Atheism Becomes Largest Religion In U.S.

[Anti Federalist]

Probably should have gone to the Religion forum, but this affects general politics as well.

Suicide, depression, massive use of happy pills, weirdosexualism...while "big religion" may not be the answer, certainly a level of faith and belief in that there is more than right here, right now, can help keep a person grounded, and from becoming too world-weary, too cynical, too helpless to care.



God Help Us: Atheism Becomes Largest Religion In U.S.

https://www.dailywire.com/news/45655/god-help-us-atheism-becomes-largest-religion-us-michael-j-knowles

As religiosity has declined, social ills have abounded.

By MICHAEL J. KNOWLES April 7, 2019

For the first time in history, atheists constitute the largest religious group in America. According to the General Social Survey, the number of Americans who have no religion has increased 266% over the past three decades and now account for 23.1% of the population, just barely edging out Catholics and Evangelicals as the nation’s dominant faith. Mainline Protestant churches have suffered the greatest collapse, declining 62.5% since 1982 and now comprising just 10.8% of the U.S. population.

As religiosity has declined, social ills have abounded. Nearly one in five American adults suffers from anxiety disorders, which now constitute the most common mental illness in the country. One in six Americans takes antidepressant drugs, a 65% surge over just 15 years. The problem is particularly acute among younger Americans. While depression diagnoses have increased 33% since 2013, that number is up 47% among Millennials and 63% among teenagers. Coincidentally, suicide rates among American teenagers have increased by 70% since 2006. American life expectancy declined again last year, as Americans continue to drug and kill themselves at record rates.

Social scientists have long since established the link between religiosity and life satisfaction. As social psychologist Sonja Lyubomirsky observes, people who attend religious services several times each week are nearly twice as likely as those who worship less than once a month to describe themselves as “very happy.” Such psychologists simply state the obvious: the belief that God loves you and that you will live with him in eternity offers greater consolation than the view of death as a dirt nap that stiffens you into worm food.

Religious people are also significantly more likely to engage in happy-making behaviors, such as getting and staying married. A study released in 2017 affirmed what countless others had already shown: married couples report higher life satisfaction than their single, divorced, and widowed neighbors. That satisfaction tends to last beyond the honeymoon and well into old age.

The misery epidemic threatens not merely American households but also our halls of power. The late Andrew Breitbart observed that politics is downstream of culture, and culture in turn is downstream of religion. “Cult” and “culture” are etymologically related, and a culture is defined by what it worships. A materialistic culture worships wealth; a licentious culture worships sex; a godly culture worships God. But “our Constitution was made for a moral and religious people,” as John Adams wrote to the Massachusetts militia in 1798. “It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

A miserable politics awaits us when the irreligious rot flows downstream.

Who but God can help us now?

[Anti Globalist]

I used to be Catholic and believed in God up until 6 years ago when I became agnostic.

[Superfluous Man]

Wait a second here. The headline says atheism. But the actual poll response was no religion. Those are two totally different things. I guarantee that there aren't 23% of Americans who say there is no God, or who call themselves atheists.

I agree that there's still a story here in the rapid increase of people disavowing any named religions. But most of those people are still generically theistic.

[Swordsmyth]

Wait a second here. The headline says atheism. But the actual poll response was no religion. Those are two totally different things. I guarantee that there aren't 23% of Americans who say there is no God, or who call themselves atheists.

I agree that there's still a story here in the rapid increase of people disavowing any named religions. But most of those people are still generically theistic.
They may even be generically Christian since the they asked about individual denominations.

[Created4]

Wait a second here. The headline says atheism. But the actual poll response was no religion. Those are two totally different things. I guarantee that there aren't 23% of Americans who say there is no God, or who call themselves atheists.

I agree that there's still a story here in the rapid increase of people disavowing any named religions. But most of those people are still generically theistic.

This ^^^

Most Americans are probably rejecting organized religion, and not necessarily God.

When the corruption in churches is the same as outside the churches, does this surprise anyone??

Whistleblowing Priests Killed to Prevent Exposing Pedophilia Problem in the Catholic Church? (https://medicalkidnap.com/2018/10/23/whistleblowing-priests-killed-to-expose-pedophilia-problem-in-the-catholic-church/)

Southern Baptist Church: Leader in Foster Care and Adoption – Home to Pedophiles (https://medicalkidnap.com/2019/02/15/southern-baptist-church-leader-in-foster-care-and-adoption-home-to-pedophiles/)

[pcosmar]

It takes strong Faith to believe in Nothing..

Kind of an empty religion.

[Zippyjuan]

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/04/25/key-findings-about-americans-belief-in-god/


1) The vast majority of Americans (90%) believe in some kind of higher power, with 56% professing faith in God as described in the Bible and another 33% saying they believe in another type of higher power or spiritual force. Only one-in-ten Americans say they don’t believe in God or a higher power of any kind.


https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2018/04/23153835/04.25.18_beliefingod-00-00.png


2) In the U.S., Christians are particularly likely (99%) to believe in God or a higher power, with 80% claiming faith in a biblical God. Three-quarters of Christians describe God as all-loving, all-knowing and all-powerful. Like Christians, most Jews (89%) have faith in a deity. But just a third of Jews (33%) say they believe in God as described in the Bible, while 56% say they believe in some other higher power. Jews are also more likely than Christians to say they don’t believe in a spiritual force of any kind (10% vs. 1%). Finally, among those who describe themselves as religiously unaffiliated – also known as “nones” – 72% say they believe in a higher power of some kind.

