Do you think Western religion (as in churchgoers) is soon to die out in the next generation? ?

[Sevenpointfive]

What do you think the result of a country that accepts more than one religion? or declining religious beliefs?

[DanielBlack1904120]

peoples fear of death & need for divine reward is strong. Damning someone for not believing what you do knowing fully that you don't get to make that particular judgment but doing it anyway even though your religion teaches you to "forgive" & "love" shows exactly how strong. Western religion hasn't been around forever like the great white shark or cockroach who's never had to evolve to survive. This religion will evolve to survive as it has before but will never be gone unless fear ends. but "the devil" causes that. It didn't seem like the devil when he told me i would go to hell where the flames are forever. Never even given a drop of water to ease the burning on my lips because I was a "sinner" at the age of 6. The guy holding a book in all black from church did that. apparently i met the devil & he put fear in my clean 6 year old soul posing as a godly man holding a Bible but thankfully I got away from that damn devil before he made me a hateful & unforgiving. One of my best qualities is my empathy. my granmahs love & sacrifice gave me love & empathy not religion. In that book it refers to JESHUA King of Israel as " day star" in 2 Peter 1:19 but in Isaiah 14:12 refers to Satan " bringer of light" as..." day star". Now I don't know why that book would give jeshua the savior who died for all mankind's sins the same exact nickname as the prince of darkness but it is an old old book written by men so they must have made a mistake no big deal right? by every definition & rule there can be no DARKNESS when there is LIGHT. The prince of darkness who brings the light but if brings the light cannot be the prince of darkness! say that outloud a couple times before you light my ass up. please don't bother with Bible versus I've established their validity... by the way if you have judged me to this point I'll point out i never said I didn't believe in GOD but I promise you assumed I was against against her.

[MuddyMole]

Not completely of course, but in some places it will become very, very uncommon (as usual, the rest of us are following Scandinavia's lead).
Many churches in the UK were only just being kept afloat by recent Polish immigrants - and that was before Brexit (let alone Covid). Otherwise, it's only elderly people who go to church, and obviously they're slowly dying off.

The big reason is certainly that more people (especially young people) are atheists or "spiritual" but not religious. In addition to that though, far fewer religious people believe in *organised* religion, which has a serious image problem these days - who wants to waste their Sunday morning hearing boring lectures from a probable-paedophile? You certainly wouldn't trust them with your children at Sunday school.

Actually, the statistics on that are really funny. Of the people in the UK who identify as Christian, only 56% believe in God, and only 34% "believe in the teachings of Christianity"! I'm guessing the true number of Christians here is already far, far less than the official figure - it's just that for a lot of people, "Christian" is still just the default answer ("I'm not Muslim, Sikh etc, therefore I must be Christian"), or they'll answer that just because they were baptized as a baby or their parents are Christians.

[Xtcy2083]

One of the problems as I see it as an outsider, is the eagerness with which so many denominations are willing to bend and buckle to the demands of radical extremists who want their church to be "progressive" and "enlightened" (in other words, "woke").
Take the Church of England as an example. What do they actually believe in anymore? Is it true that the Archbishop of Canterbury is a Marxist who doesn't even believe in God?
Now, when people search for a church to belong to, they want one that will actually stand up for what it believes to be right. Why even bother going to church if the priest basically says, "Anything goes"?
People are in need of moral guidance, certainty and purpose. Modern-day churches may as well be knitting groups.

[Flower7]

Possibly, since so many churches in the USA have been closed because of COVID. Even now, most churchgoers are forced to settle for webinars instead of going to their place of worship.

[AncientWisdom]

I think that’s an interesting question. I think there will always be those who follow these beliefs as they have since the dark ages. Christianity is rife with paganism. The message of the New Testament is meant to control mankind’s baser instincts. It’s also easier to control sheep. I was raised in this religion as a southern Babtist.
Although as science progresses many people will hopefully wake up to what we truly are in my belief. All of the religions were developed to control the masses of humanity. Earth and the physical life we find ourselves living in is but one facet of our spiritual identity. In my belief earth and the physical is a school for souls. We know there is something after our physical death on a primal level. Psychology is studying near death experience, and they are using hypnosis to study past life regression. There are reams of papers and books of these case studies from all over the world ( very interesting stuff) . If you choose to approach the afterlife with science and research ; I believe many of you will be pleasantly surprised. Meditation can guide you , and can quiet your thoughts , and organize , and focus them. Expanding your mind is an incredible and rewarding activity.

[BCRanger10]

No, at least not on a grand scale.

The Catholic Church at the very least will last until the end of time as her founder, Jesus Christ, so promised. Most of the Orthodox Churches will probably survive as well.

Protestantism and Evangelicalism, however, will not. They will not because they cannot. I say this because they do not have Sacred Tradition, they do not have a unified and central teaching authority, and they, unlike the Catholic Church, don't have the Holy Eucharist (the Body and Blood of Christ) as the center of devotion. They have only the Bible, which was not formally compiled and defined until the Third Century.

