[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/16mtsUi.png[/IMG]
[QUOTE]The number of people who say they have no religion is rapidly escalating and significantly outweighs the Christian population in England and Wales, according to new analysis. The proportion of the population who identify as having no religion – referred to as “nones” – reached 48.5% in 2014, almost double the figure of 25% in the 2011 census. Those who define themselves as Christian – Anglicans, Catholics and other denominations – made up 43.8% of the population. “The striking thing is the clear sense of the growth of ‘no religion’ as a proportion of the population,” said Stephen Bullivant, senior lecturer in theology and ethics at St Mary’s Catholic University in Twickenham, who analysed data collected through British Social Attitudes surveys over three decades.[/QUOTE]
Source:
[url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/23/no-religion-outnumber-christians-england-wales-study]The Guardian[/url]
[url=http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/religion-uk-atheists-christians_uk_5743fd38e4b0ffced862a51d]Huffington Post UK[/url]
[url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/people-with-no-religion-exceeding-christians-in-england-and-wales-says-study-a7044331.html]The Independent[/url]
It looks to me like the non-religious outnumber Christians, whilst in most areas people with [I]some[/I] religion still just about outnumber atheists and agnostics.
With technological progress and whatnot I think this is the natural path of societal progress. Heck, lots of religious people nowadays just stay in their respective sects just to please their parents(whose generation is dying out).
Glad to hear it, I wish this would happen in more countries.
[QUOTE=IrishBandit;50395677]Glad to hear it, I wish this would happen in more countries.[/QUOTE]
afaik its happening in all developed countries and for quite some time
Quite sad to hear in some respects after reminiscing about having to sing prayers and songs in primary school.
[QUOTE=Thomo_UK;50395757]Quite sad to hear in some respects after reminiscing about having to sing prayers and songs in primary school.[/QUOTE]
You enjoyed that!?
[QUOTE=1/4 Life;50395824]You enjoyed that!?[/QUOTE]
What's wrong with it?
he's got the whole world in his hands
[QUOTE=Thomo_UK;50395757]Quite sad to hear in some respects after reminiscing about having to sing prayers and songs in primary school.[/QUOTE]
yeah and getting detention for not singing, like my old school did, and RE consisting only of reading the bible
benig forced to sing praises and hymns is no different than forcing kids to recite the pledge of allegiance
[QUOTE=Lord Xenoyia;50395996]yeah and getting detention for not singing, like my old school did, and RE consisting only of reading the bible
benig forced to sing praises and hymns is no different than forcing kids to recite the pledge of allegiance[/QUOTE]
I don't know if you are one of these people (maybe you just don't like singing) but people who deliberately don't sing as if they think they are making a big statement are actually the worst of atheism and are so obnoxious.
[QUOTE=FlashMarsh;50396032]I don't know if you are one of these people (maybe you just don't like singing) but people who deliberately don't sing as if they think they are making a big statement are actually the worst of atheism and are so obnoxious.[/QUOTE]
haha yeah man primary school children who dont sing along to hymns are clearly interested in making an atheistic statement
[QUOTE=Crumpet;50396112]haha yeah man primary school children who dont sing along to hymns are clearly interested in making an atheistic statement[/QUOTE]
What? I'm an atheist myself and I have seen people doing this, since my school had hymns throughout secondary school as well, as well as seeing people doing this elsewhere where hymns were sung. I find it obnoxious.
[QUOTE=Thomo_UK;50395757]Quite sad to hear in some respects after reminiscing about having to sing prayers and songs in primary school.[/QUOTE]
Primary school in the 70's and 80's were basically all religious to a degree.
Although it was based more on a moral code rather than a set of hard rules, hymns and prayers were used in virtually all schools. Although not a religious person myself, I think, looking back it wasn't a bad thing.
I wish the US had hymns, I figure we already say the Pledge might as well make it more interesting than a monotonous sentence. Of coarse schools shouldn't be pushing any patriotic/religious shit in the first place.
[QUOTE=FlashMarsh;50396121]What? I'm an atheist myself and I have seen people doing this, since my school had hymns throughout secondary school as well, as well as seeing people doing this elsewhere where hymns were sung. I find it obnoxious.[/QUOTE]
and how do you know that these people just don't want to sing?
i don't find anything obnoxious about not taking part in something you don't believe in.
in fact, it's obnoxious to push it in the first place.
