Merry Christmas! Fewer Americans Than Ever Think Religion Can Solve Our Problems

[NeoGreen]

https://friendlyatheist.patheos.com/2018/12/25/merry-christmas-fewer-americans-than-ever-think-religion-can-solve-our-problems/

Merry Christmas! Fewer Americans Than Ever Think Religion Can Solve Our Problems
By Hemant Mehta, December 25, 2018

As you celebrate the holiday (or don’t), Gallup has revealed that fewer Americans than ever before think religion can actually provide answers to the problems we face. Only 46% of Americans believe wishful thinking is our best bet against our very real struggles.

Jon Stewart once joked, “Religion. It’s given people hope in a world torn apart by religion.” But even that’s no longer the case for a majority of people.

As Americans’ views of the importance of religion in their lives and its influence on American life have edged downward, so too has their belief that it can answer today’s problems. For the first time in more than six decades, less than half of Americans, 46%, say “religion can answer all or most of today’s problems.” The public is now more closely divided than ever before in its views of religion as the answer to what ails society.

None of this is all that surprising when you realize that white evangelical leaders have supported everything Donald Trump is doing to ruin the country, Catholic leaders continue to act shocked about sexual crimes and cover-ups within their own ranks, and groups like Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses have been exposed for their own ignorance of abuse. Religion seems to cause more problems than it solves. And the worst politicians in the country seem to be the ones who cite their religion the most.

[Act_of_Reparation]

1. Can't solve our problems. Doesn't make us better people. Not a reliable path to knowledge.

Not a reliable predictor of future events.

So why do we have it, again?

[SamKnause]

2. Exactly.

[NRaleighLiberal]

3. how can something that has caused so many problems be expected to solve them?

[guillaumeb]

4. A silly premise.

Money is at the root of the problems.

Trillions spent on a war budget is a huge part of the problem.

Too low taxes for the rich is another part.

[NeoGreen]

5. Yes, I agree: The premise that religion can solve problems...

...is absolutely silly in the extreme.

Especially when confronted with problems of which it was a major catalyst or of its own making.

Why anyone would suggest otherwise is a mystery.



Oh, and for the record, the quote is properly "the love of money..." is the root, not money itself.

Any verifiably True Christian™ I've ever met has known that quote explicitly. Just sayin'.

[guillaumeb]

6. Again a silly premise.

Religion by itself cannot solve anything. It provides a belief system.

In China, by contrast, the atheists who run the Government are putting people into reeducation camps, banning public display of religion, and behaving the same way that the atheists who ran Russia behaved.

Is this an example of eliminating religion leading to a workers paradise?

[NeoGreen]

7. So we're in agreement:...

...religion cannot solve problems or anything for that matter.

It merely provides a distraction.

[guillaumeb]

8. If you are not a theist,

you obviously do not need theism.

Now, what about the example that the Chinese Government is providing? Is this a non-theistic paradise?

[NeoGreen]

9. I'm not interested in debating...

...proffered straw-man arguments.

But, I'm willing to agree that religion cannot solve and is not the answer to the cultural/political/financial problems within China.

As you stated above, religion cannot solve anything.



You've already conceded that point.

[guillaumeb]

10. There is no debate.

The Chinese Government is run by atheists. And we all know what the Chinese Government is doing. So yes, I understand the refusal of you and other here to discuss China because the facts contradict the narrative that you prefer to push.

[NeoGreen]

11. Oh and you didn't type this...

...


...intentionally, did you?

[guillaumeb]

12. Well, you are intentionally avoiding any discussion of China.

Interesting avoidance of what cannot be explained away as "bad theists".

[NeoGreen]

13. Not my discussion, not my narrative...

...I only posted the narrative that Fewer Americans Believe Religion Can Solve Problems.

China is your bailiwick, not mine.

Your, What-About-Ism.

[guillaumeb]

14. I understand your avoidance.

Truly, I do. China provides a reality check for all of these narratives promoted by a few here.

So yes, I understand why you avoid the topic.

[NeoGreen]

15. Understand?...

...

[guillaumeb]

16. How clever.

Avoidance can be an issue, but avoiding an uncomfortable topic is not the solution.

The logical alternative is to ask why the atheists who run the Chinese Government are so intolerant. But that might lead to the conclusion that human intolerance is the actual problem.

And that conclusion would upset the preferred narrative.

[NeoGreen]

17. "My sophistication will always surpass your - CHINA"

[guillaumeb]

29. Another gif(t)ed one.

I understand you prefer to avoid some things.

Really, I do.

[Eko]

26. interesting how atheist governments that are bad are because they are atheist.

But ones that are good, well, Ill let you answer.
"These secular nations are also much wealthier."
https://democraticunderground.com/1218302165#post24
So, bad because of atheist, good because of money. Not being very consistent there are ya?

[MineralMan]

19. China is irrelevant to this discussion.

You appear to have moved from Rumi to Chinese atheism as your pet topic. Nobody here thinks China is a good model for society, politics or religious freedom. That's your strawman.

[guillaumeb]

23. So speaks the decider and definer?

[MineralMan]

25. For myself, I am both.

For you, and everyone else, I am neither.

[tonedevil]

20. Has someone claimed it was? /nt

[guillaumeb]

24. What conclusions should we draw? eom

[tonedevil]

28. That non-theastic paradise...

is a strawman construct. To the best of my knowledge China hasn't made atheism the state religion.

[guillaumeb]

30. In theory, their Constitution allows for freedom of religion.

And if one overlooks the re-educations camps, and the persecution of Muslims, and the strict control of every form of religious expression, and putting Han Chinese observers in Muslim households as guests, and the actual history of China from Mao to the present day, one might accept that there is freedom of religion.

[Voltaire2]

18. Elsewhere atheistic commies are at the root

of our problems. Make up your minds.

[guillaumeb]

22. You missed the point.

[Pope George Ringo II]

21. I've watched alcoholics drink to ease the pain of their alcoholic peripheral neuropathy.

Getting that percentage to zero is going to be hard.

[bitterross]

27. That's encouraging. Since it never has. Good people are waking up.

Religion has never solved a single world crisis. It has actually been the cause of more than one.

It's good to see people might be beginning to wake up to logic and reason over wishful thinking and praying to non-existent beings.