After Christianity: what will be the next big "Religion"?

[aquariusman]

I can see Islam overtaking Christianity as the main religion - hopefully it won't - as much as I dislike Christianity, I must admit that Islam is a lot worse. Take everything bad about Christianity, multiply it by 10, and you have Islam. The religions are pretty much the same anyway. (note pedantic theists: "pretty much the same")..

 

 

 

Care to provide some back-up to this?

[The Dark Lord]

Even if Christianity died, it would be Radical (make the distinction between Moderate) Islam that would take a foothold, especially if Atheism ran amuck. Atheist's have already proved their ease of succumbing to Radical Islam through such policies currently in Europe.

 

 

 

Solution: Call in Team America!

 

 

 

On a more serious note, I think that Atheism (not a religion by the way) will continue growing. Eventually Christianity and all that radical [cabbage] in the Middle East and elsewhere will dwindle into nothing. To prevent the radicals of the aforementioned religions from spreading, the government only needs to control them by redefining what is and what is not freedom of religion.

 

 

 

Anyway, there will probably be another religion that will gain billions of followers in the future. They only have to make their creeds coincide with mainstream science instead of pseudo-science and make them appropriate for today's society.

[Joes_So_Cool]

Atheist, after a long, long, longgg time.

[Will H]

You can never work out what the next step will be just using the information of the past and the present. You could assume that the current trend will continue forever, but since religion relies so much on single anomalous events, ranging from the sparking of entire wars to the acts of a single person, you'd probably get a completely wrong answer.

 

 

 

My answer: God knows. ;)

[I_am_Geed]

I personally believe that Christianity will never die, its beeen around long enough that it seems to have a foothold in human society.

 

 

 

All i can say is if it does die, and Athiests run amuk, theres going to be a lot of sorry people sitting in hell while the believers enjoy everlasting salvation. :roll: :lol: ;)

 

 

 

Personally though, i dont think Islam and Christianity are all that different, they both believe in the same God, although we do believe in different "prophets" on earth, Muhammed for the Islams, and Jesus Christ for us Christians.

[RussianFed55]

Atheism was a response to the 60s and 70s, and those posting are the products of the baby boomers and that is why they consider Atheism to be rapidly growing. But as the baby boomer generation grows older, Atheism will decline more, as another poster said, it's dwindling.

 

 

 

In my opinion, as the world grows gloomier, in the US and other such countries, we are going to see an upsurge in Christianity.

[Barihawk]

I personally believe that Christianity will never die, its beeen around long enough that it seems to have a foothold in human society.

 

 

 

All i can say is if it does die, and Athiests run amuk, theres going to be a lot of sorry people sitting in hell while the believers enjoy everlasting salvation. :roll: :lol: ;)

 

 

 

Personally though, i dont think Islam and Christianity are all that different, they both believe in the same God, although we do believe in different "prophets" on earth, Muhammed for the Islams, and Jesus Christ for us Christians.

 

 

 

You have obviously never read the Koran.

 

 

 

They worship the same God and have some similarities, but it stops there.

[I_am_Geed]

I personally believe that Christianity will never die, its beeen around long enough that it seems to have a foothold in human society.

 

 

 

All i can say is if it does die, and Athiests run amuk, theres going to be a lot of sorry people sitting in hell while the believers enjoy everlasting salvation. :roll: :lol: ;)

 

 

 

Personally though, i dont think Islam and Christianity are all that different, they both believe in the same God, although we do believe in different "prophets" on earth, Muhammed for the Islams, and Jesus Christ for us Christians.

 

 

 

You have obviously never read the Koran.

 

 

 

They worship the same God and have some similarities, but it stops there.

 

 

 

Ah I see, I forgot about the Koran. :lol:

[Alg]

If it's Atheism, hopefully a branch that doesn't border on Antisemitism (sp?) Mostly sarcastic

 

 

 

Really though, hopefully less organized religion and more personal philosophy-type beliefs.

[Barihawk]

If it's Atheism, hopefully a branch that doesn't border on Antisemitism (sp?) Mostly sarcastic

 

 

 

Really though, hopefully less organized religion and more personal philosophy-type beliefs.

 

 

 

Why less organized religion? The major denominations of Christianity like Catholicism, Methodism, Episca...(that word I can't spell one) are the ones who teach their members peaceful coexistance and donate huge amounts of money to the less fortunate, developing nations, and medicinal breakthroughs.

 

 

 

Most of the evangelical right-wing Christians are from groups like the Baptists who don't have any central structure and every church has it's own identity. They will generally raise money for local charities and stuff but not having any central theology leads to all sorts of fun stuff based on one person's interpretation of the Bible as opposed to a council or even a conference.

[RSBDavid]

WAIT, who said Christianity is "ending". While the United States Christianity population is going down, it is blooming in other countries.

[Ginger_Warrior]

All i can say is if it does die, and Athiests run amuk, theres going to be a lot of sorry people sitting in hell while the believers enjoy everlasting salvation. :roll: :lol: ;)

 

Condemning people to Hell based on their beliefs? You sir, are a GREAT advert for Christianity.