[t]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b2/Europe_No_Belief_enhanced_2010.png/1024px-Europe_No_Belief_enhanced_2010.png[/t]
% of people who believe there is "no spirit, power, life force or god"
Keep in mind that this doesnt mean atheism rates, those are a lot higher than these percentages.
[t]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4a/Europe_belief_in_god_2010.png/1024px-Europe_belief_in_god_2010.png[/t]
People who say "there is a god"
Both these stats come from 2010, and since belief is rapidly declining over the years you can add/subtract quite a few percents
[QUOTE=Rainboo;50395634]With technological progress and whatnot I think this is the natural path of societal progress. Heck, lots of religious people nowadays just stay in their respective sects just to please their parents(whose generation is dying out).[/QUOTE]
Just think about it; religion is basically as old as human thought, every culture on every continent has developed some form of it. It is an insanely huge change, not just for individual countries, but for humans as a species. I wonder what will fill that void ?
[QUOTE=FlashMarsh;50396121]What? I'm an atheist myself and I have seen people doing this, since my school had hymns throughout secondary school as well, as well as seeing people doing this elsewhere where hymns were sung. I find it obnoxious.[/QUOTE]
why is it so offensive to you that I wouldn't want to sing about a god I don't believe in? pushing kids of all faiths to sing songs of a particular religion is pretty fucked up in my opinion and I don't forsee a situation outside of a place of worship where you'd need to sing religious songs in public in a group.
I do think it's sad that we're losing religion. It's such a strong cultural force and gives meanings to people's lives. Belief in a higher power has been a part of humanity since we developed intelligence.
[QUOTE=FlashMarsh;50396032]I don't know if you are one of these people (maybe you just don't like singing) but people who deliberately don't sing as if they think they are making a big statement are actually the worst of atheism and are so obnoxious.[/QUOTE]
If that's the worst of Atheism, we must be doing pretty well.
[QUOTE=Mingebox;50396431]If that's the worst of Atheism, we must be doing pretty well.[/QUOTE]
Well yeah, because there isn't that much you can do in the name of atheism.
[QUOTE=CrumbleShake;50396393]why is it so offensive to you that I wouldn't want to sing about a god I don't believe in? pushing kids of all faiths to sing songs of a particular religion is pretty fucked up in my opinion and I don't forsee a situation outside of a place of worship where you'd need to sing religious songs in public in a group.
I do think it's sad that we're losing religion. It's such a strong cultural force and gives meanings to people's lives. Belief in a higher power has been a part of humanity since we developed intelligence.[/QUOTE]
There are two reasons I object to that.
The first is related to the importance of community and tradition, which would require thousands of words to write about to a dominantly left-wing forum, which I don't want to do right now as it is pointless.
The second is because it is pointless attention seeking every time I see someone do this. Just for context, I go to a London private school. As a result of the demographics (a co-ed instead of single-sex private school leads to an extremely white school with dominantly left-wing parents), around 90 - 95% of my year are atheist/agnostic. Despite this, our school still maintains a chaplain and still has a nominal religious element as a result of its history (which I won't go into too much). In my view, a mature person will realise that the hymns aren't to do with 'pushing religion' on a dominantly atheist school. They're instead to do with tradition and as part of making everyone participate in music. As such, the vast majority of atheist/agnostic people simply participate in the services like normal people. However every so often there seems to be some person who decides that they're making some big stand and sticking it to the man by not participating, when in fact they're just engaging in pointless attention seeking.
I just hate to sing, and dislike gyms especially. If I wanted to be attention-seeking, I'd shout "play Free Bird"
[QUOTE=FlashMarsh;50396032]I don't know if you are one of these people (maybe you just don't like singing) but people who deliberately don't sing as if they think they are making a big statement are actually the worst of atheism and are so obnoxious.[/QUOTE]
Why is it an obnoxious statement for you?
You'd have a point if you were talking about someone who pushes atheism down everyone's throats whenever possible.
But the reason why both the pledge and prayers are wrong and just an all out shitty thing, is that it forces kids to do something they most likely hate.
