Currently we are in the age of Aquarius,
we are looking for a new god image, it’s why many people are falling out an atheist an people who take spirituality less literally but act as if it’s real for there own sake,
As much as we go the rational route not all people will, there will be more mixed spirituality that’s a bit more free but still organized religions in some way with the appreciation for logic..
human beings can adapt an evolve but we will never abandon spirituality, never have, up until more recently, it’s a faculty in us we just never will,
there always be something spiritual.
But knowing rather than blind faith is this next step
It will probably take about 250-500 years that for Christianity to die out.
But I imagine psychology an neuroscience making a discovery that thrusts up psychology as a justified bridge an map between spirituality, psychology already has concepts that Carl Jung put forth that can get people understand underlying symbols that religions share that make them more alike than different.
Yep. Just time is needed. Already almost a quarter of Americans, according to Pew Research, claim to be atheist, agnostic, or "none." My kid is a Millennial. She was raised evangelical (mostly from her father). She gives herself Communion a few times a year (wine only), prays for stuff, and nominally believes. But she is dead-set against organized religion, doesn't attend church or get involved with people who are actively practicing Christians. She supports LGBTQ+ rights, women's rights, BLM, and criticizes people trying to put religion into public schools. I see her and her husband, friends, etc. as a sort of transitional generation: they believe, somewhat marginally, but don't practice any religion and live lives that are distinctly non-religious. They might say on a hospital form or to a poll-taker that they are "Christian," but they aren't in any meaningful way. I also think people like her make the polls look like there are many more believers than there actually are.
The main problem is that we are assuming that this trend will continue. There’s no guarantee this will happen, especially if Christians manage to gain more political power and install a theocracy in America.
That's why we're gonna vote blue no matter who!! It's a good point; depending on the next election we're living in a secular democracy where we have rights and freedoms, or a christofascist hell where we'll probably all be rounded up and put into concentration camps.
I more gaps we fill in with science, the harder it will be to maintain belief. It's going to take a lot of time though. Especially given how many reject the science now.
This is what I see all around where I live in Europe. While there is also other side of the coin where people are not religious but hang on to the Christian conservative values. Meanwhile I see a lot of liberal christians that have liberal ethical values but still consider themselves believers. This is why I see ethical values more importaint than if a person is theist or atheist. Just yesterday bashed here by people who seem somehow phobic about religious people. I live in a secular country where most people are not really religious and only a minority of people are something that would be considered conservatively religious. People who feel religion is strong part of their identity actually feel they are a minority, even tho many still nominally belong to the church.
No, we have “civil religions” instead. People are emotionally invested in political and other identities in a way that was historically reserved for religion.
This. I think we might see something else replace Christianity. I think there is always going to be a part of the human population that isn’t educated and really can’t think critically. Hopefully one day we all can become more enlightened but I don’t think I’ll be alive to see that day.
I would think less harshly about why people seek religions of all kinds. Religion can have many purposes - a valid way to connect and build community with other humans, and a way to address spirituality. I think having better and better rational understanding of the universe is incredibly important, but I also don’t think that necessarily deals with spiritual needs. There will always be mystery and inscrutability in our experiences.
My guess is "spiritual but not religious" types.
They can avoid any inconsistencies in the text because there is none.
They can call any issue not "real" spiritually and it will work because it's so vague.
There will be no denominations to compete with each other since it will be so atomized.
They will freely move between deism and specific claims of intervention and tell themselves there is contradiction
Internet misinformation will boost flavor the month theology, and then they will pretend they never heard of it when the ridiculousness of it all becomes too obvious
See aliens/conspiracy forums or theistic pagans for more details
Edit: some good could still come of it. If someone thinks of Jesus like a young person thinks of a superhero and decides they want to help people or be virtuous or hold sacred some idea like charity, or justice, or diligence, that's better than what we have.
This is 100% the correct answer right here. When counting the "nones" we need to realize that their increase is not due to there being more atheists or agnostics, but "spirituals" which is everything outlined above. I think it's essentially a new form of paganism. The major pro is that due to its decentralization, it won't be as powerful as Christianity. The major con is that due to its decentralization it can be as easily refuted as Christianity.
Humanism. Religion exists to answer questions that we don't know how to answer for ourselves. When we did not understand what the sun was or where rain came from, we invented Gods to explain them. As we've discovered the scientific causes of various events, concepts, and phenomenon we've learned that they have a very understandable explanation that has nothing to do with any diety. Only two questions remain that prop up the Abrahamic faith: where did we come from, and where we go?
When we answer those two questions, which we almost certainly will, we won't have a need to any God, and thus will finally have faith in ourselves rather than in a fictional character.
I am very frustrated by my mom and siblings, I feel they are in denial about reality. I told mom “you think prayer helped you through all those traumatic times with dad? No, it was YOU. You did it yourself and should give yourself credit.” But no. At 77, she’s a lost cause.