I say "only" because if they do not have a teaching authority and tradition to help guide them, they are ultimately left to personal interpretations of Scripture, which inevitably leads to splintering and fracturing. There are currently 40,000 (and counting) different churches which all claim to believe in and follow Jesus Christ and the Bible. In 2006, there were 30,000.

It's not going to be "within a generation" though. At least I don't think it will be.

[slatyb]

The Catholic Church is struggling all over the developed world. In the referenda on marriage equality and abortion this century the Irish strongly voted against the Church. It's the same all over. Spain? "Although a majority of Spaniards self-identify as Catholics, younger generations tend to ignore the Church's moral doctrines on issues such as pre-marital sex, homosexuality, same-sex marriage or contraception."

[BCRanger10]

@slatyb Oh I know all about the issues that the Church is having right now, between the sex abuse, the decline in Mass attendance, the widespread dissent from Church teaching, and a host of others. My point is that these things will not bring an end to the Catholic Church.

[slatyb]

Religions come and go, but in general education and economic development have lead to a decline in religious belief and participation.

[slatyb]

Not in the next generation but gradually. And it won't just be Christianity. The children of Islamic and Hindu immigrants that are born and raised in Western countries will be much less religious than their parents. When people have a choice, many choose to live without religion. We think that Islamic countries are more religious, but since apostasy can be fatal, there's no telling how many truly believe and how many just go along because they have to. It was the same with Christianity in the US until about 1970 or so. But today in the US, atheism is almost the norm in professional circles. Here in Seattle, as far as I know, none of my friends or colleagues are religious.

[Sevenpointfive]

this is what i was thinking

[ChrisMaster69]

Yeah definitely.

it’s sort of killing itself from within by not moving with the centuries.

in the real world people have friends who are gay, bi, lesbian, however religion preaches negatively about LGBT and a raft of other things.

The bigotry you see from religion will eventually gut it from the inside out and stop new people joining.

[Anonymous]

No. The time for secularism to take root in a country was 200 years ago, when most civilisations went through the great enlightenment.

If your country didn't abandon fundamentalism and cults then, it isn't going to now, or in the next generation. They've become immune to reason, rational thought, evidence and things of that nature.

[Ms_Vanderquack]

I fucking hope so, that shit is toxic. But let’s be honest, something new will take its place. Just like vaping did when we had almost successfully gotten rid of teen smokers.

[Sevenpointfive]

okay. but it's quite different. what could possibly be "the new addiction" for the teens? is it just that? a puff to feel calm and collected? i remember my parents being/still being adamant about their religion, yet getting is more routine...

[Ms_Vanderquack]

You mean what’s going to replace it? I don’t fucking know, some other bullshit like scientology. Cattle want to follow the herd, doesn’t matter much what the herd is doing. As far as the bit about old people that is to be expected. It’s fairly well indoctrination can lead to neural atrophy to the point where the victims are physiologically incapable of thinking for themselves. It doesn’t surprise me at all that so many old people are obsessed with fairy tales to that extent.

[Sevenpointfive]

[Dargil]

I think there will be a resurgence of Christianity following the coming world financial collapse, wars and cultural decline. People will search for meaning.

[slatyb]

Not the people who decided as teens that Christian dogma is just mythology.

[SaoirseS]

Whether it will die out or not is debatable, but numbers of churchgoers I think are declining steadily. Many are leaving because some churches are unwilling to adapt to the times.

[Aurora1010]

I really think most people aren't as religious as before or becoming atheist and I think that will only increase

[Anonymous]

Lmao... That will never happen. I'm not religious although I think the Bible is the answer. Most of the answer anyway. WHEN it is interpreted correctly. If the promises don't show up then you have interpreted wrongly.

[Aerissa_Jade]

I don't think it is going to die out ever, sure they will shrink and grow but to just simply stop existing, seems highly unlikely.

[jshm2]

There is no such thing as "Western religion". All religions come from the Middle East.

Thus your assertion is moot to begin with.

[genericname85]

hopefully. religion needs to die out. yes we can keep the lectures, the annektdotes and the archetypes around to teach ideas. but not the delusional parts. those need to go.

[PapiMijo]

Yes it will die out by design because with the NWO comes the worship of Lucifer. These evil people are going to make that happen.

[IncognitoBandito]

Religiosity has waxed and waned for centuries and I don't know that the pattern is going to come to an end anytime soon.

[Raidernation01]

What a dumbass! Today we have an influx of people asking fake questions. Y'all really want those XPs

[OddBeMe]

Pretty sure eastern religions go to church or temple or whatever…

But no. Humans will always have some religious need. Stupid as it is.

[888theGreat]

more are dying than being new members. Anti Christ will hunt the real Christians down and the real church will be removed by laws and mandates

[Hispanic-Cool-Guy]

Zero chance. There will always be Christians going to church meetings to worship God. 😎

[Paul09]

I would hope so. But depends how brainwashed the kids become, and then their kids, and so on.