You're in school to learn things, not to do an over display of unneeded patriotism or to sing songs about a religion you probably wont even align yourself with later in life. Its just forcing you to do things that you shouldn't have to do in a school.
Not to mention that its a colossal borefest.
[QUOTE=Canuhearme?;50395851]What's wrong with it?[/QUOTE]
For real?
What isn't wrong with that?
[QUOTE=Zephyrs;50396724]For real?
What isn't wrong with that?[/QUOTE]
its wrong for someone to have enjoyed singing hymns in school?
[editline]26th May 2016[/editline]
[QUOTE=AntonioR;50396292]Just think about it; religion is basically as old as human thought, every culture on every continent has developed some form of it. It is an insanely huge change, not just for individual countries, but for humans as a species. I wonder what will fill that void ?[/QUOTE]
i'm kind of hoping for a resurgence in spiritualistic ideas divorced from any religions, people just generally doing things to help their spiritual health such as meditation and contemplation of death
[QUOTE=Rainboo;50395634]With technological progress and whatnot I think this is the natural path of societal progress. Heck, lots of religious people nowadays just stay in their respective sects just to please their parents(whose generation is dying out).[/QUOTE]
Counterpoint, the middle East, as standards of living rose there they went more muslim
I think the two factors that have seen a massive drop in religion in the West has been the integration of religion and politics, it's driving people away because the church is becoming a partisan tool, and building off of that, the church dogma that remains unchanging even as society has moved on
The catholic church derided contraceptives even as a majority of Catholics used them
Many churches forbid women from serving even as we progress to a society where women are equals
Pretty much every church says gays are abhorrent or bad, while most people just have accepted they exist
And these aren't issues with scripture, homosexuality, contraceptives, women's roles, all stem from dogma backed by cherry picked scripture
[QUOTE=Rainboo;50395634]With technological progress and whatnot I think this is the natural path of societal progress. Heck, lots of religious people nowadays just stay in their respective sects just to please their parents(whose generation is dying out).[/QUOTE]
explain south korea then? south korea has been becoming steadily more christian with time
in fact it's grown so rapidly that a third of the people in south korea are christian now
[QUOTE=FlashMarsh;50396460]Well yeah, because there isn't that much you can do in the name of atheism.
There are two reasons I object to that.
The first is related to the importance of community and tradition, which would require thousands of words to write about to a dominantly left-wing forum, which I don't want to do right now as it is pointless.
The second is because it is pointless attention seeking every time I see someone do this. Just for context, I go to a London private school. As a result of the demographics (a co-ed instead of single-sex private school leads to an extremely white school with dominantly left-wing parents), around 90 - 95% of my year are atheist/agnostic. Despite this, our school still maintains a chaplain and still has a nominal religious element as a result of its history (which I won't go into too much). In my view, a mature person will realise that the hymns aren't to do with 'pushing religion' on a dominantly atheist school. They're instead to do with tradition and as part of making everyone participate in music. As such, the vast majority of atheist/agnostic people simply participate in the services like normal people. However every so often there seems to be some person who decides that they're making some big stand and sticking it to the man by not participating, when in fact they're just engaging in pointless attention seeking.[/QUOTE]
If they're just not singing along with the rest then whatever, it's pointless attention-seeking that isn't interrupting the flow of things
[editline]26th May 2016[/editline]
[QUOTE=Ninja Gnome;50396766]i'm kind of hoping for a resurgence in spiritualistic ideas divorced from any religions, people just generally doing things to help their spiritual health such as meditation and contemplation of death[/QUOTE]
I think improved scientific literacy will lead to more spiritualism based in humanism and naturalism.
[QUOTE=MrJazzy;50396805]If they're just not singing along with the rest then whatever, it's pointless attention-seeking that isn't interrupting the flow of things
[editline]26th May 2016[/editline]
I think improved scientific literacy will lead to more spiritualism based in humanism and naturalism.[/QUOTE]
Spiritualism based on naturalism? What?
[QUOTE=Mingebox;50396909]Spiritualism based on naturalism? What?[/QUOTE]
oh wait, spiritualism literally means the opposite of naturalism
I mean something like contemplation of existence and life, not contacting the dead or some shit
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