Christian apologist, Josh McDowell, certainly seems to think so and is dismayed by it all. He thinks the internet is the greatest threat to Christians and cites several studies. That was a few years back in 2011. I like how Josh is also quick to let us know now that skeptics and atheists have equal access to their children they are also responsible for something else as well. Says Josh:
Now there is this latest link I picked up off of CNN this year that has multiple studies showing since the internet has grown, those now religious unaffiliated have also grown considerably. Downey says he was able to control other factors such as “education, religious upbringing, rural/urban environments and income, to find a link that allowed him to “conclude, tentatively, that Internet use causes disaffiliation.” He also is quick to remind us that a reasonable person could disagree, and says he is the first to point out the correlation doesn’t necessarily mean causation.
If nothing else, I think it has certainly leveled the playing field. Religious people were already able to get their message out. This wasn’t always the case with the non-religious, but now they have their opinions right alongside the religious in the same format. And of course, Straight Dope is no stranger to agnostics and atheists if this poll done by TWDuke is a reliable indicator, they are the majority in these parts by a considerable margin. But that is no suprise to any that post here on a regular basis.
Just IMHO will do for me. If others want to turn it into a debate, I’m sure the moderators will know when to do that and put it in GD if that time comes. Otherwise, let’s just keep it casual and relaxed, we’ve shown before that not all religious topics have to go to GD.
I wouldn’t say it’s “killing” religion - I think no matter what happens, there will always be some segment of humanity who’re believers. Still, the reasoning for the rise of the internet strengthening atheism/agnosticism makes sense to me, especially considering youth. Children and teens who wouldn’t have had not believing even presented as an option discover it through sources other than their family and community.
Hopefully, yes. We try our best at bringing truth and fact to those blinded by religion. Or blinded by stupidity about bananas.
Then there’s the other side who benefit from the Internet by raising money for their Creation museum, assuring humans had dinosaurs as pets, the earth is 4,000 years old, and the museum curator has the name of common lunchmeat.
It’s probably helping kill religion; at least, older religions that are specialized for intellectual isolation. Major religions in general fare poorly when the religious people in question are bombarded with new ideas, especially when those ideas are either scientific or those of another religion. Exposure to such ideas often tend to start the religious person wondering if they are wrong, and those religions are too blatantly false to survive even small amounts of skepticism, and too blatantly evil to survive followers questioning if they are morally wrong.
Vaguer, unspecific “spiritual” movements fare better in that environment. “I believe in something vague that wants me to do good (whatever that is) for an unspecified reward in an undescribed afterlife that may or may not exist.”
I like how the OP used the phrase “level the playing field.” And thankfully, I agree. Not as much misinformation anymore, not as much strict adherence to whatever one’s pastor says without being able to look at it with a critical eye. It’s not as easy to fear monger these days, and that can only be a good thing. So, although I don’t think such vast amounts of readily available knowledge will kill religion entirely, I hope it sounds a death knell to the harmful stuff. Also, that it makes what’s left more intelligent.
It’s definitely chasing some religions that have traditionally depended on secrecy and misrepresentation of history, such as the Mormons, into a corner. Speaking as a former Mormon, I’m shocked at some of the things the LDS Church has come out and clarified/changed/admitted in the last few years, as the free exchange of information on the internet makes it impossible to keep whitewashing their history, and shines a light on some of their more outlandish historical and anthropological claims.
The quote referenced in the OP is essentially an admission that religious belief is based on ignorance. The fight may be taking longer that we thought, but we are making progress!
I remember in the eighties, when I was 16 or so, the minister at my evangelical church stated unequivocally that all people that have not heard and accepted the word of Christ would go to hell. I took him aside after the sermon and asked him about all the people in China and India that had not had the opportunity to hear the word of God and he reiterated his message. I have not been back to church since. I imagine that these types of beliefs when coupled with the variety that one can encounter on the internet will only hasten the departure of many thoughtful people. YMMV.
I think message boards like the Straight Dope helped me to throw off the shackles of my parents’ religion.
I think most of it is the indirect effect of being exposed to so many ideas and beliefs. I remember being so confident in my beliefs and principles as an early 20-something, before I was an internet citizen. But you read enough articles and engage enough posters on message boards on a variety of topics…and eventually you realize you don’t know anything. Every black-and-white issue suddenly becomes full of gray. And you realize that it’s possible to be completely agnostic or ambivalent about something, and the sky won’t fall on you as punishment. Then you realize there is no punishment for anything. You can say GODDAMMIT BLACK ZOMBIE JESUS!! and nothing will happen to you except that you might laugh.
I think this is pretty accurate. Faiths like Buddhism, which is very experiential and doesn’t even require belief in a higher power per se, and Hinduism, which is heavily focused toward cultural practices and much less focused on “believing” in various gods on faith, will probably do ok. Sure, they may lose a few followers, but the movements are not in as much danger as the “believe this or else!!!111!one” faiths.
When Radio, and then Television came along, Religion made great use of those media to intensify its reach to the general public. There were plenty of religious programming stations on the air, and I can’t think of a single program that ever, even once, cast any doubt on the certainty of the faith.
The internet is a different animal, but it seems to me that there is much, much more religious material on the internet than anti-religious. Forwarded chain Emails are heavily used by the faithful to circulate their religious message, but I doubt if the ones that ridicule religion get recirculated very much. The use of the internet for proselytizing and reinforcing messages of faith is largely being done by individuals, rather than by organized bodies – but it seems that it just as aggressive.
The internet affords an opportunity for a whole new dimension of religiosity to spring into existence, unfettered by any limitations or regulations.
Internet = greater access to information = easier to find out your “religion” is probably full of crap and that there’s thousands of others = easier to leave
Good point. If they were right, sexual immorality should have hit a singularity and made the planet explode in an inferno of spunk, boobs and buggery about a couple of thousand years ago.
I imagine that the big threat isn’t atheists on forums or atheist proselytizers. The issue is things like streaming anime. You watch one of those and see people talking about Shintoism or Buddhism, and have to start accepting that religious people elsewhere aren’t just worshipping God under a different name.
There’s something to be said for innocuous presentation. If someone is proselytizing to you, you know that they’re trying to sell you on something and that they have an agenda. But when someone watches ordinary Japanese TV or ordinary American cinema and sees something completely outlandish to their own culture portrayed as completely unremarkable, it makes you sit up and notice.
It may be reforming religion. The great free market of ideas is abrading away the roughest spots.
Hundreds of millions of people saw how much of an asshole Fred Phelps was. This, by itself, may have caused many other “God Hates Fags” type preachers to draw back a bit, reconsider, and lighten up.
When we can all surf in and laugh at really bad web sites…it induces people to stop being quite so very visibly stupid.
