Sherman123
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It is an interesting question that I've been thinking about for a while. For much of the past 20 years we've seen a steady increase in irreligious, atheistic, or secularist sentiment among citizens of the Western world (Europe, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, etc though excluding Russia and the post-Soviet space) and it does not seem as though this trend is slowing down. The raw statistics are easy enough to call upon and I don't think it's necessary here--suffice to say that it has risen significantly among youth and young adults and across most every country in the West it is on the rise and religiosity (the importance of traditional religion, attendance of services, etc) is on the decline. What I find more interesting personally is how the narrative has shifted so much in such a short period of time. It was only a few short years ago that this was a much more controversial subject with atheism/irreligion, the Newdow case, that war memorial out in California appearing nightly in the news. Now it seems like no one bats an eye at such lawsuits or polling reports on religion.
It makes me wonder of how different things could be in even 20 years, or 50, or a 100. Do you think your children will be as religious as you are? Your grandchildren? How prominent will traditional churches be and how much will they change? Will it follow current geographical demographics or will it spread evenly? Or will it reverse (I personally think this unlikely)?
It strikes me that so much of the vehemence around the current iteration of 'culture wars' is the sense on one side that they are slowly losing their grip on the future (and their deeply held views on life and society) and those who think they are increasingly winning.
Since most of us on this forum are definitely in the 'West' where this trend is taking place I figured I'd pose some of those questions here and see what you had to say.
It makes me wonder of how different things could be in even 20 years, or 50, or a 100. Do you think your children will be as religious as you are? Your grandchildren? How prominent will traditional churches be and how much will they change? Will it follow current geographical demographics or will it spread evenly? Or will it reverse (I personally think this unlikely)?
It strikes me that so much of the vehemence around the current iteration of 'culture wars' is the sense on one side that they are slowly losing their grip on the future (and their deeply held views on life and society) and those who think they are increasingly winning.
Since most of us on this forum are definitely in the 'West' where this trend is taking place I figured I'd pose some of those questions here and see what you had to say.