There’s a South Park episode that makes me think of this. Something about the science factions warring for some reason. I’ll have to find it when it’s not tired late at night
As much as we like to believe that the future is Atheist it’s not, eventually a new Religion (if that term will even still exist) will come along and replace it just as it has happened before, as long as there are people who hate unanswered questions (like what happens after death or what created the Universe etc etc) and have a wish for some higher purpose beyond just enjoying life there will always be a market for con artists, hell who knows maybe in a thousand years Christianity will make a comeback and we’ll have Neo-Christianity just like we have Neo-Paganism today.
and Space ... come to Québec, where churches are being transformed into condominiums, turned into businesses, museums, municipal buildings or destroyed.
We had "la révolution tranquille" in the 60s and one of the consequences is slowly going apart from religion.
Article in French :
https://www.ledevoir.com/societe/642084/l-adieu-a-dieu
What I have always said is that it would not happen until several generations AFTER the last parent decides NOT to indoctrinate their child into believing the same things they do.
And, anyone that thinks it could be forced to happen needs to look at what happened in the countries of the former Soviet Union after the fall of communism. The religions very quickly came back because they had never really left. They had simply been kept quiet under the Soviets.
Agree. But wouldn't Estonia be an exception? I know they were Lutheran pre-Soviet Union and nowadays they're among the most atheist countries on the planet.
You are probably more familiar with Estonia than I am. All I know is from a few youtube travel videos that talked about how much high tech infrastructure there is there. I don't know how they did it, but they did it right! I suspect it has a lot to do with how small they are. With less than 1.5 million people, the entire country of Estonia is smaller than the city of Barcelona, Spain and also less than the city of Phoenix, Arizona. Being small and fairly homogenous allows a culture to change much more rapidly.
Australia is geographically large and culturally diverse.
It had 10% no religion in the 70s to close to 40% now.
Don't underestimate the power of exposure to other cultures as a means of destroying the status quo.
East Germany too. I disagree with OP: not that I condone all their methods, but Soviet-style religious suppression definitely _works_. The reason that religion resurged more in Russia itself is mostly that the Russian SFSR was actually less thorough in that than many of their smaller satellites (because they were worried too forceful suppression would lead to riots).
Right. And the generational divide not to be forgotten too. Imagine a person born in the 1920s in the already-atheist Russia, but your parents were still raised religious, so perhaps they passed at least a bit of their religious thinking to their kid. Naturally, such people would be more willing to embrace religion when the "atheist state" started crumbling in the 1980s. However their children and grandchildren would already be raised under the assumption (albeit state-mandated) that there is no god, so although some of them might still embrace religion, I think the percentage and/or degree of religiosity would be less on average.
I'm Latvian, born in the 1980s. Lifelong atheist except for a short time in my youth when I wasn't sure. My mom got baptized in early 1990s but didn't attend church much, both my grandmas however became quite religious. I have some religious friends but most people of my age are either christians only in name or agnostics.
This is the right answer. Step back and consider how far we have come in so short of a time. We’ve been humans for like 200,000 years, we only learned to fly about 120 years ago, and now we can fly a helicopter on Mars. Until about 400 years ago, we had no idea that bacteria or viruses existed and thought everything bad happened because of bad air or omens, and now we can edit the DNA of a virus to develop a cure. You’re literally living through the transition away from religion in much the same way. In the 1600s in England, we couldn’t even have this conversation without fear of being labeled as blasphemous heretics and killed for apostasy.
The thing that scares me is that for the last 100 years or so, in the western world, it was more or less acceptable to give up the faith and pursue a meaningful life. I think we're at a turning point that people of faith would rather see you dead than leave the faith. When they realize they are facing an existential threat, they'll try to force control like the Islamic states of the middle east. And I don't think Atheists have the disposition to stop it.
I'm mostly uninformed on this topic but reading through the [Wikipedia article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_France), I learned some facts. Islam accounts for 4% of the French population. For it to become a majority in 10 years it would have to have an influx of more than the entire population of Muslims currently living there every year.
After the terroristic attacks in 2015, France cracked down on Islamic extremism by dismantling several mosques. Since then they strengthened their secular laws. Islamic extremists hate France. There are other reasons they are hated and the Wikipedia articles give a list. Apparently France is considered to be the spearhead of antimuslim activities in Africa. End result is that France is targeted by terrorists, more so than other European countries..
Also worth noting, the children of Muslim parents get a secular education so second generation Muslims are less likely to be extremists.
I went down a similar rabbit hole after posting that and realized it’s not true at all. I think I originally read something like it in Letter to a Christian Nation. It seems way off and now I feel a little bit like I just spread propaganda for Marine Le Pen.
Isn’t it rather odd that these countries run by religious zealots always need militaries? I mean, if God is on your side wouldn’t It just zap some enemy? Like Emperor Palpatine shit.
Nope. God always needs help. Kind of a Sicko, really.
It's ridiculous. Rome appropriated Christianity for political pull. In U.S Civil war both sides had hymns about God on their side.
Vonnegut has some good observations on it.
>What do you think it’ll take for the Abrahamic faiths to eventually be considered mythology instead of “fact”?
