Am I being unreasonable to say most people are no longer religious?

[Rtruth]

I mean how many people actually believe in a “god”, there are so many human interpretations of the same religious texts that if a all knowing being had created them, they would surely have cleared it up by now.

I only ask as more I think and read my former religious text of choice, I don’t agree with its words on homosexuality, slavery and treatment of women. So I just find my morals are better that what’s in it.
I’m pushed to atheism as I’ve not enough proof to just believe.
Not saying isn’t anything, but proof seems flawed.

I am a practising Christian with a strong faith, having been an atheist for most of my life. I consider myself educated, liberal and able to understand the ways in which organised religion has caused a huge amount of damage. And yet I still have a personal relationship with God and pray regularly. It is a constant, complex discipline that is the foundation of my life, and it is always changing.

I meet a lot of Christians who are judgemental, patronising and blinkered. I also meet a lot of atheists who are the same.

I am always more interested in peoples' actions than their opinions!

Most people?
Increasing numbers in the UK and western world. Perhaps it has reached 'most' level.
If it hasn't it soon will.

World wide? No most people believe in some kind of god and follow a religion.

@Brahumbug where in the New Testament does it condone slavery???

As loads of PPs have said the Old Testament is the back story... it describes a sinful world that needed sorting out. God sent Jesus to take away sin and offer the chance for everyone to repent/be forgiven. Christianity is about following Christ, not sacrificing children, condoning slavery or being homophobic!!

Christian fundamentalists are rare... most of us recognise that the Bible needs to be interpreted carefully and prayerfully rather than read as literal truth!

most of us recognise that the Bible needs to be interpreted carefully and prayerfully

Isn't that a bit like designing surveys so you only get the stats you want (trust me, I've done it!)

You can decipher the meaning you want out of what you choose to read.

And even then you can fall back on being told what to do by god; or even "just knowing" because god meant you to know.

Maybe religion is just a useful Jiminy Cricket "prop" more than anything?

(I don't mean that disrespectfully to believers)

Newtometoday

What an offensive post. How rude and ignorant you actually are.

You feel sorry for people who believe ??

How dare you

@BuzzShitbagBobbly it’s a faith not a science!

As a society we are obsessed with scientific evidence and a search for facts. That’s why people are sceptical about religious beliefs/faith. Having faith doesn’t make me stupid or gullible... I have listened to Christian teachings and I believe them.

Love that the Old Testament is now a 'back story' 😂 which bits are canon and which aren't, then? That view is just an acknowledgement of how horrific most of it is. It's still part of the bible though. The word of god. The pick and mix approach is an attempt at keeping it semi palatable in modern life.

I don't think religion is dying out, but I think in the uk it's on its way, long term, at least for Christianity. A shame in some ways as some of the community aspects connected to faith are admirable and contribute a lot to local communities. I'm an atheist but raised catholic. There's a lot of social activism and community benefit contributes by faith based organisations in my area though.

@Nameofchanges confused on this one.

Are you saying slavery is right? If not how did your perspective change?

@fink apologies but my subsequent posts are only in response to questions/comments. Nothing more, and yes titleshould have said UK. I was naive there.

@Beebie2 same as response above

I wouldn't say my morals are better than all Christians as they vary, but my morals are much better than god's. Most Christians morals are better than god's. It would take some effort to have worse ones.

Whether people are religious is complicated as many people say they are, but don't do anything with it. it's just a label. I don't think there are a great number of seriously devout Christians in the UK. I mean devout like Abraham who was willing to kill for it.

You ask if you’re unreasonable to say most people are no longer religious, but your original post includes statements, such as;

• So I just find my morals are better that what’s in it.
• Not saying isn’t anything, but proof seems flawed

The second part of your post has no relevance to the question. It just has a slightly judgy edge that was likely to cause upset. Hence my

Wasn't religion (or at least faith in a god) a way of rationalising things that couldn't be explained in years gone by? As technology and science move forward and we can explain and understand more of what we see around us I think it's inevitable that fewer people will believe in God.

I really don't know what I think, tbh. When I try to think about it I tend to end up going round in circles.

Sorry OP but you’re completely wrong to think fewer people are religious nowadays.
There are 2.18 billion Christians in the world today, up from just 600 million in 1910.
It’s the biggest global religion and is growing well, particularly in the Far East. The proportion of Christians in South Korea for example has gone up from 2% to 29% of the population.
My own little village church is well attended and has a growing congregation.
I don’t know where you get your figures from, or whether you’re just guessing from your own social circle, but Christianity is very definitely alive and thriving!

