Why Did America Lose Its Religion? Thank the Internet.

[NeoGreen]

https://friendlyatheist.patheos.com/2019/09/27/why-did-america-lose-its-religion-thank-the-internet/

Why Did America Lose Its Religion? Thank the Internet.
By Hemant Mehta, September 27, 2019

In an article for The Atlantic, writer Derek Thompson recognizes the rise of the non-religious. In 1990, we were roughly 8% of the U.S. population. By 2000, we were 14%. By 2010, 18%. It’s about 23% now. It keeps going up and there’s no sign of the trend slowing down.

What Thompson wants to know is what happened around 1990 — that’s the year he pinpoints — that caused the percentage to begin its upward trajectory.

According to Christian Smith, a sociology and religion professor at the University of Notre Dame, America’s nonreligious lurch has mostly been the result of three historical events: the association of the Republican Party with the Christian right, the end of the Cold War, and 9/11.

Thompson goes in more depth about each of those theories and there’s validity to all of them. He also points out, correctly, that religious institutions in general have shot themselves in the foot. The Catholic Church became mired in sexual abuse scandals while evangelicals were continuing their high-profile financial ones.

But the way Thompson phrased his question may be why he missed the most obvious answer. He asks, “What the hell happened around 1990?” But if you look at the graph, the answer is “nothing significant.” The number went up… but barely. If you’re looking for when the “rise” really began, you have to look to at least the mid-1990s.

When you start there, the answer becomes obvious: It’s the internet.

[hlthe2b]

1. Thank the hypocrisy of the "Religious Right"...

[NeoGreen]

2. Yeah, that too, and as...

...made almost universally accessible for review and discussion by the internet.

[Bretton Garcia]

9. And Windows '95 !?!

[NeoGreen]

10. uhhh..sure?...

...but how dare you implicitly disparage Windows 3.1, the ideal of an icon based operating system!



<hushed voice> merely running as a DOS shell...

[Bretton Garcia]

18. Good call. Though 1991-2 on the graph looks critical?

[Moostache]

3. The internet made it easier to seek and find the truth

And that truth is simple - religions use lies and fiction to control people and to profit, always have going back as far as you want and always will.

[Major Nikon]

13. For centuries the RCC kept the bible under lock and key

The RCC forbid anyone from having a personal copy of the bible on pain of death. Only the pope was allowed to interpret the bible and offering any deviation from this earned you an invitation to the village BBQ with you as the main attraction.

So not only does religion use lies, but it also has a long history of suppression of the truth and keeping people ignorant. You can still see vestiges of this today in the form of homeschooling by zealots and local school boards trying to manipulate anything they think contradicts their warped theology.

[customerserviceguy]

4. I think

that people are less afraid to tell a pollster that they don't believe in any religion. I'd be curious to see what happened to the numbers who say that they are "spiritual, but don't attend services" or something like that. It's where people who don't want to come to grips with their atheism run for cover when questioned.

[Major Nikon]

14. Just because someone identifies with a particular religion doesn't mean they believe it

Someone may identify with a religion out of respect for their parents.

Prior to the internet, church membership in the US was virtually unchanged for 50 years. Since it’s been falling like a rock. Church attendance follows an even more dramatic decline.

What you mention is definitely part of it. Studies have shown there’s a dramatic difference between how often polls show people report regular church attendance and how often they actually go.

[customerserviceguy]

16. Good points

My lady, if asked by someone she feels like she needs to tell (such as when checking into a hospital for a procedure) tells them that she's Catholic, the way she was raised. But, she's been "living in sin" with me since 2007, and hasn't been to church in over thirty years for other than a wedding or a funeral. And I know she doesn't believe a word of church doctrine.

Me, I'm atheist and unashamed.

[Major Nikon]

17. In western Europe, religion has been reduced to a purely ceremonial role

Some people still get married and buried in churches, but nobody believes the hocus pocus anymore even though many still identify with a religion.

The same thing is happening here. The ones who persist tend to be the most fanatical. Eventually we will reach a tipping point where they are so much in the minority their outdated ideas will be more conspicuous as more become more likely to call bullshit.

[exboyfil]

5. They made it a choice between observable science

and religion. For the rationalist the answer is obvious given those two choices.


For me it was my church hawking The Truth Project. I was the only one in a Bible study of 30+ people that pointed out the level of BS in this program. The Christo-fascist "Bible" study leader has gone on twice to run for the state legislature (lost both times) and now has a position at another church.

[Cartoonist]

6. Thank you, Almighty Internet

What a beautiful graph. Not a slow increase, but a rapid, sustained, and multiplying rise. There is hope for this planet if we can get past this climate crisis.

Just a thought. I bet Greta doesn't buy into the religious BS.

[DavidDvorkin]

7. But God is responsible for everything

Therefore God gave us the Internet.

Therefore God wants us to lose religion.

Oh, my God!

[Ron Obvious]

8. Just what I hoped would happen with the internet...

Hopefully, my second prediction about the internet, that Americans would realise how much they've been lied to about the "Greatest Healthcare in the World" and demand true universal care at a fraction of the cost, will also come true.

[Igel]

11. Nah. More like the coming of age of the Boomers' kids.

And the next gen after that.

The rise began before the Internet was a thing. The graph can easily be taken to mean not that the population overall was affected, but the youngest was affected by the Internet to become non-religious. Which means it was the youngest who were already the offspring of pretty much the least religious group, and the group most likely to carry something like "residual religion."

Note that the claim has to be that the Internet, starting in the early '90s, spread enlightenment. That's hardly the case; mostly what it allowed was the eventual fractionating of society. The religious are in their little drop of society; another group is in their little drop of society. And each think it encompasses the world. How 1677-referential.

[NeoGreen]

12. "Get off my lawn!" would have...

Last edited Sat Sep 28, 2019, 08:09 AM - Edit history (1)

...taken less time to type.

[Major Nikon]

15. So why no dramatic declines prior to the mid 90's?

By 2000 the oldest boomers were in their 50’s and many will have adult offspring. The youngest were in their 30’s. That’s plenty of time to see some kind of shift, yet after 2000 is where it really starts to turn.

[trotsky]

19. Much easier to whistle past the graveyard.

Nonbelievers are just a "little drop of society," you see. Now sit down and shut up like a good minority. Despite not being a minority in much of Europe. And despite being a plurality of voters in the US. Just you hush.

Arrogant believers will still insist all is well even as their own church has to close due to lack of membership. "Just a fad," they'll say. "Just stupid kids, they'll come back when they grow up." Etc.

[rurallib]

20. Been saying that for years

before the internet when I had questions or was curious it was hard to find answers. With the internet, a simple google search and there were answers, discussions and videos with alternative views.