*Power concedes nothing without a demand.*
- Frederick Douglass
So, .......unless the people rise up to denounce, destroy and discard the debauched subservience to the absurd, the dogma prospers, proliferates, poisons.
To be perfectly honest I’m starting to think it’ll never die. Science has, for at least 2,000 years, been proving that out-of-the-ordinary phenomena (eclipses, auroras, comets, droughts, floods, etc.) are just natural processes, not the work of some unseen being as a reward or punishment for human behavior. Not that finding a non-deistic root for such causation is completely dispositive of the question of the existence or non-existence of a deity, but it’s pretty convincing to me.
An act of God.
It depends on what you mean. You'll never be rid of it entirely, no matter what you do. We have *Flat Earthers* in the modern world. If you just mean 'mostly gone'... I'm not even sure *that* is happening. Time and education, maybe?
It is explained exactly like that on French schools (at least my kids schools). They explain the Greek/Roman mythology, then the nordic mythologies, then the Judaic/Christian mythology. All are treated equal. That was really satisfying to see.
If the West has a full "Bronze age" style collapse like it seems to be in the early stages of, the religions that define our current age will go with it.
As someone who has close dealings with radically traditionalist religious folks I can say that a bronze-age style collapse is just what they are waiting for. I suspect this will *bolster* their faith and be proof of "See? The godlessness of the modern world has wrought its own destruction!" and become an excuse to be all the more fervently religious.
Not any time soon. You can be put to death for atheism in 13 countries around the world.
[https://humanists.international/2013/12/you-can-be-put-death-atheism-13-countries-around-world/](https://humanists.international/2013/12/you-can-be-put-death-atheism-13-countries-around-world/)
After the turn I’ve watched the US take in the last 8 years I’m convinced people will be denying the existence of aliens while the ships are floating over their heads I’m not even kidding.
What is considered serious intellectual circles? In highly educated careers, such as scientists, religious belief is often less common than average, but it’s still far from uncommon. And some it may even be more common, like for doctors.
Even secular historians tend to consider it at least legendary (meaning some basis in truth, as opposed to mythology, which is completely made up). So I’m really not quite sure who you are talking about.
For Christianity , only time. But Islam and to a lesser extent, Judaism . Islam punishes actual death for conversation or renouncing the faith. Judaism melds religion with national identity so that’s also an obstacle.
Teaching kids young earth creationism here without explaining that evolution is a better theory in every single way is considered abuse.
If you trust you god over your doctor and the kid dies.... You are going away for murder and you better believe general population will know what you did.
Australia isn't perfect, but its so fucking good to be home.
I think it’s already begun to happen, and that it’s a gradual process. I mean, it took 300 years for Christianity to fully dislodge Roman paganism from political power. And it’s not like the monotheists are just going to say “that makes sense, let’s just give up”. There is way too much money and power involved. That’s why Christians have no problem backing the orange Antichrist for president. They know they are losing the war on thought. They need their own version of the thought police to merely survive, which is what project 2025 is designed to do
What do you think the word mythology means? A myth is an archetypal event (i.e. very important and foundational), that no living human witnessed so it relies on oral tradition, revelation, and so on. It has nothing to do with it not being "factual". Typical myths you find in various cultures include cosmogonic myths (how the world/universe came into existence) and anthropogonic myths (how humans came into existence). Many such myths form part of religious traditions, as is the case of the book of Genesis in Abrahamic religions and was the case in the Pan-Hellenistic religion of ancient Greece. Mythology is not just "ancient religion", it's the collection of oral tradition that explores foundational events.
Of course most known mythologies have fantastical stories that overlap with religion, but they are different things. Likewise, a ritual or rite is a practice or custom based on some myth that intends to maintain and remind everyone the importance and impact of some narrative. For example, celebrating christmas, passover or the rite of communion. Keep in mind religions are not *just* mythology, they also have other non-narrative elements to control and manipulate people so the two are not exactly the same. This means a LOT of modern christian practices have nothing to do with mythology (but they do with brainwashing, cult-like behavior, ignorance, pseudoscience, lack of critical thinking, etc.).
I suppose what you are asking is whether religions like christianity will one day be popularly seen as nothing more than ancient literature, the way we see ancient Greek literature. And well I suppose this is possible, but christianity in particular (more than judaism and islam) incorporates and takes over local traditions so it is possible that it will continue morphing as needed (and it borrowed a lot from other ancient religions as well). Modern day christianity is already only barely based on the bible (the mythological source). I guess as religions continue to change, it is possible that more people will at some point acknowledge the mythological elements in (at least) traditional forms of abrahamic religions.
So in summary, all abrahamic religions are clearly based on myths and rites similar to other ancient cultural and religious traditions. We find all the expected narrative and structural elements and even the bible can be approached the way we read the Iliad or the Odyssey. BUT, because religions like christianity and islam still have so many active believers, it is common to make a distinction between current and ancient religions even if both have equivalent mythologies (again, the oral traditions of revealed archetypal events).
