Mormons

[Gorgon]

Maybe so, churchgoing is not very common here. Probably a side effect of priests being on a state salary, they don't need to bother brining them in, so they don't.

Of all the people I know that say they believe only one ever goes to mass and such. No escape since he's friends with a priest.

 

Also were protestants and not too keen on the idea of a church bureaucracy standing between individual and god. There is little social pressure to attend.

Edited September 4, 2012 by Gorgon

[Raithe]

I've met a few folk who go to church regularly, and who say they're believers.. but you get the feeling they don't so much have a sense of personal faith in god, so much as a "this is what I was raised in, this is what the social group does, it's what you do, I go to church, therefore I'm a believer".

 

It's that fine line of whether they believe in god, or if they believe in the faith (if that makes sense) that is just the social dynamic of it all.

[Calax]

It seems like most people aren't that great of adherents to the "go to chuch on sunday" rules anymore.

 

So they might consider themselves christians, but if you dug into them about doctrine you'd get something along the lines of "I haven't bene in a while".

[Gorth]

It's that fine line of whether they believe in god, or if they believe in the faith (if that makes sense) that is just the social dynamic of it all.

I think it's perfectly possible to believe in there being more to life than meets the eye without believing in religions run by religious leaders for religious leaders.

 

[Raithe]

It's that fine line of whether they believe in god, or if they believe in the faith (if that makes sense) that is just the social dynamic of it all.

I think it's perfectly possible to believe in there being more to life than meets the eye without believing in religions run by religious leaders for religious leaders.

 

Which is a seperate issue from what I was talking about (or at least meaning to talk about). I mean, my mother is serious in her faith, but keeps it totally personal. She doesn't attend churches these days for various reasons, but she used to be just as happy going to a CofE church, as a Baptist, as a.. well, she recognised they all had different aspects but didn't feel tied to one as a central aspect of her personal faith.

 

What I had meant to discuss is those people who go to worship and claim that the act of going and sitting their arse down in a pew and singing the songs is faith. The ones who don't actually seem to have a belief of their own, just as part of the mass of people together. The ones who are "I go to church, ergo I have faith and belief and am inherently a better person" regardless of if they actually believe in whatever brand they follow.

 

Personally, I'm agnostic. I don't have the hardline athiesm, but I've never felt that sincere faith for any particular brand of religion / philosophy. That and I've studied too much on literature, history, politics and warfare over the centuries to have much security in large organised religions of any sort..

[Humodour]

I thought it was like 7 kids to get into the celestial kingdom?

 

Wait, you're telling me these people are OUTBREEDING us? I hope the rate of conversion to atheism per family is higher than the birth rate!

 

I know you are joking around, but atheism is never going to win the numbers game here. The main problem is it doesn't offer any support network. Who does an atheist turn to when times are tough? People want that sense of community, and that seems to be the antithesis of atheism.

 

Errr, family and friends like everyone else?

 

Clearly you haven't met my family

 

The numbers still don't look all that good for atheism, even in a country like France, only 30% claim no beliefs at all.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_atheism

 

Also, atheism is predominantly a young man's game. It's easy to claim there is no God in your 20's, but when you start wrestling with your own mortality, the church offers quite a bit of comfort.

 

Maybe once science can figure out eternal life or cryogenic freezing, we'll see a big uptick in atheism.

 

Seeing US Americans talk so naively about atheists and secular humanists is always rather funny, even if a bit sad. And you offer no exception.

Edited September 5, 2012 by Krezack

[Hurlshort]

That was pretty rude Krezack. Why do you post this stuff if you aren't interested in discussing it?

[Nepenthe]

That was pretty rude Krezack. Why do you post this stuff if you aren't interested in discussing it?

Since the symptoms of an overblown ego and serious self-esteem issues are actually the same, I can't pick which one of the two it is. With all the **** yeah Australia posts he starts, I'm thinking the latter.

[Rostere]

There are no people who regularly go to church where I come from. Even the people who say they believe in some faith do not regularly go to church.

[HoonDing]

The fact you can't open a newspaper without reading about another priest being involved in sexual abuse pretty much ensures churches here will remain empty for the next 500 years.