3) About half (48%) of U.S. adults believe God determines what happens to them most or all of the time. Nearly eight-in-ten U.S. adults think God or a higher power has protected them, and two-thirds of Americans say they have been rewarded by the Almighty. At the same time, fewer see God as judgmental and punitive, with just four-in-ten saying they have been punished by the deity in which they believe.

4) Younger adults (those under the age of 50) are less inclined than older Americans to believe in a biblical God and more likely to say they don’t believe in any higher power or spiritual force. While roughly two-thirds of older adults say they believe in the biblical God, just 49% of those in their 30s and 40s – and just 43% of adults under 30 – say the same. Even with this age gap, an overwhelming majority of the youngest adults continue to believe in God or a higher power: Eight-in-ten of those ages 18 to 29 say they believe in at least some kind of spiritual force.

5) Americans with a high school education or less are more likely than college graduates to believe in God or a higher power (94% vs. 84%). They also are more likely than those who graduated from college to believe in the God of the Bible (66% vs. 45%) and to believe that a higher power determines what happens in their lives most or all of the time (59% vs. 33%).

6) Republicans and Democrats have very different beliefs about God. Democrats and those who lean toward the Democratic Party are less likely to say they believe in the God of the Bible than Republicans and Republican leaners (45% vs. 70%). Democrats are more likely than Republicans (39% vs. 23%) to say they believe in a higher power other than the biblical God. They also are more likely to say they don’t believe in any deity at all (14% vs. 5%). The survey also finds big racial differences among Democrats; most nonwhite Democrats – who are predominantly black or Hispanic – believe in God as described in the Bible (61%), compared to just 32% of white Democrats.

[Anti Federalist]

Wait a second here. The headline says atheism. But the actual poll response was no religion. Those are two totally different things. I guarantee that there aren't 23% of Americans who say there is no God, or who call themselves atheists.

I agree that there's still a story here in the rapid increase of people disavowing any named religions. But most of those people are still generically theistic.

From wiki, from surveys taken in 2014, five years ago before the rise of Neo-Bolshevism, was not too far off the mark.

Of 18-29 y/o for instance, 16 percent did not believe in any god or "life force".

Also:

A survey using binary wording found that around 26% of Americans don't believe in god, but they were not comfortable with directly admitting it. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheism_in_the_United_States)

in 2019 I'd say about 20-25 percent who do not believe in any God at all, amongst US population, is probably not off the mark at all.

[bv3]

Even if a belief in God isn't abandoned, that organized religion offered a conduit to the maybe-deity was probably the least important of its facets. What it gave people was a common community, it was like a kind of social glue. Whether it was toxic or not I make no claims, but the new brand glue is most definitely toxic.

Also, and this isn't news here, organized religion didn't die it just morphed into the State.

Personally, I hope there is a God and this against my own belief.

[specsaregood]

Wait a second here. The headline says atheism. But the actual poll response was no religion. Those are two totally different things. I guarantee that there aren't 23% of Americans who say there is no God, or who call themselves atheists.

I agree that there's still a story here in the rapid increase of people disavowing any named religions. But most of those people are still generically theistic.

I dunno, at least 1/3 to maybe 1/2 of the catholics and jews I have ever discussed it with are quietly atheist or agnostic and only self-identify with those religions for cultural/family reasons.

[pcosmar]

That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.

Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed,

[Pauls' Revere]

I would lay a lot of the blame on the churches and sex abuses they have done.

[enhanced_deficit]

Probably should have gone to the Religion forum, but this affects general politics as well.

Suicide, depression, massive use of happy pills, weirdosexualism...while "big religion" may not be the answer, certainly a level of faith and belief in that there is more



God Help Us: Atheism Becomes Largest Religion In U.S.

https://www.dailywire.com/news/45655/god-help-us-atheism-becomes-largest-religion-us-michael-j-knowles




That is a puzzling development, how could this have happened.



http://gracefulchic.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/George-Bush-inside.jpg





https://i2.wp.com/www.soulzmp3.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/wp-1486273654171.jpg?fit=720%2C729







Paraphrasing W Buash, may G-d continue to bless evangelical Christians.
Also perhaps time to recall some of our missionaries exports from places like Iraq, Africa, Libya, Syria, Gaza etc as there is great need for preaching at home.

[Anti Federalist]

I usually don't like to throw scripture around, but:



Second Timothy Chapter Three King James Version (KJV)

1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.

2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,

3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,

4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;

5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

6 For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers (varied and multitudinous - AF) lusts,

7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

[Krugminator2]

It is interesting because I am an atheist. But I don't actually think the country would be better off with more atheists. I think Objectivism as a philosophy is very good because it grounds people in morality.

My gut tells me that there is a strong correlation between atheism and big government. Religious people are far more charitable in both money and time. And if you look at countries like the Nordic countries with a large atheist population and low marriage rate, you tend to think it is government's job to take care of other people.

[Sammy]

I used to be a catholic, I'm now agnostic...

[donnay]

Satan uses the four hidden dynasties to push his agenda because he knows his time is very short.

Political
Educational
Economic
Religion

Daniel 12:10
"Many will be purged, purified and refined, but the wicked will act wickedly; and none of the wicked will understand, but those who have insight will understand.

Matthew 13 (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+13&version=KJV), Jesus explained the Parable of the Tares of the field to his disciples. It is an excellent example of what we are witnessing now.

[Grandmastersexsay]

The sooner we can get that number over 50% of Americans the better. The religious right is was has kept libertarianism mostly out of the Republican party.

I don't try to persuade other people on faith. It's best to let it happen naturally with a better educated public. However, to address the article's assertion that an increase in atheism has led to more anxiety and depression, ignorance is bliss.

[oyarde]

The wicked grow while you rest . Will you be ready ?