Will religions die out, over time, as a phase in human development?

Question

More and more people are turning away from religion because we are becoming an age of thinkers, and not believers.
Since our educational system is more scientific now, it's assured that no more new religions (God based) will be born. Anyone attempting to start something on those lines will face heavy criticism, unless ofcourse he/she is a real God.
Will religion (any and all) fade out as generations progress? Will the age of science and reason prevail thereafter ? What do you think ?

Answer 1

The irrationality of religion has a scientific basis. It goes back to our cave man days when man was very insecure living in a hostile environment. The cerebral cortex of our brain (the complex thinking apparatus) is a relatively recent addition.

The more primitive underlying limbic system, the seat of our ancient emotions or innate temperaments, is in all of us. Humans use both systems. In times of trouble, people still pray for intervention by the god(s). Prayers are requests by persons to have the laws of the universe repealed in their favor.

People who are rational, relying on their cerebral cortex, look at all the absurdities in religion. Christian dogma expects people to believe the fairy tale of Noah's ark, although it is patently impossible to squeeze even samples of billions of the world's animals into one small ark. Rational persons consider such stories ludicrous.

The bible account of the creation of man and the universe is in such contradiction to irrefutable facts that a rational person cannot help but laugh about such fantasies.

Have you heard the saying "there's no atheists in foxholes?" Its because in times of danger, humans revert to the primitive part of their brain for security. We needed religion to survive in a hostile universe back in the cave man days. Now, in the modern era, we can see all the absurdities of the varius religions....but, obsolete genes do not disappear overnight, and so you will be seeing religion for some time to come.

The age of reason will come when we totally rely on our cerebral cortex and not just our limbic system. (as a side note, i've read where neuroscientists can artificially trigger the 'religious' experience in people by probing certain areas of their limbic systems)

Answer 2

You have raised an excellent point. I think religion has served us well but now the religion must change to continue serving us in the future. What bible and Koran tells us are ancient history and if we try to find any relevance to their teaching in the modern times, we will be lost. A lot of things have been misread or misinterpreted by their followers otherwise we won't have a constant battle between the two major religions IE Christianity and Islam. If you take every word of the scripture as the ultimate Truth then people will be dis chanted with the message because any teaching should meet the present day demands. People still believe in the all might- at least the majority of us but RELIGION that is a book of all the dos and donts of a particular faith is not going to answer all the new questions of our time. Why do you think many a educated people stay away from the church? It gets boring if you have to listen to the same thing over and over again. What the modern world needs is not religion but spirituality. I guess that should do it.

Answer 3

I believe the answer is yes, there are several reasons for this, first and foremost the facts about are universe are DNA the periodic table the list goes on and on, the next factor is that people want to believe in a god but see no results or they ask the question why and there is no answer, next would be the fact that all religions say the same thing just in a different manner, and all of them are hypocritical and have been rewritten by man some several times, which in turn makes it flawed. So yes I think over time people will start to believe in them self's instead of a higher power. Now I'm one of those in the middle kinda people I believe there is a god but I do not believe in religion....dose that make sense cause most people can't grasp that, I understand the facts of how the universe came about and everything that goes along with that but at the same time I want to have Faith that there is something after this, And that is the magic word FAITH vs FACT. People will start to come around But it wont be in are life time.

Answer 4

Actually more new religions are being formed in the last 100 years than in all the periods of history. This is partially due to the effect of not having a central religious power, as in the past, which could suppress them. It is a natural human tendency to create religions as a primitive way of addressing all the unanswered questions.

This tendency to form new religions actually is increasing due to the increase in the complexity of the world. A larger percentage of our population is forced into religions because of their decreased ability of coping with the increased complexity.

The only thing that mightl reverse this nonsense is for a genetic method to be developed that will raise the average intelligence of each person by about 50 IQ points.

Answer 5

Well I will tell you one thing, I never followed the crowd regardless. Just because people get disappointed in themselves and have doubt does not mean to give up, like a bunch of whiny babies. It is strength that creates faith in ourselves, and it is faith in the so-called science that fails all the time, but we still pursue our dreams dont we? So really I dont think G-D is going to disappear, but faithless maniacal people will, because all bad things go to waste eventually, you just must be patient, it is all an experiment anyway, so why not be happy and live. I believe in silence is golden and for 6000 years Judaism has survived and it survived the Holocaust so the 10 commandments will never be erased from humanity, thank G-D. So what makes you think after all of that, that those people will give in? No more than we that believe in that other Jewish guy, you know Jesus? I am a firm believer that they cant tear down every church but he will still be in us all unless we reject him and follow the crowd into the ovens.

Answer 6

I'm not sure where you're getting your data from but statistics show that the majority of the worlds population believes in a higher power of some kind.
They also show that most people engage in some sort of practiced religion.
I do hold out hope that people will begin to ascribe more to the concept of "let go & let god" instead of thinking they have to worry about what everybody else is doing and whether some one else is following what the same rules as they themselves have chosen to adhere to.
Obviously as a society we all have to agree to certain basics.
Science and reason placed in oposition to spiritual consciousness. . .hmmm. . .
I choose not place them at odds. For me they are inextricably held in tandom to eachother.
Much like quatum phisics and astro physics.
Where one leaves off the other begins. Nor can one exist without the other.
Not everything can be held in our hands or put under a microscope but non the less we can experience them.
Much like the fourth state of matter, it just takes time for us to recognize what we are "looking at".
And that's all I have to say about that.

Answer 7

I think that "religion" as a rules-based way to control people may eventually die out. However, it's unlikely that spirituality and belief in something beyond the concrete and material will die out. Even science is starting to show that what we see is not all that is.

Answer 8

No freakin' way! Religion is part of human nature. That's why we invented it in the first place.

I'm sure if u took 1000 people and took them to an island, and only thought them a language, they'd create some form of religion anyway.

Anyway, great point Dognose0 !
"we can do away with war and prejudice based on 'my god is better than your god'."

Answer 9

Science and Spirituality will become the same thing. There will be no need for Religions because we will see the Creator and the Creation in everything.

Answer 10

We are maturing as a species, and if we live long enough, will no longer need Religion -- which is created in reaction to fear of the unknown.
A child needs to believe in magic as an explanation for things his/her undeveloped mind is unable to comprehend; religion will no longer be needed when mankind matures and stops seeking simplistic explanations for the unknown.
Mankind, however, will always have a need for Faith -- belief in that which cannot be proven.