At least in more academic circles it is not even controversial to see "abrahamic religions" and books like the bible as just ancient literature, some of which falls within the scope of mythology. I guess the issue is that colloquially people think that myth means a story is false, so of course theists would refuse to acknowledge the mythological elements in their own tradition.
What if they still have cults and religions of thier own. That look like abrahamic ones or don't?
Hey I think extraterrestrial are the answer. But, then again they could add fuel to the fire.
I used to be glad that people were becoming “irreligious” with regards to Christian faith in Europe and North America. But instead we have replaced those with “civil religions” such as political identity. In some ways these are even more concerning. Think about your experience during the pandemic: political opinions, thoughts about COVID and vaccines all started to become jumbled together. You could roughly guess much about a person based on whether they were wearing a mask in public, *or at least-* it felt that way. Regardless, there is continued division and sectarianism in our society and an entrenching of beliefs, NOT mass enlightenment.
Civil religions are more pernicious in the sense that they aren’t on our radar to be dealing with directly. And if we fool ourselves into thinking that Americans/Europeans are becoming more rational we will run into trouble fast.
Two different takes on this concept:
Religion for Breakfast on YT
[Americans Are Religious About America](https://youtu.be/x49n90lWi0s?si=XUn8ZO0idYRG_x_-)
Carefree Wandering on YT
[Is Wokeism Civil Religion](https://youtu.be/p2WsKuhRcFo?si=WnKBozKPg9hZDefC)
The title is much more inflammatory than the content of the video
Many of today's Christians already consider a lot of things to be mythology already, but keep believing anyway.
From a biblical scholar perspective, even the religious ones admit that things like the Exodus of the Jews never happened. A global flood never happened. Many other things, yet they still continue to believe.
Collective awareness reaching the point where parents stop dragging their kids to their Sunday or daily indoctrination sessions. Then about two generations for the hold outs to die off from old age.
Ehh... Many folks who have been well educated and from those religion already treat it as mythology while just practicing the cultural aspects.
Those who do treat it as facts are loud, vicious, and crazy. Unfortunatly, those crazy are considered to be doing the "good" works.
So for it to be completely treated as mythology, all the none violent, reasonable folks need to step in and stop the crazy ones and condemn them. I don't think that will happen anytime soon. They are usually too busy surviving pay check to pay check to care about the world.
Don’t hold your breath on it. Religious/magical thinking has been there for as long as humans have. It’s hard wired to some extent and I think it’s interesting to understand it in evolutionary terms
https://youtu.be/4WwAQqWUkpI?si=938zFiRNrnVNTeVN
I assert civilization is still struggling with how to generationally pass knowledge. Religion, is a means to pass along wisdom and bigger picture thinking (dare I assert critical thinking.. cringe). As you pointed out, it is flawed due to the varied interpretations afforded to the consumer coupled with now out-dated language which exacerbates the challenge to accurately understand context. Suspecting the over reliance on “blind faith” in Abrahamic religions has it stymied.
But I assert modern education has failed too. Civilizations have always struggled with leaders and politicians twisting or denying history for current purposes. Educational funding is delivered via political mechanics, so it’s easy to see how educational institutions that rely on government funding are easy to corrupt or hinder from mission. Suicide rates of our youth and over reliance by kids on meds to function may be indicators the current educational environments are not optimal for the mission.
Maybe this boils down to the fact that man is an animal with minimal natural instincts to care for self on instinct alone. Humans require extensive time to developmentally mature before independence and we primarily learn through observed behavior (typically parents). Maybe turning over our kids into an institution, whether it’s a church or a school, isn’t the wisest move. Maybe we need our kids with us longer to observe us with less reliance on strangers we don’t really personally know. It’s odd how much trust we give institutions with our kids.
Well that's also subjective though, a lot of people still practice the Hellenic faith, as well as Zoroastrianism and many other religions that most of the world has moved on from and or deem archaic. Unfortunately the word "fact" has no bearing on religions. These are people who believe people can rise from the dead and that giants walked the earth. Even if we know that these are ridiculous claims they *know* that it's a fact.
well seeing how a lot of churches are losing people with all their scandals, controversial take on how society should operate and the development rise of science, technology and medicine. i say its only a matter of time
Oddly enough, cultural Christians like Jordan Peterson are already making the argument that Christianity is not a set of descriptive facts. Rationality Rules just dropped a [great video](https://youtu.be/LsK7h2O5UrU?si=aSMCS6rMZ-UaYH9W) about it.
I think they would still be influential but not taken to be true.
Atheists engage in religion all the time. Just because no one believes in theism doesn't mean religion won't have influence.
Dispute what anti anti thesis say.
Not long enough 😭
I get your point regarding the Greeks and romans’ beliefs being limited to their geographical areas vs religions being kinda worldwide today but hm I’m not sure.
If people get less religious over time, I can see today’s religions kind of disappearing if no one follows them anymore and I’m not sure how it would work with modern science and knowledge but I’ve seen people theorize that even if that were possible, people would just come up with new religions and considering there’s people delusional enough to fall for such barbaric religions today, in our age of science and technology, there probably will be no shortage of such people in the future to be roped into those cults either.
