found that atheism increases for countries with a well-developed welfare state (as indexed by high taxation rates). Moreover, countries with a more equal distribution of income had more atheists. My study improved on earlier research by taking account of whether a country is mostly Moslem (where atheism is criminalized) or formerly Communist (where religion was suppressed) and accounted for three-quarters of country differences in atheism." \

His main thesis stems from the phenomenon of religion declining as personal wealth increases. He cites the reason as people having less of a need for supernatural beliefs when the tangible, natural world is providing for their needs. He says the majority of the world will come to view religion as completely irrelevant by 2041.

Sounds too good to be true right? Yeah I thought so too, and I am not alone apparently:

Political Scientist Eric Kaufmann holds the opposite view, citing the fact that Atheists have fewer children than religious people. He thinks this could indicate the religious mindset will proliferate due to religious folks simply breeding more than Atheists. But what is the significance of the prolific breeding of religious people? 

Biotechnologist Thomas Rees poses this question in his essay “Will the Religious Inherit the Earth?” In this piece, he discusses Kaufmann’s research and comes to the conclusion that the breeding aspect could tip the odds in favor of the religious purely due to fertility and childbearing rates among them. 

Dammit! I knew I should not get too excited.

But wait, Barber is not so easily persuaded that his research is incorrect:

Barber, however, dismisses the breeding-related evidence, saying “…Yet, noisy as they can be, such groups are tiny minorities of the global population and they will become even more marginalized as global prosperity increases and standards of living improve.” 

He also says that as women become more integrated into the workforce, they will have fewer children, even if they are members of a religious fundamentalist group: “Moreover, as religious fundamentalists become economically integrated, young women go to work and produce smaller families, as is currently happening for Utah’s Mormons,” he says.

Okay now THAT'S the kind of article I enjoy! One with plenty of information for both sides to mull over and the opportunity provided for further discussion, argument, and ultimate disagreement.

So what do you think?

Personally I do not hold out much hope for a world without religion in a mere 28 years, but the study DOES give me hope that I will see the pendulum swing to the point that the majority of the world will be populated by atheists, and that religious fundamentalists will be driven from power and forced to hide in the self same closets that they once drove the homosexual community into by the millions.

All I know for sure is that I am going to attempt and prolong my life as long as possible in the hopes that someday I can author a blog called "The Immoral Majority" and have it be factually correct.

I can hardly wait.

A website for my Atheist friends.

The site is called Christianity Disproved so obviously it is NOT for people with a strong religious faith, or who strongly dislike being exposed to information that contradicts their belief system.

Of course as many of you know I am somebody who firmly believes that if your belief system cannot stand up to scrutiny it is not worthy of your faith, but that is just me.

I am also somebody who has spent many, many, many hours reading, studying, and attempting to understand the world's religions and the apparently biological compulsion to believe in things for which there is no physical evidence. Thus far I have read the Bible, a portion of the Koran, the I-Ching, the Tao  Te Ching, part of the Book of Mormon, and so many books on religion and faith that I have long ago lost count. For me the journey continues.

Ultimately I find it a truly fascinating subject, which is why I love to open it to debate on this blog.

On that same topic it appears we may be moving toward a new age of enlightenment, as the number of atheists is growing exponentially as the number of believers begins to diminish. Well at least in Britain, that is.

Please remember that if you choose to engage in discussion on this topic. to please be sensitive to the feelings of others and resist the urge to label anybody ignorant or intolerant or a Philistine. (I once had a Catholic priest call me that during a discussion about faith, after which he went on a three day drinking binge. Still one of my favorite memories.)