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Religion in Decline? Shifting Religious Identities

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  • #11
    Re: Religion in Decline? Shifting Religious Identities

    Who knew the south had so many non believers? even the Midwest is a surprise, 14% of Utah's people are not religious. If we could only increase the number in the south to 20-30% or a least switch out the baptists for some more easy going protestants, the US would be such a better place

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    • #12
      Re: Religion in Decline? Shifting Religious Identities

      Originally posted by Eddo211 View Post
      I really was referring to our values (Code of conduct in my limited ancient mentality)…….but come to think of it, if I am not wrong, our values come from our culture which is much older than religion. That is for sure.
      There is no code. The only requirement to be an atheist is to LACK a belief in a deity (not the same as believing there ISN'T a deity). And as you said, a huge misconception people have is that religion/god establishes morals, when in all reality, the morals of any given culture/society establishes and shapes religion. Think of it as the oldest form of government, were a supernatural being is the judge and jury, and delivers the ultimate punishment to those who disobey "the law".

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      • #13
        Re: Religion in Decline? Shifting Religious Identities

        Originally posted by Sip View Post
        Ok I'm waiting for someone to say Atheism is a religion.
        It's just not organised yet.

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        • #14
          Re: Religion in Decline? Shifting Religious Identities

          Religion is a form of self governance. Can't govern yourself, someone else will do it for you. A decline in religion allows power to be shifted from the individual to the government. It's really not rocket science.
          "Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you're a man, you take it." ~Malcolm X

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          • #15
            Re: Religion in Decline? Shifting Religious Identities

            Originally posted by Crimson Glow View Post
            There is no code. The only requirement to be an atheist is to LACK a belief in a deity (not the same as believing there ISN'T a deity). And as you said, a huge misconception people have is that religion/god establishes morals, when in all reality, the morals of any given culture/society establishes and shapes religion. Think of it as the oldest form of government, were a supernatural being is the judge and jury, and delivers the ultimate punishment to those who disobey "the law".

            I thought that this was agnosticism? Or is this just the difference between strong and weak atheism?

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            • #16
              Re: Religion in Decline? Shifting Religious Identities

              Well, that becomes a tricky game of semantics. Technically, anyone without a believe in a deity is an atheist. Basically, it goes down like this. The prefix "a" means without, so....

              Theist = Belief in a deity
              Atheist = Without belief in a deity
              Gnostic = Possession of esoteric knowledge about the existence of a deity
              Agnostic = Without possession of esoteric knowledge about the existence of a deity

              So a gnostic theist is a believer in a deity who claims to have esoteric knowledge of that deity's existence. A gnostic atheist lacks a belief in a deity, and claims to know that one doesn't exist. An agnostic atheist is one who lacks a belief, but does not claim to know with certainty one doesn't exist, and so on. So basically, yes, it kind of boils down to what you were saying about the distinctions between a "strong", or "weak" atheist. People chose to call themselves agnostic out of either a lack of understanding what the word means in its true form, or because they think it sounds better, or more "open minded" than atheist.

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              • #17
                Re: Religion in Decline? Shifting Religious Identities

                Originally posted by Crimson Glow View Post
                Well, that becomes a tricky game of semantics. Technically, anyone without a believe in a deity is an atheist. Basically, it goes down like this. The prefix "a" means without, so....

                Theist = Belief in a deity
                Atheist = Without belief in a deity
                Gnostic = Possession of esoteric knowledge about the existence of a deity
                Agnostic = Without possession of esoteric knowledge about the existence of a deity

                So a gnostic theist is a believer in a deity who claims to have esoteric knowledge of that deity's existence. A gnostic atheist lacks a belief in a deity, and claims to know that one doesn't exist. An agnostic atheist is one who lacks a belief, but does not claim to know with certainty one doesn't exist, and so on. So basically, yes, it kind of boils down to what you were saying about the distinctions between a "strong", or "weak" atheist. People chose to call themselves agnostic out of either a lack of understanding what the word means in its true form, or because they think it sounds better, or more "open minded" than atheist.
                I believe everyone is nuts.... myself included
                "Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you're a man, you take it." ~Malcolm X

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                • #18
                  Re: Religion in Decline? Shifting Religious Identities

                  I am glad that religion is weakening in America, why? I hate religious fundamentalists and extremeists who are too close to power in the United States. They are insane perhaps more dangerous than 10 Osama Bin ladens on drugs.

                  I mean seriously if religious fundamentalists and extremists in America such as Christian evangelicals got near the nukes they would try to fire as many as possible in order to cause Armageddon in the hope it would cause end of the world so Jesus can return to earth.

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