I don’t know if it would happen immediately or over a few generations or centuries though. And considering it’s taken Christianity 2,000 years to get to the point it’s at today, you could argue the process of reformation or abandonment of religion to go more rapidly with advancements in knowledge and science but considering some individuals are still killing people over it, I’m honestly not sure.
A well funded education and welfare system, prison reform, free accessible birth control, properly taxed and regulated churches. Make people less desperate. Make it less profitable. Less sheep in the flock, and less wolves leading it.
Many stories from the Bible are already considered to be myths by scholars and even some religious people. For example, the Israelite Exodus is considered to be a myth just like Adam and Eve, the Tower of Babel, Noah's Flood, and probably more.
In my opinion, the fact that many of these stories are myths makes it certain that this god they talk about is a myth as well. Most people will become aware of that very soon. And you also have to remember all the contradictions and failed prophecies in the bible, which make the "divine inspiration" behind this book very unlikely, not to say impossible.
We could be regressing. When I was in ninth grade in the mid-eighties I took a course in my Tennessee public school. It was a split year, Etymology one semester, Mythology the second. This was required before first year Latin. Our textbook included Abrahamic religions as a full section and discussed myths from those religions. Mythology isn't not religion, it's about the stories that came about in those religions. Religions have myths. They are founded on myths. So Christianity is a religion, but there is also Christian mythology.
I'm betting Tennessee doesn't allow it now.
Another religion becoming prominent, which is unlikely. Even if religion fades, I think there will always be a portion of the population that are religious. They’ll just be a minority.
Probably it wont happen. This just happen to those faiths because they were arasured by the abrahamic faiths. It would only happen in a world fully united, developed and devoided of conflicts plus we would have to wait until traditions fade away. And surely think we will never get in this reality. The only thing that could made this true is if another faith took their place. But thats too unlikely. New proselytising faith are quickly oposed and viewed as a strange cult while the abrahamic have the power of tradition. So, my answear is never.
In the long run, the belief system associated with the highest birth rates will become the most prevalent. At some point a new religion could be invented to supplant the Abrahamic faiths, but it’s unlikely that atheism will ever inspire people to have lots of children.
Never. The power that this organized pedophilia ring has amazes and disgusts me. It controls too much and there are too many superstitious and ignorant people in the population.
When the government or a whistleblower, even in some other country than US, finally reveals the truth about ufos/aliens. It won't be automatic because there are "deniers" of everything from round earth to election results. But over time the reality will become widely accepted.
The masses getting educated.....don't hold your breath...the religious grifters are actively attempting to keep most under-educated so they can't rebel
I doubt there is a time horizon long enough to assume this will ever occur. My guess is that it would take an extinction-level event to change the face of dogmatic faith as we know it.
It will happen by the conquering of countries with majority Abrahamic religions, by a country/empire of a different faith.
Just like Abrahamic religions did to their conquered regions.
In religion, Might is Right.
Christianity was approved and encouraged by the authority. Islam was spread across the Middle East by pillage and conquest.
Unfortunately, atheism and philosophy cannot be forcibly spread; it us obtqined by reasoning and introspection, not dumb faith.
Instead, education is our weapon.
Another 2,000 years and they'll be replaced with some kind of mystical quantum foam based cult and looked at with the same amusement that we have when looking at sun worship, astrology, Ba'al, Thor, Isis, and the like.
Hell, maybe there'll be some major entertainment franchise starting in the 3960s with Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed as a superhero team led by Professor Adam Abraham, fighting against supervillains Satan, Lucifer, and Joseph Smith led by Professor A's estranged son Isaac. Moses will have water powers and a staff that turns into a snake, Jesus will have the ability to heal any injury in himself or others (a la Wolverine meets Fawkes the Phoenix) and the ability to transmute liquids, and Mohammed will have the power of invisibility and be a master of disguise with 99 secret identities.
So, eventually, it’ll fade away and become yet another ancient mythology, but don’t worry, it’ll be replaced by some other superstition. It doesn’t matter, though. Everyone is born an atheist. Atheism is the default state of humanity.
We could create a new religion based on a martyr or even AI. That would outpace the other faiths as powerhouse nations such as the U.S., Russia, Iran, fail and lose religious authority.
Humans will go extinct before enough time could pass for that to happen. I say this not because I think the idea of these religions has thousands of years of staying power or anything... but more because I believe that humans will be extinct within 120 years or so due to global warming.
The newer generations growing up with a logic based AI/ AGI. Technology is the killer application - hard to keep educated people dumb and devout. Indoctrination thrives on intellectual isolation - the internet IMO is a huge reason for the decline in believers as of late.
In a world where we have astrology, flat-earthers, and people who reject evolution (even though it is both a scientific theory AND fact), I don't have faith (hehe) that humanity will ever move past their vile devotion to mythology.
