Will religions eventually disappear?

Question

It seems like mostly uneducated or unintellectual people beleive in religious fantasies. With more access to education more people will see how ridiculous religions are and will become atheists. Do you agree?

Answer 1

I hope so. But then, people would have to find new reasons to kill each other.

Answer 2

There are several strands of literature on this subject, and nothing conclusive yet. European perspectives such as Steve Bruce tend to argue that there is a secularisation trend accompanying development. American sociologists often argue in the opposite direction. Notably some apply the metaphor of an economic market, taking for granted that there will always be demand for religion. From less academic sources, the theme of recent years has been of religious revival. The Economist recently ran with a major article on the subject.

Basically, there is little reason to believe that access to education is not a sufficient cause for secularisation. But I do agree that good education nurtures critical thinking and scepticism, which should lead people to question dogma.

We should bear in mind that there are several different faces of religion and not all will suffer from education. The god of the gaps will fade, but the personal god that many claim to know should not be so threatened.

Answer 3

Your assessment is correct but even though they believe in religious fantasies there will always be those that do. With more access to education more people will ban together to get things accomplished (whatever they may be).

Even if a point were reached where religion was not popular, people have to have a feeling of belonging and would call it belonging to a "Club" with rules so actually it would still be similar to a religion.

I do think that more people are becoming Agnostic, which means they want to believe in something but as they become more educated they want substantial proof which probably does not exist.

Answer 4

The greatest enemy to organized religion is holy war or war induced from interfaith antagonisms, what we are witnessing now in Afghanistan and the middle east generally. What could only generate a positive social consciousness is a reciprocal acceptance of the unknown and that faith is faith, not all knowing omniscience and that the purpose for science is this life, and the purpose for religion is the believed after life. Both have a spiritual purpose.

Answer 5

No. P. T. Barnum famously said, "There's a sucker born every minute". (for the scientologists and Mormons) As long as there are ways people can have what they feel as religious "experiences", religion will not disappear. Infact, I would say history will continute to repeat itself. Things have been moving along for the past 2,000 years with plenty of instructional institutions. Including seminaries. Why don't you have religious experiences? You percieve there is none, so you don't see them happening in front of you? Nothing has ever happened to you that you can't explain? You must be plain, and your life must be boring. So uh, no I don't agree. You sound like an ignorant, arrogant, yuppie turd. There's a spot in hell for yuppie turds ya know. Ha ha ha.

Answer 6

No.

First define religion.

A drunks "Religion" is his bottle. Without it he cannot function, he believes totally in it...without his "Religion" he is weak and cannot make it in life...A religion is how you live your life daily.

I believe the majority of people on earth believe, in one way or another, in an entity that is greater than themselves.

There are many roads or journeys that man and womankind have to choose from...choices that have to be made...these choices will determine their eventual outcome.

You sound critically cynical, angry and under educated (or perhaps over educated) and raised on a silver spoon without benefit of developing some common sense and character from having survived some hard times.

The majority of people on earth "Must" believe in something greater than themselves or why be civilized, why dream, wish, hope and yearn for a higher plane. Life here on earth contains a great deal of pain to endure for many.

Religious belief is strength in one form or another and helps people through life.

Broaden your horizons, and maybe you too will see small miracles.

Happy Holidays.

Answer 7

There is this hindu religion called the Swaminarayan. The foundation members are highly intellectuals. Even today, there have a diverse group of devotees mostly made up of doctors..lawyers...people in the professional world.

SO MY FRIEND...to these educated people, it is definitely not ridiculous.

Answer 8

No, never. Not in a million years. No matter how educated people become, they will still look for explainations for whatever still is unexplained, or refuse to believe what they've learned. I know people who claime that, though evolution etc. happened over the course of millions of years, it still fits in with the Jewish/Christian creation story if you look at each era as a metaphorical day. There are plenty of smart people who devote themselves entirely to religion. People also want someone to blame when things go wrong -- there's no scientific explanation for why your boyfriend breaks up with you, so people find it easiest to believe that they weren't "meant to be" or something. Yes, I agree that religion is ridiculous, but others find it to be a good focus and central purpose for their lives. **shrugs* I like to think that religion will dissapear, but there is no way it's happenign.

Answer 9

Maybe you can explain your thesis to me in more detail. I probably will have some trouble understanding since I only have four degrees in Science and Engineering. Three of them Post Graduate. I speak 5 languages so don't mince any words with me. I probably will understand. And as for being unintellectual I will bet my IQ is higher than any one you have ever met.
It has been measured in the 150 -160 range. At that level there is a great deal of difficulty in getting any accuracy because the details are distinguished in time rather than measurements.

Oh yes I do believe in a God of my understanding. I pray at least twice a day and meditate on my spirituality regularly.

One more thing One of my Professors at University was a student of Neils Bohr. He commented upon his Spirituality regularly.
In case you haven't heard of Neils Bohr. I'd suggest you Google him. and call him unintelligent.

Answer 10

It's certainly an interesting thought, there is a massive surge in disaffection for a higher power in our nation's youth.
But whether or not religion will completely disappear is hard to answer.

Answer 11

Looks like we are headed toward a common spirituality., minus the organization by those who have presented themselves as intermediaries between you and the highest.

The law is One.