 

 

 

In fact, Christianity could do with less people like you going around making threats to others due to their beliefs. Otherwise, it is a perfectly nice religion.

[Yomyth105]

Christianity is huge and the Muslim faith is surprisingly closer to it then people think. I would say though that it would be Atheism. Imo the human race is getting smarter. And what we notice in history is that the more intellectual people get, the less they rely on religion. An example would be the scientific revolution... Many people are atheist now. Doesnt really matter what ur parents were because religion is ur inner feeling i guess. So i think its atheism ppl dont rely on Faiths too. There will always be a oh my god thing but there just wont be such a religion.

[ThurinEthir]

Many people are atheist now.

 

Do you know how to read a pie chart? (Though I myself am a tad confused about the difference between atheism and no religion...Does no religion include agnostics or something?)

 

 

 

Christianity most likely will stick around for a very long time, if not forever (Well, until mankind/the Earth ends)...It'll just evolve. New sects will be formed and stuff. Like in the past.

 

And I don't think a new major religion will sprout up any time soon. The last was Islam, in the seventh century, and it only really gained a foothold due to conquest. (I think? Kind of bombed our test about it.) Conquest and colonization is basically over now, though who knows what might happen...

[Sly_Wizard]

Christianity is huge and the Muslim faith is surprisingly closer to it then people think. I would say though that it would be Atheism. Imo the human race is getting smarter. And what we notice in history is that the more intellectual people get, the less they rely on religion. An example would be the scientific revolution... Many people are atheist now. Doesnt really matter what ur parents were because religion is ur inner feeling i guess. So i think its atheism ppl dont rely on Faiths too. There will always be a oh my god thing but there just wont be such a religion.

 

 

 

I'm going to say this as nicely as possible.

 

 

 

NO!

 

 

 

Where the unolly heck are people getting their info from? As a percentage of the world population, atheism peeked somewhere around the 1970s, and has pretty much plateaued (sp?) since then. Sure, there are more atheists today than there were yesterday, which you would expect with population growth, but there are not more atheists as a percentage of the total population today than there was thirty years ago. In fact, there are fewer.

 

 

 

Seriously.

[Yomyth105]

Christianity is huge and the Muslim faith is surprisingly closer to it then people think. I would say though that it would be Atheism. Imo the human race is getting smarter. And what we notice in history is that the more intellectual people get, the less they rely on religion. An example would be the scientific revolution... Many people are atheist now. Doesnt really matter what ur parents were because religion is ur inner feeling i guess. So i think its atheism ppl dont rely on Faiths too. There will always be a oh my god thing but there just wont be such a religion.

 

 

 

I'm going to say this as nicely as possible.

 

 

 

NO!

 

 

 

Where the unolly heck are people getting their info from? As a percentage of the world population, atheism peeked somewhere around the 1970s, and has pretty much plateaued (sp?) since then. Sure, there are more atheists today than there were yesterday, which you would expect with population growth, but there are not more atheists as a percentage of the total population today than there was thirty years ago. In fact, there are fewer.

 

 

 

Seriously.

 

 

 

:roll: im not saying that there r more atheists then christians etc. im saying that more and more ppl r becoming atheist. the number of atheists isnt decreasing...

[Eregion2]

I tried to find another nice pie chart for religion in the United States, because I'm pretty sure Atheism is on the rise here at least. No luck though. Anyway, the difference between Atheism and no religion is a bit slim; honestly I think they overlap but it is possible to be one without the other (atheists deny theistic belief outright; those who are irreligious are usually the people who admit that theism might or might not be real, and generally don't really care enough to pick a position either way :geek: ).

[Lateralus]

I think atheism is on the (slow) rise in the first world, but not in the third world. The number of atheists worldwide plummeted with the fall of communism also. A quick Google search also suggests that religious people have more children than non-religious, so that's a nice bolster for theism. However, the same search also suggests that the rate of conversion from belief to non-belief is higher than non-belief to belief.

[Lenticular_J]

I believe it'll be a combination of Christianity and something like Zen. Very modern yet traditional, it will be appealing to urban populations.

 

 

 

P.S. Coming back after five-days without internet is insane. You guys make topics like Catholic bunnies.

 

 

 

P.P.S. My dad's keyboard sucks. This post has taken me eight minutes. :(

 

 

 

P.P.P.S. Sometime this week I'll spend a few hours scouring new threads like usual, if I can. Until then, fare thee well off-topic.

[RichieMcD]

All i can say is if it does die, and Athiests run amuk, theres going to be a lot of sorry people sitting in hell while the believers enjoy everlasting salvation. :roll: :lol: ;)

 

 

 

Or it could simply be we will all rot in the ground, and us Atheists will be in a way laughing for all the time you spent sitting in a church listening to someone go on and on about illogical contradicting crap.

 

 

 

As Ging_Warr said, you're attitude is the exact reason why I hate a lot of the views shared by close minded Christians. There's hundreds of religions in the world, about 10 major ones. Give me one possible reason why there is more chance of the Christian god existing than say the Islamic god existing?