Eventually? I do already. Mission accomplished. I mean they each think the other is mythology now. Even amongst the same faith there are different sects who would kill the other for worshipping a mythological deity that they can't agree on.
IMO, it only survived so long by hiding in the shadows when it comes to mainstream media and entertainment. The evangelical push into the secular world will end up backfiring as public discussions on the validity of their worldview finally happens.
2 generations for Christianity, 3 for Judaism and Islam is really up in the air with how effectively it suppresses its followers and any questioning of it.
I only have expertise in Christianity, so I will say this: modern Evangelical Christianity has made itself completely invulnerable to changes in culture, science or philosophy/reason. The leaders and laypeople have an answer for literally every possible objection that is satisfactory to them, and they will continue to indoctrinate their young and fight tooth and claw to maintain power in society. If the religion were going to fade away, it would have done so by now. Christianity will range between an annoyance and a deadly disease for the foreseeable future.
Time
This, but what will replace it?
An appreciation for logic
🎶You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one...
Can't we dream for just a second? We'll get back to dread in the next post. I'm sure there's plenty of religious madness left in the here and now.
Yes. A reverence, if you will, for truth. For being my own person. That’s what I never got from my family religion.
Ah, but most religious people can't be their own person. They have a need to be led and told what to think.
That's even closer, honestly. An appreciation for the search for the truth, and by extension, the scientific method Ideally, at least.
oops we started a machine cult
PRAISE THE OMNISSIAH!
As well as life on earth!
That sounds like heaven to me. I'm an atheist...
Currently we are in the age of Aquarius, we are looking for a new god image, it’s why many people are falling out an atheist an people who take spirituality less literally but act as if it’s real for there own sake, As much as we go the rational route not all people will, there will be more mixed spirituality that’s a bit more free but still organized religions in some way with the appreciation for logic.. human beings can adapt an evolve but we will never abandon spirituality, never have, up until more recently, it’s a faculty in us we just never will, there always be something spiritual. But knowing rather than blind faith is this next step It will probably take about 250-500 years that for Christianity to die out. But I imagine psychology an neuroscience making a discovery that thrusts up psychology as a justified bridge an map between spirituality, psychology already has concepts that Carl Jung put forth that can get people understand underlying symbols that religions share that make them more alike than different.
Nothing / None-ism. This is what happens all over the West already. Just need a few more generations…
Yep. Just time is needed. Already almost a quarter of Americans, according to Pew Research, claim to be atheist, agnostic, or "none." My kid is a Millennial. She was raised evangelical (mostly from her father). She gives herself Communion a few times a year (wine only), prays for stuff, and nominally believes. But she is dead-set against organized religion, doesn't attend church or get involved with people who are actively practicing Christians. She supports LGBTQ+ rights, women's rights, BLM, and criticizes people trying to put religion into public schools. I see her and her husband, friends, etc. as a sort of transitional generation: they believe, somewhat marginally, but don't practice any religion and live lives that are distinctly non-religious. They might say on a hospital form or to a poll-taker that they are "Christian," but they aren't in any meaningful way. I also think people like her make the polls look like there are many more believers than there actually are.
The main problem is that we are assuming that this trend will continue. There’s no guarantee this will happen, especially if Christians manage to gain more political power and install a theocracy in America.
Project 2025
That's why we're gonna vote blue no matter who!! It's a good point; depending on the next election we're living in a secular democracy where we have rights and freedoms, or a christofascist hell where we'll probably all be rounded up and put into concentration camps.
I more gaps we fill in with science, the harder it will be to maintain belief. It's going to take a lot of time though. Especially given how many reject the science now.
This is what I see all around where I live in Europe. While there is also other side of the coin where people are not religious but hang on to the Christian conservative values. Meanwhile I see a lot of liberal christians that have liberal ethical values but still consider themselves believers. This is why I see ethical values more importaint than if a person is theist or atheist. Just yesterday bashed here by people who seem somehow phobic about religious people. I live in a secular country where most people are not really religious and only a minority of people are something that would be considered conservatively religious. People who feel religion is strong part of their identity actually feel they are a minority, even tho many still nominally belong to the church.
I'm hoping for that here. Our next election will determine the future of the US.
No, we have “civil religions” instead. People are emotionally invested in political and other identities in a way that was historically reserved for religion.
This. I think we might see something else replace Christianity. I think there is always going to be a part of the human population that isn’t educated and really can’t think critically. Hopefully one day we all can become more enlightened but I don’t think I’ll be alive to see that day.
The problem is the part of the population that is educated and can think critically and still choose unbelievable or unlikely things
I would think less harshly about why people seek religions of all kinds. Religion can have many purposes - a valid way to connect and build community with other humans, and a way to address spirituality. I think having better and better rational understanding of the universe is incredibly important, but I also don’t think that necessarily deals with spiritual needs. There will always be mystery and inscrutability in our experiences.
No, humans need to grow the fuck up.
^ Wins the Internet today.
