Religion
Related: About this forumWe’re putting an end to religion:
We’re putting an end to religion: Richard Dawkins, Bill Maher and the exploding new American secularism.
Religious right extremism, new atheists & late-night mockery have religion on the run. American secularism's rising.
Phil Zuckerman.
What is going on? How do we explain this recent wave of secularization that is washing over so much of America?
The answer to these questions is actually much less theological or philosophical than one might think. It is simply not the case that in recent years tens of millions of Americans have suddenly started doubting the cosmological or ontological arguments for the existence of God, or that hundreds of thousands of other Americans have miraculously embraced the atheistic naturalism of Denis Diderot. Sure, this may be happening here and there, in this or that dorm room or on this or that Tumblr page. The best-sellers written by Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Sam Harris—as well as the irreverent impiety and flagrant mockery of religion by the likes of Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Bill Maher, House, South Park, and Family Guy—have had some impact on American culture. As we have seen, a steady, incremental uptick of philosophical atheism and agnosticism is discernible in America in recent years. But the larger reality is that for the many millions of Americans who have joined the ranks of the nonreligious, the causes are most likely to be political and sociological in nature.
For starters, we can begin with the presence of the religious right, and the backlash it has engendered. Beginning in the 1980s, with the rise of such groups as the Moral Majority and the Christian Coalition, the closeness of conservative Republicanism with evangelical Christianity has been increasingly tight and publicly overt. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, more and more politicians on the right embraced the conservative Christian agenda, and more and more outspoken conservative Christians allied themselves with the Republican Party. Examples abound, from Michele Bachmann to Ann Coulter, from Mike Huckabee to Pat Robertson, and from Rick Santorum to James Dobson. With an emphasis on seeking to make abortion illegal, fighting against gay rights (particularly gay marriage), supporting prayer in schools, advocating “abstinence only” sex education, opposing stem cell research, curtailing welfare spending, supporting Israel, opposing gun control, and celebrating the war on terrorism, conservative Christians have found a warm welcome within the Republican Party, which has been clear about its openness to the conservative Christian agenda. This was most pronounced during the eight years that George W. Bush was in the White House.
What all of this this has done is alienate a lot of left-leaning or politically moderate Americans from Christianity. Sociologists Michael Hout and Claude Fischer have published compelling research indicating that much of the growth of “nones” in America is largely attributable to a reaction against this increased, overt mixing of Christianity and conservative politics. The rise of irreligion has been partially related to the fact that lots of people who had weak or limited attachments to religion and were either moderate or liberal politically found themselves at odds with the conservative political agenda of the Christian right and thus reacted by severing their already somewhat weak attachment to religion. Or as sociologist Mark Chaves puts it, “After 1990 more people thought that saying you were religious was tantamount to saying you were a conservative Republican. So people who are not Republicans now are more likely to say that they have no religion.”
http://www.salon.com/2014/12/20/were_putting_an_end_to_religion_richard_dawkins_bill_maher_and_the_exploding_new_american_secularism/
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Peacetrain
(22,874 posts)I am committed to my faith.. I am a Christian.. what anyone else believes is their own convictions..but I long as I draw a breath, I will profess my faith.. and not step back from it.
And I am a Liberal Democrat who never stepped away from that label either!
Feral Child
(2,086 posts)Religion will continue to be a drag on civilization for quite some time. It fills an emotional need for some people, though it undoubtably doesn't fulfill that need, or even satisfy it.
As I've mentioned elsewhere, H sapiens sapiens has evolved about as far as it can, possibly as a result of it's continued umbilical.
Warren Stupidity
(48,181 posts)Just that the trend is toward growing secularism.
Feral Child
(2,086 posts)
Warpy
(111,230 posts)but far right fundamentalist crackpots sure are. I'm hearing anger and disgust over them from all parts of the belief spectrum.
Warren Stupidity
(48,181 posts)Warpy
(111,230 posts)when believer friends are griping about wingnut fundie excesses. I figure anything an atheist says will be counterproductive, so I just enjoy the tirades.
Warren Stupidity
(48,181 posts)I think that in fact they are making it possible for non-religious people who live in religious areas to understand that they are not alone. The HORRID BAD ATHEISTS are bringing atheism out of the closet and that is good thing.
Warpy
(111,230 posts)If they didn't, I'd tell them and then keep my trap shut.
pinto
(106,886 posts)are making a dent. Especially in the US. Agree that many among the faith communities here are recoiling from the blatant actions of the far right extremists. At some point, enough is enough. People of good faith - and I mean that in humanistic terms - increasingly recognize extremism as a fringe of American society as a whole. And sadly, seem surprised at their maneuvering to influence politics. They've been at it for a while and have chosen local, county, state positions to establish a base. Those typically have small electoral turnout and are ripe for minority control.
Yet I hold out some hope for the pendulum. Take the growth of support for sexual minorities, typified by the legislative / court battles for equal marriage rights. The country is just about at the point of broad legal equality. The extremists are loosing that one, very publicly.
Self-identified atheists have always had some "baggage" in our popular culture. A bad rap for the most part. Yet it persists. Some of it may be the perception that atheists are not mainstream, by choice perhaps or by public opinion, always against something yet not for anything in the general culture of the country. I think that's changing, as well.
NaturalHigh
(12,778 posts)Something like 90% of Americans believe in God.
I fully support your right not to believe. I would appreciate the same courtesy from you and your fellow secularists concerning my right to believe and worship.
bvf
(6,604 posts)Some interesting findings here. Poll is about a year old, but attitudes don't change that quickly...
http://www.harrisinteractive.com/NewsRoom/HarrisPolls/tabid/447/ctl/ReadCustom%20Default/mid/1508/ArticleId/1353/Default.aspx
Of course, you have every right to your beliefs. Others have just as much right to call bullshit on them.
muriel_volestrangler
(101,295 posts)It doesn't reflect the text at all. The message is actually " the larger reality is that for the many millions of Americans who have joined the ranks of the nonreligious, the causes are most likely to be political and sociological in nature" rather than books or TV by Maher or Dawkins. And it's not about 'the end of religion', but the increase in the non-religious. You might say it's about the end of religion as the default assumption for what people follow, but their headline is little more than click-bait.
pinto
(106,886 posts)Simplistic at best.
(pet peeve) Headline editors...
muriel_volestrangler
(101,295 posts)...
“Humans need comfort in the face of pain and suffering, and many need to think that there’s something more after this life, that they’re loved by an invisible being,” Zuckerman says. “There will always be people who believe, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they remain the majority.”
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20141219-will-religion-ever-disappear
pinto
(106,886 posts)But it's as old as print, I guess. Some of it for space issues probably or a lead to garner some reader interest. I take them with a grain of salt.
Some I've chuckled about. The Boston Globe was notorious at one time for placement of headlines in relation to other articles on the front page.
Warren Stupidity
(48,181 posts)Last edited Sun Dec 21, 2014, 03:45 PM - Edit history (1)
Generally the rule in huffpo and salon is "if atheism then dawkins".
