"Three Decades Ago, America Lost Its Religion. Why?"

[Shibboleth]

Consider this, consider this. The hint of the century. Consider this The slip that brought me to my knees failed. What if all these fantasies come flailing around.


Now I've said too much.

[gebobs]

Consider this, consider this. The hint of the century. Consider this The slip that brought me to my knees failed. What if all these fantasies come flailing around.


Now I've said too much.

Ah...Mike Stipe, my neighbor here in Athens. Lives a few doors down. Never see him. But I still call him Mike. Or Mickey. El Stiperino when I'm not into the whole brevity thing.

[seamas]

I think there was always a little BS about the USA always being so tremendously religious and "god fearing".

The more you look at history, the more you see ebbs and flows and particular regional booms.
There were several "great awakening" style revivals, which merely point to there being a previous lull.

[Noisy Rhysling]

I think there was always a little BS about the USA always being so tremendously religious and "god fearing".

The vast majority of Americans are no more religious than they need to be.

[John Albert]

The vast majority of Americans are no more religious than they need to be.

What does that really mean, though?

However religious a person "needs to be" is largely a matter of opinion. By law, nobody in the USA needs to be religious at all.

The main problem with religion in America is that a minority of Americans are so religious that they're trying to make it necessary for all Americans to be religious.

Some more concrete information on the religiosity of Americans is provided by the Religious Landscape Study (RLS), a 2014 Pew Poll examining Americans' religious and spiritual beliefs.

[Noisy Rhysling]

The vast majority of Americans are no more religious than they need to be.

What does that really mean, though?

It means that when nobody is looking they're every bit as religious as I am.

[Ah.hell]

The vast majority of Americans are no more religious than they need to be.

What does that really mean, though?

It means that when nobody is looking they're every bit as religious as I am.

You are almost certainly wrong then.  Many folks are in fact actually religious.  Perhaps you are psychic and can read there minds, but I have no reason to doubt that some folks actually believe.

[Noisy Rhysling]

The vast majority of Americans are no more religious than they need to be.

What does that really mean, though?

It means that when nobody is looking they're every bit as religious as I am.

You are almost certainly wrong then.  Many folks are in fact actually religious.  Perhaps you are psychic and can read there minds, but I have no reason to doubt that some folks actually believe.

And I have no reason to believe they believe. You're as psychic as I am in this case.

[John Albert]

The vast majority of Americans are no more religious than they need to be.

What does that really mean, though?

It means that when nobody is looking they're every bit as religious as I am.

You are almost certainly wrong then.  Many folks are in fact actually religious.  Perhaps you are psychic and can read there minds, but I have no reason to doubt that some folks actually believe.

And I have no reason to believe they believe. You're as psychic as I am in this case.

So on no basis whatsoever, you're just assuming most Americans are lying about religion, and everyone's beliefs actually align with your own?

That's an extraordinary claim for which you have zero evidence.

[Noisy Rhysling]

The vast majority of Americans are no more religious than they need to be.

What does that really mean, though?

It means that when nobody is looking they're every bit as religious as I am.

You are almost certainly wrong then.  Many folks are in fact actually religious.  Perhaps you are psychic and can read there minds, but I have no reason to doubt that some folks actually believe.

And I have no reason to believe they believe. You're as psychic as I am in this case.

So on no basis whatsoever, you're just assuming most Americans are lying about religion, and everyone's beliefs actually align with your own?

That's an extraordinary claim for which you have zero evidence.

As is your obverse claim.

[John Albert]

There's plenty of evidence for my "obverse claim." Click the link in my above post and read the poll data.

[Quetzalcoatl]

I'm not really sure if Noisy Rhysling actually believes what he seems to argue here. Yes, societal pressure might make people respond differently about their religiousity than what they actually believe. There are probably more non-believers in Iran than what official statistics would suggest. Conversely, the people of China is probably more religious than what official statistics suggest.

But there is also no doubt that humans are by nature magical thinkers, and religion being a subset of magical thinking, there is very good reason to believe that there are billions of honestly religiously believing people around the world.

[Noisy Rhysling]

I'm not really sure if Noisy Rhysling actually believes what he seems to argue here.

Prove that.

[The Latinist]

I'm not really sure if Noisy Rhysling actually believes what he seems to argue here.

Prove that.

Prove that he's not sure?

[Noisy Rhysling]

I'm not really sure if Noisy Rhysling actually believes what he seems to argue here.

Prove that.

Prove that he's not sure?

Quibble.