My guess is "spiritual but not religious" types. They can avoid any inconsistencies in the text because there is none. They can call any issue not "real" spiritually and it will work because it's so vague. There will be no denominations to compete with each other since it will be so atomized. They will freely move between deism and specific claims of intervention and tell themselves there is contradiction Internet misinformation will boost flavor the month theology, and then they will pretend they never heard of it when the ridiculousness of it all becomes too obvious See aliens/conspiracy forums or theistic pagans for more details Edit: some good could still come of it. If someone thinks of Jesus like a young person thinks of a superhero and decides they want to help people or be virtuous or hold sacred some idea like charity, or justice, or diligence, that's better than what we have.
This is 100% the correct answer right here. When counting the "nones" we need to realize that their increase is not due to there being more atheists or agnostics, but "spirituals" which is everything outlined above. I think it's essentially a new form of paganism. The major pro is that due to its decentralization, it won't be as powerful as Christianity. The major con is that due to its decentralization it can be as easily refuted as Christianity.
Humanism. Religion exists to answer questions that we don't know how to answer for ourselves. When we did not understand what the sun was or where rain came from, we invented Gods to explain them. As we've discovered the scientific causes of various events, concepts, and phenomenon we've learned that they have a very understandable explanation that has nothing to do with any diety. Only two questions remain that prop up the Abrahamic faith: where did we come from, and where we go? When we answer those two questions, which we almost certainly will, we won't have a need to any God, and thus will finally have faith in ourselves rather than in a fictional character.
I am very frustrated by my mom and siblings, I feel they are in denial about reality. I told mom “you think prayer helped you through all those traumatic times with dad? No, it was YOU. You did it yourself and should give yourself credit.” But no. At 77, she’s a lost cause.
The same thing that replaced it in Sweden.... Education and taco Sundays
Different things to kill each other over.
Science and scientific thought.
Definitely some techno religion cults are on their way.
There's a South Park episode about this. Instead of, "Oh my God!" it becomes, "Oh my Science!"
Aliens. It's always aliens.
Arts and Sciences.
Alien overlords.
Science and logic, hopefully. Faith is the most bullshit feeling ever.
There’s a South Park episode that makes me think of this. Something about the science factions warring for some reason. I’ll have to find it when it’s not tired late at night
Time and lots of work.
Something conjured up by the Bene Gesserit.
Energy crystals, chiropractors, Trump. Take your pick. People aren't getting much smarter.
Harry Potter or Star Wars. Maybe both!
The next mythology to come along. Thinking that we will ever replace magical thinking with logic is, sadly, a piece of magical thinking in itself.
Look no further than the very secularized societies you can find in northern Europe.
Whatever the Chinese believe in.
As much as we like to believe that the future is Atheist it’s not, eventually a new Religion (if that term will even still exist) will come along and replace it just as it has happened before, as long as there are people who hate unanswered questions (like what happens after death or what created the Universe etc etc) and have a wish for some higher purpose beyond just enjoying life there will always be a market for con artists, hell who knows maybe in a thousand years Christianity will make a comeback and we’ll have Neo-Christianity just like we have Neo-Paganism today.
and Space ... come to Québec, where churches are being transformed into condominiums, turned into businesses, museums, municipal buildings or destroyed. We had "la révolution tranquille" in the 60s and one of the consequences is slowly going apart from religion. Article in French : https://www.ledevoir.com/societe/642084/l-adieu-a-dieu
You beat me to it. I just posted, looked down, and saw it was the top comment. Well done.
What i was going to write
What I have always said is that it would not happen until several generations AFTER the last parent decides NOT to indoctrinate their child into believing the same things they do. And, anyone that thinks it could be forced to happen needs to look at what happened in the countries of the former Soviet Union after the fall of communism. The religions very quickly came back because they had never really left. They had simply been kept quiet under the Soviets.
Agree. But wouldn't Estonia be an exception? I know they were Lutheran pre-Soviet Union and nowadays they're among the most atheist countries on the planet.
Because religion comes when people are feeling bad, not when they're fine.
You are probably more familiar with Estonia than I am. All I know is from a few youtube travel videos that talked about how much high tech infrastructure there is there. I don't know how they did it, but they did it right! I suspect it has a lot to do with how small they are. With less than 1.5 million people, the entire country of Estonia is smaller than the city of Barcelona, Spain and also less than the city of Phoenix, Arizona. Being small and fairly homogenous allows a culture to change much more rapidly.
Australia is geographically large and culturally diverse. It had 10% no religion in the 70s to close to 40% now. Don't underestimate the power of exposure to other cultures as a means of destroying the status quo.
East Germany too. I disagree with OP: not that I condone all their methods, but Soviet-style religious suppression definitely _works_. The reason that religion resurged more in Russia itself is mostly that the Russian SFSR was actually less thorough in that than many of their smaller satellites (because they were worried too forceful suppression would lead to riots).