Any organised system of morals, regardless of whether it's theistic or not, is capable of doing great damage. The last hundred years shows that. And that includes modern liberalism, which is allowing humans to knowingly trash the planet.

Having no system of morals is worse.

I am religious (C of E). What confuses my friends is that they think I must believe in the existence of God like I believe in the existence of the chair I'm sitting on, and it just isn't like that. Anyway, I go to church, pray etc and I hope that makes me a better person than I'd be otherwise.

I don't think Christianity will die out in the West, but I think it will continue to go through a bad time as a lot of its intellectual basis has been hollowed out in my lifetime, and so right now it isn't capable of offering the average person anything much.

I do see lots of things filling the void (mindfulness, single-issue politics etc) and they don't seem much of a substitute.

YABU - most people are religious (not me, mind).

Just a note on slavery. Slavery in that part of the world in biblical times was very different to the western slave trade we think of when we think of slaves. In the time of the old testemant slaves were empress, had rights, could own property, were part of families and included wealthy familiies cooks, nanny's teachers. They could get their freedom after 7 years couldn't be taken into slavery forcibly. It was more like being in someone's staff than what we think of as slavery. ( which the Bible does condemn!) read into the history of slavery in that period of history. Everyone believes something more than they can prove.... Not sure saying your morality is better than millions of people is the way to go in this argument! You writing an article?

The very nature of 'proof' is that it is not flawed. If you are looking for 'proof' in any belief system, you will be sorely disappointed because 'proof' and 'belief' are different by definition.

What I would say is that most of the billions of people in the world are religious. Your morals cannot be better than theirs. Maybe they seem it because you have never experienced the terror of a civil war or truly corrupt government and gave had to act in a way that your humanity has been compromised.

52% of people in the UK do not affiliate with a faith. Yet more than a fifth of those believe in God, another fifth are agnostic and some still practice a religious activity in private.

I think you shouldn't confuse organised and institutionalised religion with faith and belief and personal morality.

Hope that helps xx

They devote their whole life to something that isn’t real

I would rather believe and be wrong than not believe and then find I was wrong..... Believing in something literally hurts no one. So please don't feel sorry for us

I am Muslim and I can see many scientific facts in the Qur'an. They aren't written how we would expect.

For example... Dinosaurs...

*Will You place therein those who will make mischief therein and shed blood?” make it very likely that they were successors to some creatures who came before them and that there were creatures on earth before that who shed blood and spread mischief. So the angels asked their Lord, may He be glorified and exalted: “Will You place therein those who will make mischief therein and shed blood” as was done by those who came before them?

End quote from Tafseer al-Qur’aan al-Kareem, 1/30*

There are many other facts but I don't have time to find them all right now as my kids are getting ready for school

www.google.com/amp/s/islamqa.info/amp/en/answers/166097

@Mumtomaxwell
Well according to the bible it is the inerrant word of god, and Jesus agreed with it all: "The Scripture cannot be broken" (John 10:35). Scripture is ‘the commandment of God’ (Matthew 15:3) and the ‘Word of God’ (Mark 7:13). As for accepting all of it, ‘Until Heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass away from the law, until all is accomplished’ (Matthew 5:18). I think that is pretty clear. Why would you accept the 10 commandments and not the rest? The fall of man and the garden of Eden etc are fundamental to Christianity.

On slavery the new testament is clear

Ephesians 6:5: “Bondservants, obey your earthly masters.”

Colossians 3:22: “Bondservants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters.”

1 Peter 2:18: “Servants, be subject to your masters.”

In the old testament Exodus 21: 1 to 7 tells you who how to treat your Hebrew slaves including your right to beat them to death, and long as they do not die within 3 days of the beating and how to trick them into being permanent slaves and not eligible for release after 7 years. None Hebrew slaves had no rights and were permanent property to be passed on. Leviticus 25: 44 to 46.

In the UK, religious belief has fallen (though it'll be interesting to see if that trend continues in the 2021 census - I wouldn't bet on it.) Globally, it hasn't really and the vast majority of people globally are religious. In some countries (China, for example) there seems to have been a big increase (although of course we don't have full data because the government there is still pretty restrictive of religion).

And within western societies like the UK as formal religion has declined there's also been an increase in people who wouldn't call themselves religious but who still believe in fate/karma/life force/etc.