Bad News For Atheists

Avoiding indoctrinating children, the world "growing out of religion", etc. etc. it's all coming to nothing new research shows.

a study entitled “Faith in Flux” issued this week by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life questioned nearly 3,000 people and found that most children raised unaffiliated with a religion later chose to join one. Indoctrination be damned. By contrast, only 14 percent of those raised Catholic and 13 percent of those raised Protestant later became unaffiliated.

Source: NYT

Pew Research: "Faith In Flux"

Fascinating research which recalls the universal and timeless need for the Sacred in one's life - that God shaped space within humanity.

I must say it cheers me up to read this compared to the "self-righteous" (yes, I use that phrase) declarations of atheists in these parts prematurely proclaiming the death of faith and religion. No wonder, as the NYT Op-Ed suggests, atheists are trying to use religious methodology to win converts to nihilism. Therein will lie your quandry, the need for faith cannot be satisfied with "nothing".

Well, my children are aged 7 and 3, and I always tell them that religion is brainwash and I beg them to make up their own mind about things and not succumb to persuasion of people addicted to power. I hope whatever they choose to accept as their purpose to be the right one, whatever they finally accept.

Not really bad news for Atheists. It's just bad news for anyone who cares for the future of the human race.

I actually consider that to be good news! It means that our concept of "let your children choose" really works. That's really good news.. imagine if we were wrong and were actually indoctrinating our children while trying to avoid it!

reply to post by Supercertari


Do you have your pew at the Pew Foundation? It's not exactly an unbiased source. I would have to take anything they claim with a dash of salt and a holy eucharist. After all, lying for Jesus is a standard for religious these days.

Holy crap! i guess people are so insecure and afraid of what is going on in the world nowdays that they fall into this religious "control me, tell me what to do with my life jesus" BS. If one thing is certain, it is that i will NEVER gonna let my kids be brainwashed by these wackos. The only thing that i will teach them is: Believe in your self, you are your only god and master. No one is above anybody else. And if somebody comes to you telling that "jesus was a son of god, praise him!" Just turn away, laugh and fart!

reply to post by Gawdzilla


I hope your dismissal of the data is not based on a pun? That was the only evidence you gave for questioning it, a good old fashioned ad hominem, perhaps you'd like to elsewhere unveil your conspiracy theory concerning Pew Research with some facts.
It has been good enough for the NYT and other international journals who could not be described as bastions of religious belief.

Meantime does it offend your belief system that the great program of steering people away, from an early age, from the "dangers" of religion is failing?

To quote a good source "you shall know a tree by its fruits."

It is particularly bad news. I take it as news, and see it as bad.

I was raised in a highly christian family. Turned out to be atheist.

Think of all the people that turn from christianity to Islam, and vice verse, do you see me making threads saying, "Bad news christians". No, people change religion constantly.

They just don't like atheism, because it's a disturbing thing. Plus if everyone else is believing in god, I should too!

....Points to cliff jumpers

Originally posted by Supercertari
reply to post by Gawdzilla

 

I hope your dismissal of the data is not based on a pun? That was the only evidence you gave for questioning it, a good old fashioned ad hominem, perhaps you'd like to elsewhere unveil your conspiracy theory concerning Pew Research with some facts.
It has been good enough for the NYT and other international journals who could not be described as bastions of religious belief.

Meantime does it offend your belief system that the great program of steering people away, from an early age, from the "dangers" of religion is failing?

To quote a good source "you shall know a tree by its fruits."

I base my statement on prior experience with the Pew Foundation. They are a religion-driven organization and their numbers are presumed to biased until proven innocent. You should investigate your sources before making profound pronouncements.

From the headline I thought that Jesus and a host of angels had arrived and the rapture had begun,NO?Oh well

Umm in that study:

"Overall, 4% of the total U.S. adult population now belongs to a religious group after having been raised unaffiliated."

How is 4% "the most"?

p.s. Almost one-third (32%) of those who have become religiously affiliated after an unaffiliated childhood joined their current faith as a minor, including 19% who did so before reaching age 13.

How is that an unaffiliated childhood?

I bet these guys have read "How to lie with statistics"

[edit on 10-5-2009 by rhinoceros]

Did anyone check to see WHAT faith they joined? They could have become Pagan or Jedi or Buddhist or Muslim or any number of other non-Christian faiths. My guess would be that the data's actually all over the map.

reply to post by mannapolie


Yeah you got it right in your signature.

**do not feed the trolls**

Originally posted by Byrd
Did anyone check to see WHAT faith they joined? They could have become Pagan or Jedi or Buddhist or Muslim or any number of other non-Christian faiths. My guess would be that the data's actually all over the map.

I was just going to say the same thing - from what I can remember the census for my local area had a large percentage of people stating their religion as Jedi so I'm sure this makes up quite a bit of the percentage of people following a 'religion'.

The number of religious people may not be dwindling, but on the flipside I think more people are becoming wiser thanks to sciences and innovation, or at least caring less (i.e. tongue in cheek filling out their religion as Jedi!).

I probably should go through the all evidence there is for viability of Jesus/God/Creation etc before I state this...oh wait, there is none

I just see most religions as a cult that's gotten too big and easily settled into, especially when it's drilled into kids at a young age.

Just my opinion...of course

[edit on 10-5-2009 by Jimbowsk]

Originally posted by mannapolie

Mod Edit: Removed previous T and C violation in quote.

Very Christian of you.

"I like your Christ, but your Christians are so unlike him." Mohandas K. Gandhi.



[edit on 10-5-2009 by GAOTU789]

Originally posted by Miraj
Not really bad news for Atheists. It's just bad news for anyone who cares for the future of the human race.

Who cares about humanity....

Yeah.

One who cares about humanity doesn't have to do with atheist or religious. Period. Half the atheists I've known smoke crack(not saying all of them do) because they hate the way life is, they steal, they pillage, and they're not good for anything.

So, I've seen Christians who are so hell bent on their own religion that wars break out and people die. I've seen deluded contorted Muslims fly into buildings.

Religion or not, it has nothing to do with how one feels about humanity. End of story. That comment was weak.

reply to post by Byrd


Of those raised unafilliated: 46% remain unaffiliated, 39% are now protestant, 6% are now Catholic, and 9% now belong to "other faiths" (which may include Jedi, etc.)

reply to post by rhinoceros


It's about the "retention rate". Of those raised Catholic 68% remain Catholic, of those raised Protestant 80% remain Protestant, of those raised unaffiliated 46% remain unaffiliated. In other words the biggest change is to be found among the unaffiliated.

Your direct quotation from the document concerning the 32% who became affiliated after an unaffiliated childhood strangely omits the last sentence of that paragraph:
But only 10% of those who have become
affiliated with a religion after an unaffiliated childhood say it
was mostly their parents’ decision.
How to lie with statistics indeed.

The concern for atheists might be that more than half of those raised unaffiliated find themselves attracted to and involved in religion later in life. The great campaign for raising children "free" from religion bears relatively poor fruit.

I don't understand the point of this thread.

As Byrd has said above, the research says nothing about which faith they have become affiliated with.

What point are you trying to get across?

That atheists are wrong? What?

reply to post by Supercertari


"The great campaign for raising children "free" from religion bears relatively poor fruit. "

The campaign to raise children free to science is still steaming along, though. I think that's more worrisome than whether or not they adhere to the tenets of The Bronze Age Goat-herders' Anthology of Campfire Tales.