The decline of christian faith in the US

[reasonist]

thought I share some good news since the forum has been quiet the last few days:

To be sure, the United States remains home to more Christians than any other country in the world, and a large majority of Americans â€" roughly seven-in-ten â€" continue to identify with some branch of the Christian faith.1 But the major new survey of more than 35,000 Americans by the Pew Research Center finds that the percentage of adults (ages 18 and older) who describe themselves as Christians has dropped by nearly eight percentage points in just seven years, from 78.4% in an equally massive Pew Research survey in 2007 to 70.6% in 2014. Over the same period, the percentage of Americans who are religiously unaffiliated â€" describing themselves as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular” â€" has jumped more than six points, from 16.1% to 22.8%. And the share of Americans who identify with non-Christian faiths also has inched up, rising 1.2 percentage points, from 4.7% in 2007 to 5.9% in 2014. Growth has been especially great among Muslims and Hindus, albeit from a very low base.

http://www.pewforum.org/2015/05/12/americas-changing-religious-landscape/

In just 7 years! Hopefully this trend continues...

[sdelsolray]

I suspect increased access and use of the internet is causally linked to these changes.

[widdershins]

So, you just came here to "tell us the good news"?  Don't you people usually knock on my door around dinner time, but only if young kids are screaming, indicating I currently do not have time for bullshit?

[reasonist]

The other side of the coin:

"Around the world, the Muslim population is expected to increase by about 35 per cent, rising to 2.2 billion by 2030 and increasing at about twice the rate of the non-Muslim population. If current trends continue, Muslims will make up 26.4 per cent of the world's total projected population of 8.3 billion in 2030, up from 23.4 per cent of the estimated 2010 world population of 6.9 billion."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/for-muslims-growing-numbers-and-growing-fears/article1321938/

This could be the next challenge to the survival of our species.

[Baruch]

The President of Turkey just issued an all-hands demand that there be a lot more Turks thru child birth.  Don't know if it is because of the usual decline in birthrates among advanced societies or if he is doing the traditional ME thing of seeking more fighters to fight whoever he is fighting.

I really don't think we will get past 8 billion, given the four horsemen.

[21CIconoclast]

Like  sdelsolray stated, the internet has a great part in helping the demise of the primitive Bronze and Iron Age cult of Christianity. 
The Kool Aid these fools have to drink at the expense of rational and logical thinking is getting more bitter by the day, praise!

[widdershins]

My son just finished up his first year of college, but in his last few years of high school he said that most of the people he knew in school were atheist.  Young people in this country are turning away from religion in numbers which would be alarming if it weren't a good thing.  And they're leading the charge against corporate ownership of the political process and bigotry.  As parents it is our duty to leave the world in a better condition for our children than when we found it, but know all I hope is that our children can muster enough political and social power to save us from our own misdeeds.

[SGOS]

Like  sdelsolray stated, the internet has a great part in helping the demise of the primitive Bronze and Iron Age cult of Christianity. 
The Kool Aid these fools have to drink at the expense of rational and logical thinking is getting more bitter by the day, praise!

Every time I see a picture of the Jonestown aftermath, I think, "Those people were certainly very colorful dressers."

[Mike Cl]

My son just finished up his first year of college, but in his last few years of high school he said that most of the people he knew in school were atheist.  Young people in this country are turning away from religion in numbers which would be alarming if it weren't a good thing.  And they're leading the charge against corporate ownership of the political process and bigotry.  As parents it is our duty to leave the world in a better condition for our children than when we found it, but know all I hope is that our children can muster enough political and social power to save us from our own misdeeds.

I hope your are correct about our young adults and religion.  My granddaughter is in her 4th year of college and is an atheist.  I will have to ask about what she sees in general in that area with her peers.   

[stromboli]

I hope your are correct about our young adults and religion.  My granddaughter is in her 4th year of college and is an atheist.  I will have to ask about what she sees in general in that area with her peers.   

My children and grand children are all atheists. Nothing to do with me.

[SGOS]

When Christianity is no longer a majority, people will start to view the whole thing like we do Zeus and Thor.  Perhaps with a similar forgiveness and understanding we give the ancient Greeks and Vikings for their ignorance.  But it does seem rather late in the civilization of mankind for people to still be hanging on to superstition.

[Absurd Atheist]

There are still plenty of Judeo-Christians at my school. But I go to school in the south.

[Mike Cl]

There are still plenty of Judeo-Christians at my school. But I go to school in the south.

I bet there are!  I went to school in Alabama for 5 years and really, really got sick of praying in school. 

[Baruch]

When Christianity is no longer a majority, people will start to view the whole thing like we do Zeus and Thor.  Perhaps with a similar forgiveness and understanding we give the ancient Greeks and Vikings for their ignorance.  But it does seem rather late in the civilization of mankind for people to still be hanging on to superstition.

Don't worry, science fiction is the modern mythology ... robots and AI will save you ;-)

[drunkenshoe]

What I am really curious about here is that what do these people embrace after leaving their faith. Because I dıon't think they just become seculat healthy people.

I started to think a very big amount of people roughly from similar backgrounds and socio-economical class start to religionise (just made it up) anything available to them or invent new stuff.

You know, like angel couching, reiki, crystals, homeopathy, astrology, quantum something to energy sending, asking universe to give them things lol...all that bullshit including all the personal development bullshit out there as simple couching is what these people take as asome sort of faith. It's almost like they turn everything that makes good themselves as in some hobby or self comfort they turn it into a 'religion' and then if they aresuccessful something to make money of.

This is the same in he country I live. I guess the reason is what has been going on in the last deade and a half and also a lot coming before that. People want to keep their distance to Abrahamic religions and tend towards other 'fantasies' and beliefs, most times mixing it with their mother religions.

It has very bad consequences like anti-vaccination and all, but also may be in a long time masses will realise there is actuall no difference between any of them. Because that's the only way to collapse organised political religions. I dunno. But I would define this as one of the centrifugal forces I keep talking about. bullshit or not, it is a movement 'opposite' of the main trio.