# In 100 years Religion will be **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 21, 2014, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-100-years-religion-will-be/707812 "2014-12-21T08:27:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Zyanthia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Zyanthia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyanthia)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-100-years-religion-will-be/707812/61 "2014-12-22T17:05:00Z")
Einstein believed in God, and he’s smarter than I’ll ever be, so on appeal to authority, I believe there is a God. [QUOTE=Einstein] Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind. [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-100-years-religion-will-be/707812/62 "2014-12-22T17:14:54Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Um, no, they aren’t at all alike. Dark matter is something that we can clearly see the effects of, and “discovering that its basic codified interpretations of how the universe works are not backed up by observational data” is a description of religion not science. Science is “The data doesn’t match the theory, so change the theory”. > > And so did the \*support \*for slavery. And much of the opposition to slavery wasn’t for _moral_ reasons; it was because the slavers wouldn’t let the slaves read the Bible, or because Catholics and Protestants at the time tended to take opposite positions on everything by reflex. > > No, it doesn’t. It _decreases_ social cohesion, it turns people against each other. How is it “social cohesion” when family members incited by religion [turn on each other](http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/the-forsaken-a-rising-number-of-homeless-gay-teens-are-being-cast-out-by-religious-families-20140903)? > > Nor is religion even capable of providing the basis of a system of ethics. It makes assertions and demands they be taken on faith, while demanding that flesh and blood people and their suffering be ignored in favor of their imaginary souls and imaginary gods; which if anything is the opposite of ethics. I think your anger at religion is clouding your ability to assess its functions. Religion can, and does, both increase and decrease social cohesion, depending on the context. A truer statement would be that religion has an _effect_ on social cohesion. Your statements about faith are true of Christianity, but not of religion in general. Faith is not nearly as important as praxis in many religions, including Roman Catholicism for some of its history. I tend to agree about the “basis of a system of ethics” quote, but only because religion essentially codifies ethical decisions already made by the culture at large. I have posted in other threads about my JW relatives, whose religion has basically destroyed my family, so I have experience the psychological and social evil that religion can bring. That said, it is simply ignorant to claim that religion as a phenomenon is inherently bad. You might as well be upset at the advertising industry, which similarly promotes ideas it knows not to be literally true. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-100-years-religion-will-be/707812/63 "2014-12-22T17:20:04Z")
> [@Zyanthia](#): > > Einstein believed in God, and he’s smarter than I’ll ever be, so on appeal to authority, I believe there is a God. The trouble with that approach is (1) It’s debatable exactly what Einstein believed about God. (We’ve had whole threads about this.) (2) There are lots of people who are smarter than I am, who believe all sorts of different things. They can’t all be right. (3) Einstein was a brilliant physicist, but that doesn’t make him an authority on matters of religion or theology. ---
**Author:** ![Tuxie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ee59a6/32.png) [@Tuxie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuxie)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-100-years-religion-will-be/707812/64 "2014-12-22T17:28:40Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > Let’s say that within the next 100 years, we find an immortality drug and we cure all cancers and neurodegenerative disorders (like Alzheimers). Death will cease to have the grip on us that it does now. > > If people aren’t as religious today as they used to be, I’m gonna guess it has something to do with modern-day improvements in quality and quantity of life. Thinking about the afterlife makes sense when your life is full of absolute misery and suffering, and death is a frequent visitor. I’d be praying to Jesus too if every single infection or injury was a potential death sentence. > > Also within the next 100 years, we could make contact with alien life. If they make contact with us, that means they would have to have superior technology. A whole lotta folks would suddenly come to the realization that humans aren’t the pinnacle of God’s creation. We can expect a whole heap of humans to adopt whatever religion the aliens have (if they are the proselytizing type). A whole bunch of other people will create new religions (Praise be to Lizard Jesus!) > > Barring alien invasion, I think agnostism/atheism will continue to grow. The religious will always be with us, but I think as long as the current trend continues, increasingly more people will continue to “come out” as non-believers. Eventually there will be such a critical mass of non-believers that it will be the religious who will feel pressured to keep their true identities secret. Just wanted to chime in that this is a really interesting thought experiment. If we became effectively immortal, what would the perception of the afterlife be? For all our knowledge and understandings, would the arrival of an alien race be parallel to Cortez and the Aztecs? ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-100-years-religion-will-be/707812/65 "2014-12-22T17:38:55Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > And so did the \*support \*for slavery. No, support for slavery in the US did not originate with religious fundamentalists. Your statement is false. > [@](#): > > No, it doesn’t. It _decreases_ social cohesion, it turns people against each other. Since you cannot and will not produce a cite that, overall, religion decreases social cohesion, this also can be considered a false statement. > [@](#): > > Nor is religion even capable of providing the basis of a system of ethics. It makes assertions and demands they be taken on faith… All systems of ethics, without any exception, are faith-based and axiomatic. It’s a pity - you have been corrected over and over on these false statements, and it doesn’t help. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-100-years-religion-will-be/707812/66 "2014-12-22T18:37:05Z")
> [@Shmendrik](#): > > You should read about this little religion called [Islam](http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/holydays/eiduladha.shtml). Ah, well… there we go. Things have changed even less than I thought they had. So I’ll amend my post to use animal sacrifice as further proof for why religious practices are not going away in 100 years… and probably not even in 10,000 years. ---
**Author:** ![Hector\_St\_Clare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5ac83/32.png) [@Hector\_St\_Clare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hector_St_Clare)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-100-years-religion-will-be/707812/67 "2014-12-22T19:33:41Z")
> [@Zyanthia](#): > > Einstein believed in God, and he’s smarter than I’ll ever be, so on appeal to authority, I believe there is a God. I’m a Christian, and a biologist, but this is a really terrible argument. 1. Einstein didn’t believe in God in any sense that most serious theists (myself included) would recognize. He called himself a follower of Spinoza, and Spinoza was just this side of being a full blown atheist. 2. Scientists, outside their field of knowledge, are not necessarily any more ‘expert’ than anyone else (and when it comes to something as murky as the divine, I doubt that anything like ‘expertise’ really even exists). There have been scientists who embraced everything from Nazism, to Stalinism, to racial segregation, to talking with fairies (that would be Alfred Wallace, the codiscoverer of evolution), to the healing power of Vitamin C. One of the greatest scientists and statisticians in history, R.A. Fisher, went to his grave vociferously denying that cigarettes caused cancer. ---
**Author:** ![Hector\_St\_Clare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5ac83/32.png) [@Hector\_St\_Clare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hector_St_Clare)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-100-years-religion-will-be/707812/68 "2014-12-22T19:35:38Z")
> [@nani](#): > > A significant part of Mainline Protestant Churches’ decline as a share of US population also has to do with a relatively low birth rate (especially when compared to evangelicals) stretching back before WWII, and less reinforcement from immigration. That’s certainly true, and birth rates seem to account for the _biggest_ portion of the decline. However, the Pew ‘Changing Religious Landscape’ survey from a few years ago also looked at conversion trends broken down by denomination, and those two churches have a higher rate of people decamping for atheism/agnosticism (20%) than any other. ---
**Author:** ![Hector\_St\_Clare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5ac83/32.png) [@Hector\_St\_Clare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hector_St_Clare)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-100-years-religion-will-be/707812/69 "2014-12-22T19:39:54Z")
> [@BlackKnight](#): > > We should keep in mind that smallpox co-existed with humanity for thousands of years as well. Then it didn’t. > > (For the nitpickers - yes, smallpox still exists in a few labs. But it currently exists more in theory than in practice. And if anyone is offended by the comparison of religion with a virus, consider a different analogy instead: Humanity lived alongside passenger pigeons for thousands of years. Then they didn’t.) > > In 100 years religion will still be around but will likely be reduced in influence. I base this on the centuries-long trend of religion being around but decreasingly influential. > > Just in the past couple of decades religion in the West went from (mostly) being opposed to homosexuality to (mostly) being more or less okay with it. Religion was used by many as a reason why homosexual marriage (or even homosexual sex) should remain illegal. I don’t know if there are still states in the US that outlaw sodomy, but there are certainly fewer than there used to be. And homosexual marriage is legal in many states now; in another decade or so, it will likely be legal everywhere in the US. While religion isn’t the only reason some people oppose(d) homosexual rights, religious organizations have been its strongest and most virulent opponents. Now, their influence in this area has waned and will continue to do so in the near future. > > Divorce laws are another example of the waning power of religious belief in the West. I could also cite changes in abortion rights and free speech rights with respect to obscenity and profanity. Sure, I still can’t buy liquor on a Sunday. But the general trend seems clear enough. Religion will absolutely be around in 100 years, but we shouldn’t let that fact lead us to believe that the status quo will remain unchanged. You have a fair point about homosexuality, but public opinion about abortion has more or less been at a stalemate for several decades, and I don’t see any reason they are going to liberalize. (As a legal matter, abortion rights have been pretty much stable since 1973 as well). There are some countries which have liberalized their abortion laws in the last couple of decades, but there are also some that have tightened them up. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2014, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-100-years-religion-will-be/707812/70 "2014-12-24T23:18:58Z")
One sort of religion-namely those that are theologically liberal and that try to split the difference will be dead-the orthodox churches will continue to stand and the number of agnostics/atheists will probably have increased greatly but such institutions as the Church of England or the mainline denominations here will either be dead or taken over by their conservative bretheren. Otherwise it is difficult to make specific predictions-Christian orthodoxy will survive even if greatly diminished in numbers and (especially) influence but the forms that will be the strongest are an open question-I doubt contemporary Evangelicalism will be particularly popular by 2114 for example, we may instead see a revival of traditionalist Calvinism or perhaps a renewed popularity of the liturgical churches as found in LCMS and the conservative breakaway factions of the Anglican Church. The Atheismblob-esque comments of some posters here are quite amusing. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-100-years-religion-will-be/707812/71 "2014-12-25T14:55:38Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > One sort of religion-namely those that are theologically liberal and that try to split the difference will be dead-the orthodox churches will continue to stand and the number of agnostics/atheists will probably have increased greatly but such institutions as the Church of England or the mainline denominations here will either be dead or taken over by their conservative bretheren. Otherwise it is difficult to make specific predictions-Christian orthodoxy will survive even if greatly diminished in numbers and (especially) influence but the forms that will be the strongest are an open question-I doubt contemporary Evangelicalism will be particularly popular by 2114 for example, we may instead see a revival of traditionalist Calvinism or perhaps a renewed popularity of the liturgical churches as found in LCMS and the conservative breakaway factions of the Anglican Church. > > The Atheismblob-esque comments of some posters here are quite amusing. And Islam? Or Buddhism? ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-100-years-religion-will-be/707812/72 "2014-12-25T15:10:09Z")
> [@usedtobe](#): > > Religion, in one form or another, has existed as far back as recorded time, and it pretty much universal - from massive churches to a shaman in a tiny, remote village, there is religion. > > When a supply plane can create a religion (the oft-cited “Cargo Cult”), there is something about religion that people desperately want. > > It ain’t going nowhere… > > As an atheist, I would like to see it step back form the Us-vs-Them mentality so many promote. but I suspect that is a large part of what makes them appealing - you, who are a loser by all measurement, are really superior to all those “winners”, because you have the only true God, and they’ll get whats coming to them when they die! > (we are a pathetic species, aren’t we?) So you are saying that being a good hardworking parent is a looser? Anyone who makes a statement like that I would have to call a jackass. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-100-years-religion-will-be/707812/73 "2014-12-25T23:29:46Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > And Islam? > Or Buddhism? I don’t think I’m knowledgable enough to make predictions regarding those religions beyond that they’ll almost certainly exist as major religions a century from now. ---
**Author:** ![xythenz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/a88e57/32.png) [@xythenz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xythenz)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-100-years-religion-will-be/707812/74 "2014-12-25T23:42:09Z")
Religion is important. It does as much good as it does bad (arguably more good, if you look at the individual). I’m not even religious, I’d guess I’m agnostic, but I \*\*\*know \*\*\*religion won’t ever really fade out. People need a religion, a god, and maybe a church. Saying religion will fade out, or that the world would be better off without religion is both ignorance and arrogance. Its infuriating to hear. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-100-years-religion-will-be/707812/75 "2014-12-25T23:49:52Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > 100 years is a long time, too long for good predictions. In 100 years everyone may have mind control chips that force them to believe in the religion chosen by their government, or civilization may have fallen. What if there are competing formats? You don’t want to be an early adopter and then get frozen out by a lack of software or a weird OS and wind up having to worship Mithras. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-100-years-religion-will-be/707812/76 "2014-12-25T23:51:44Z")