[Bunnies]

Anyway, the difference between Atheism and no religion is a bit slim; honestly I think they overlap but it is possible to be one without the other (atheists deny theistic belief outright; those who are irreligious are usually the people who admit that theism might or might not be real, and generally don't really care enough to pick a position either way).

 

 

 

Unfortunately you are making a common mistake here, though it is understandable, given the various definitions of atheism on the internet;

 

 

 

[hide=Atheism]- Absence of belief in the existence of God or gods

 

en.wiktionary.org/wiki/atheism

 

 

 

- Refers to the denial of any religious belief, the absence of belief in any deity or deities, or the position that religious belief is no different ...

 

en.citizendium.org/wiki/Religion

 

 

 

- The lack of belief in a god and/or the belief that there is no god. The position held by a person or persons that 'lack belief' in god(s) and/or deny that god(s) exist.

 

http://www.carm.org/atheism/terms.htm

 

 

 

The list goes on, but the main point of contention is this:

 

 

 

Is Atheism an assertion of belief or lack of belief?

 

 

 

While it seems pedantic, the definition is very important in formal argument and debate, as if Atheism is merely a lack of theistic belief, the burden of proof rests upon those who assert a divine existence.[/hide]

 

 

 

It seems to define what 'Atheism' means, we must first define theism:

 

 

 

[hide=Theism]- the doctrine or belief in the existence of a God or gods

 

wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

 

 

 

- belief in the existence of one or more deities; belief in the existence of a personal creator God, especially by or through revelation (i.e, with no evidence other than faith or introspection)

 

en.wiktionary.org/wiki/theism

 

 

 

- The belief that there is a God or gods.

 

http://www.fitzwimarc.org.uk/glossary/t.htm[/hide]

 

 

 

With those understandings of theism in mind, we turn towards the word Atheism. The attachent of an affix, 'a-', to theism changes it to literally mean 'without theism' or 'lacking theism'. Thus, the logical poistion is that Atheism is not an assertion on the non-existence of God, it is a contrary position to theistic assertions of God' existence.

 

 

 

Whilst this may seem majorly off topic, what it leads up to is that the position of no religion is implicity atheistic, thus giving lie to the current argument of atheistic numbers being in decline.

 

 

 

Also, by this standard, the postion of agnosticism is in fact 'atheistic'. ;)

[Sly_Wizard]

Christianity is huge and the Muslim faith is surprisingly closer to it then people think. I would say though that it would be Atheism. Imo the human race is getting smarter. And what we notice in history is that the more intellectual people get, the less they rely on religion. An example would be the scientific revolution... Many people are atheist now. Doesnt really matter what ur parents were because religion is ur inner feeling i guess. So i think its atheism ppl dont rely on Faiths too. There will always be a oh my god thing but there just wont be such a religion.

 

 

 

I'm going to say this as nicely as possible.

 

 

 

NO!

 

 

 

Where the unolly heck are people getting their info from? As a percentage of the world population, atheism peeked somewhere around the 1970s, and has pretty much plateaued (sp?) since then. Sure, there are more atheists today than there were yesterday, which you would expect with population growth, but there are not more atheists as a percentage of the total population today than there was thirty years ago. In fact, there are fewer.

 

 

 

Seriously.

 

 

 

:roll: im not saying that there r more atheists then christians etc. im saying that more and more ppl r becoming atheist. the number of atheists isnt decreasing...

 

 

 

That's not what I said you said. I said that, contrary to popular belief, atheism isn't on the rise and you're going to be hard-pressed to find a statistic backing that claim up. Once again, as a percentage of the total population, atheism peeked in the 1970's when communism was at it's height (Mainly because most communist countries outright shunned religion, with Albania being an outright atheistic country). Since that time, atheism has been on the slow decline worldwide, minus most of Europe and small pockets of Oceania and the Western U.S.. Yes, as I stated prior, you'd expect there to be more atheists today than there were yesterday due to population growth, but as a percentage of the world population there are not more atheists today than there were yesterday-- There are fewer.

 

 

 

Over the next 100 years, I'd expect that the religions with the biggest growth rates would be Islam, Sikhism, Hinduism and Christianity, due in part to the expected population booms in Asia and Africa. Unless there is some monumental global catastrophe the likes no one has ever seen, then Islam, Christianity and Hinduism will continue to be the "Big 3" for the next few hundred years.

[Lacoste]

Christianity isn't the biggest religion right now, its either Muslim, or Hinduism. Atheism is becoming very well accepted....

[Sly_Wizard]

^Me hopes thou dost jest.

 

 

 

(And, for the record, Muslim isn't a religion. It's the name for those people who follow the teachings of Islam.)

[Lacoste]

^Me hopes thou dost jest.

 

 

 

(And, for the record, Muslim isn't a religion. It's the name for those people who follow the teachings of Islam.)

 

 

 

I knew it sounded wrong, its Islam then.