• Religion may become extinct in nine nations, study says
    714 replies, posted
[IMG]http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/51778000/jpg/_51778296_51778294.jpg[/IMG] [I]In the UK, Wales has the highest proportion of religiously "non-affiliated" [/I][URL]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12811197[/URL] [quote=BBC News] A study using census data from nine countries shows that religion there is set for extinction, say researchers. The study found a steady rise in those claiming no religious affiliation. The team's mathematical model attempts to account for the interplay between the number of religious respondents and the social motives behind being one. The result, reported at the American Physical Society meeting in Dallas, US, indicates that religion will all but die out altogether in those countries. The team took census data stretching back as far as a century from countries in which the census queried religious affiliation: Australia, Austria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Switzerland. Nonlinear dynamics is invoked to explain a wide range of physical phenomena in which a number of factors play a part. One of the team, Daniel Abrams of Northwestern University, [URL="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v424/n6951/abs/424900a.html"]put forth a similar model in 2003[/URL] to put a numerical basis behind the decline of lesser-spoken world languages. At its heart is the competition between speakers of different languages, and the "utility" of speaking one instead of another. [IMG]http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/51758000/jpg/_51758386_censusformgetty.jpg[/IMG] [I]Some of the census data the team used date from the 19th century [/I] "The idea is pretty simple," said Richard Wiener of the Research Corporation for Science Advancement, and the University of Arizona. "It posits that social groups that have more members are going to be more attractive to join, and it posits that social groups have a social status or utility. "For example in languages, there can be greater utility or status in speaking Spanish instead of [the dying language] Quechuan in Peru, and similarly there's some kind of status or utility in being a member of a religion or not." Dr Wiener continued: "In a large number of modern secular democracies, there's been a trend that folk are identifying themselves as non-affiliated with religion; in the Netherlands the number was 40%, and the highest we saw was in the Czech Republic, where the number was 60%." The team then applied their nonlinear dynamics model, adjusting parameters for the relative social and utilitarian merits of membership of the "non-religious" category. They found, [URL="http://arxiv.org/abs/1012.1375"]in a study published online[/URL], that those parameters were similar across all the countries studied, suggesting that similar behaviour drives the mathematics in all of them. And in all the countries, the indications were that religion was headed toward extinction. However, Dr Wiener told the conference that the team was working to update the model with a "network structure" more representative of the one at work in the world. "Obviously we don't really believe this is the network structure of a modern society, where each person is influenced equally by all the other people in society," he said. However, he told BBC News that he thought it was "a suggestive result". "It's interesting that a fairly simple model captures the data, and if those simple ideas are correct, it suggests where this might be going. "Obviously much more complicated things are going on with any one individual, but maybe a lot of that averages out."[/quote]Some good news for once.
yyyyyyeeess!
Well that would give one less excuse to be biased, ignorant or hateful.
Dr.Wiener. Heh.
[img]http://www.gifbin.com/bin/20048442yu.gif[/img] I couldn't find any better ones :smith:
Good.
Good.
I don't see how this is good just because you guys have a different opinion than most of the world.
In before someone says the world will have no morals
I was already planning on having my children grow up without the knowledge of religion anyway.
[QUOTE=Canary;28749045]I don't see how this is good just because you guys have a different opinion than most of the world.[/QUOTE] Good is a subjective term. Religion has objectively caused more loss than non-religion. I don't see how actions against global warming are good just because FP has a different opinion than the rest of the world
Fuck yeah! :science: for ever!
[QUOTE=Canary;28749045]I don't see how this is good just because you guys have a different opinion than most of the world.[/QUOTE] It being good is not an opinion?
Why be happy that something that shaped how we live today is becoming extinct? I don't mean God making people of shit like that I mean hisotry, for example the Crusades, Aztecs, Indians. Without religion the world would never be how it is now.
[QUOTE=rabid duck;28749117]Why be happy that something that shaped how we live today is becoming extinct? I don't mean God making people of shit like that I mean hisotry, for example the Crusades, Aztecs, Indians. Without religion the world would never be how it is now.[/QUOTE] Just because it significantly affected history does not mean it should stay. Various other negative things shaped history significantly as well.
who actually cares
Religion isn't necessarily a bad thing or a good thing. For all the war and hate it's caused, it's also caused charity, love, and understanding. v:v:v
[QUOTE=Canary;28749045]I don't see how this is good just because you guys have a different opinion than most of the world.[/QUOTE] And like always you make a retarded claim. It's not good because we have a different opinion. It's good because religious groups often have biased, ignorant views, disregard (parts of) science, create groups within society hateful toward each other and other people, plus religion is a great tool of control. We don't need religion anymore. [QUOTE=rabid duck;28749117]Why be happy that something that shaped how we live today is becoming extinct? I don't mean God making people of shit like that I mean hisotry, for example the Crusades, Aztecs, Indians. Without religion the world would never be how it is now.[/QUOTE] Slavery shaped our history too, are you missing it?
[QUOTE=Greenen72;28749087]Good is a subjective term. [b]Religion has objectively caused more loss than non-religion.[/b] I don't see how actions against global warming are good just because FP has a different opinion than the rest of the world[/QUOTE] Stop making stuff up.
[QUOTE=rabid duck;28749117]Why be happy that something that shaped how we live today is becoming extinct? I don't mean God making people of shit like that I mean hisotry, for example the Crusades, Aztecs, Indians. Without religion the world would never be how it is now.[/QUOTE] That's like saying the world would be a different place without Franz Ferdinand or Hitler. You can't say if it would be better or worse.
Good, that means less wars and violence over everyone's stupid beliefs.
[QUOTE=Starpluck;28748954] [I]In the UK, Wales has the highest proportion of religiously "non-affiliated" [/QUOTE] Yeah, it's become socially immoral to talk about religion now. Kinda sucks, but I guess there are those of us that would like to be open. Instead of the forceful nature that people tend to have with religion, this new age of beliefs will irradicate that style. Still interesting to see the medieval beliefs in a metaphorical sense though.
I am indifferent. inb4 religious shit storm caused by angsty atheist tweens
[QUOTE=Silly Sil;28749156]And like always you make a retarded claim. It's not good because we have a different opinion. It's good because religious groups often have biased, ignorant views, disregard (parts of) science, create groups within society hateful toward each other and other people, plus religion is a great tool of control. We don't need religion anymore.[/QUOTE] You're being ironic.
[QUOTE=TraderRager;28749154]Religion isn't necessarily a bad thing or a good thing. For all the war and hate it's caused, it's also caused charity, love, and understanding. v:v:v[/QUOTE] sssshhhhh don't try using logic in a religious debate on FP it never works
[QUOTE=rabid duck;28749117] Without religion the world would never be how it is now.[/QUOTE] you mean a prejudiced society that not only hinders scientific progress but also constantly is the reason for wars?
[QUOTE=Canary;28749157]Stop making stuff up.[/QUOTE] Actually he makes a good point.
About damn time. On a side note, that should change the winner rating to Winning
[QUOTE=Informative Man;28749185]you mean a prejudiced society that not only hinders scientific progress but also constantly is the reason for wars?[/QUOTE] imagine if humans never had morals now imagine that world
[QUOTE=deadoctober;28749175]I am indifferent. inb4 religious shit storm caused by angsty atheist tweens[/QUOTE] too late
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