> [@xythenz](#): > > Religion is important. It does as much good as it does bad (arguably more good, if you look at the individual). I don’t buy that. I don’t think it’s even possible; the evil that religion does is so massive, so overwhelming that I don’t think it’s even _possible_ for it to do as much good. I certainly don’t buy that it actually does so. > [@xythenz](#): > > People need a religion, a god, and maybe a church. Demonstrably wrong, given that people function just fine without all of those things. > [@xythenz](#): > > Saying religion will fade out, or that the world would be better off without religion is both ignorance and arrogance. Its infuriating to hear. Why is in infuriating arrogance to say that it would be good for religion to fade out, but not infuriating arrogance to say that religion is good and people need it? They’re mirror images. ---
**Author:** ![xythenz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/a88e57/32.png) [@xythenz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xythenz)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2014, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-100-years-religion-will-be/707812/77 "2014-12-26T00:04:34Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > I don’t buy that. I don’t think it’s even possible; the evil that religion does is so massive, so overwhelming that I don’t think it’s even _possible_ for it to do as much good. I certainly don’t buy that it actually does so. What evil does religion actually do? People commit violence or acts of perversion for its own sake, and do it under the guise of religion. Churches open their doors for the homeless. It provides closure and strength through faith. Its easy to say “religion is evil” but when my grandmother lost her husband she turned to god. When my friend lost his mother he went to church. The only sense of community in my neighborhood comes from the people who pray at the mosque, or go to church. Its easy to say religion is evil when you’ve never needed it, or never seen people who would have suffered worse without it. But I will adamantly defend the notion that people need religion. Those who have found god, found Him when they had nothing else. But its easy to trivialize something you don’t understand, and try to judge objectively when it isn’t meant to be judge objectively. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2014, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-100-years-religion-will-be/707812/78 "2014-12-26T00:42:52Z")
> [@xythenz](#): > > What evil does religion actually do? People commit violence or acts of perversion for its own sake, and do it under the guise of religion. Believers kill and oppress other people all the time in the name of religion. The Catholic Church’s efforts against condoms in Africa have probably killed millions, and that’s just one example off the top of my head of the destructive nature of religion. It’s doing good that generally requires defying religion, not doing evil. > [@xythenz](#): > > Its easy to say religion is evil when you’ve never needed it, or never seen people who would have suffered worse without it. I don’t buy the idea that anyone has ever needed religion. Humanity would be far better off if it never existed. > [@xythenz](#): > > But I will adamantly defend the notion that people need religion. Those who have found god, found Him when they had nothing else. But its easy to trivialize something you don’t understand, and try to judge objectively when it isn’t meant to be judge objectively. Yet the believers claim all the time that their beliefs should be considered objective, absolute truth; in fact that _they and they alone_ have access to objective truth. And I “understand” religion just fine; there’s nothing profound about it. ---
**Author:** ![xythenz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/a88e57/32.png) [@xythenz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xythenz)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2014, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-100-years-religion-will-be/707812/79 "2014-12-26T01:17:34Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > And I “understand” religion just fine; there’s nothing profound about it. I really won’t bother arguing it since you are clearly cemented in a black and white view of the world and this isn’t the pit. ---
**Author:** ![race\_to\_the\_bottom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c4cdca/32.png) [@race\_to\_the\_bottom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/race_to_the_bottom)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2014, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-100-years-religion-will-be/707812/80 "2014-12-26T19:05:08Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > We have a poll of scientists: > > [Scientists and Belief | Pew Research Center](http://www.pewforum.org/2009/11/05/scientists-and-belief/) > > Scientists are supposed to be rational. So if half of them believe in a deity now, I would expect that at least that many of the general population would also 100 years from now. Those numbers don’t sound right, but a hundred years ago, almost all scientists believed that the Milky Way galaxy was the entire Universe, that it was static, and was ruled by Newtonian physics. If you had proposed the ideas of quantum mechanics, they would have had you carted off to the madhouse. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-100-years-religion-will-be/707812.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-100-years-religion-will-be/707812.md?page=5)