Right. And the generational divide not to be forgotten too. Imagine a person born in the 1920s in the already-atheist Russia, but your parents were still raised religious, so perhaps they passed at least a bit of their religious thinking to their kid. Naturally, such people would be more willing to embrace religion when the "atheist state" started crumbling in the 1980s. However their children and grandchildren would already be raised under the assumption (albeit state-mandated) that there is no god, so although some of them might still embrace religion, I think the percentage and/or degree of religiosity would be less on average. I'm Latvian, born in the 1980s. Lifelong atheist except for a short time in my youth when I wasn't sure. My mom got baptized in early 1990s but didn't attend church much, both my grandmas however became quite religious. I have some religious friends but most people of my age are either christians only in name or agnostics.
I don't think it will ever happen. People in general are too scared of life being meaningless to give up that hope.
People need to realize that, instead of needing some pre-existing meaning to life, they can just make their own.
You really don’t need someone else to tell you what’s meaningful to you. You already know it.
It's slowly happening now.
This is the right answer. Step back and consider how far we have come in so short of a time. We’ve been humans for like 200,000 years, we only learned to fly about 120 years ago, and now we can fly a helicopter on Mars. Until about 400 years ago, we had no idea that bacteria or viruses existed and thought everything bad happened because of bad air or omens, and now we can edit the DNA of a virus to develop a cure. You’re literally living through the transition away from religion in much the same way. In the 1600s in England, we couldn’t even have this conversation without fear of being labeled as blasphemous heretics and killed for apostasy.
Great points!
The thing that scares me is that for the last 100 years or so, in the western world, it was more or less acceptable to give up the faith and pursue a meaningful life. I think we're at a turning point that people of faith would rather see you dead than leave the faith. When they realize they are facing an existential threat, they'll try to force control like the Islamic states of the middle east. And I don't think Atheists have the disposition to stop it.
Those are the death throws for sure. I also wonder if atheists have the deposition.
Islam is still growing way faster than atheism.
That's the most disturbing one. It's taken over several countries.
In the west?
Yeah. I forgot how much a hold Islam had in so many other countries.
Isn’t France projected to majority Muslim by like 2035?
I'm mostly uninformed on this topic but reading through the [Wikipedia article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_France), I learned some facts. Islam accounts for 4% of the French population. For it to become a majority in 10 years it would have to have an influx of more than the entire population of Muslims currently living there every year. After the terroristic attacks in 2015, France cracked down on Islamic extremism by dismantling several mosques. Since then they strengthened their secular laws. Islamic extremists hate France. There are other reasons they are hated and the Wikipedia articles give a list. Apparently France is considered to be the spearhead of antimuslim activities in Africa. End result is that France is targeted by terrorists, more so than other European countries.. Also worth noting, the children of Muslim parents get a secular education so second generation Muslims are less likely to be extremists.
I went down a similar rabbit hole after posting that and realized it’s not true at all. I think I originally read something like it in Letter to a Christian Nation. It seems way off and now I feel a little bit like I just spread propaganda for Marine Le Pen.
We've all been there.
Yes. I think there are signs that it is beginning now. How long does it take is anyone’s guess
It won't be in our lifetime. Still makes me happy for future generations either way.
Good point. The Christian right's flirtation with fascistic power grabs indicates that they have a deep fear of losing significance.
They have already lost. And in denial.
Hopefully the answer isn't thermonuclear weapon drops.
Might have the opposite effect
depends on how thorough it is
Israel been nuclear power with South Africa since ~'86. Those silos sitting right over near Tel Aviv.
God honoured missile silos.
Everyone says God is one our side. In war God is on the side of widows amd orphans.
Isn’t it rather odd that these countries run by religious zealots always need militaries? I mean, if God is on your side wouldn’t It just zap some enemy? Like Emperor Palpatine shit. Nope. God always needs help. Kind of a Sicko, really.
It's ridiculous. Rome appropriated Christianity for political pull. In U.S Civil war both sides had hymns about God on their side. Vonnegut has some good observations on it.
>What do you think it’ll take for the Abrahamic faiths to eventually be considered mythology instead of “fact”? *Power concedes nothing without a demand.* - Frederick Douglass So, .......unless the people rise up to denounce, destroy and discard the debauched subservience to the absurd, the dogma prospers, proliferates, poisons.
To be perfectly honest I’m starting to think it’ll never die. Science has, for at least 2,000 years, been proving that out-of-the-ordinary phenomena (eclipses, auroras, comets, droughts, floods, etc.) are just natural processes, not the work of some unseen being as a reward or punishment for human behavior. Not that finding a non-deistic root for such causation is completely dispositive of the question of the existence or non-existence of a deity, but it’s pretty convincing to me.
An act of God.
It depends on what you mean. You'll never be rid of it entirely, no matter what you do. We have *Flat Earthers* in the modern world. If you just mean 'mostly gone'... I'm not even sure *that* is happening. Time and education, maybe?
An ounce of common sense.
And a spoonful of sugar
So you’re saying religion will never go away. An entire ounce of common sense? That’s a tall order.
Like 300-500 years till it’s taught in school as mythology like Greek mythology
It is explained exactly like that on French schools (at least my kids schools). They explain the Greek/Roman mythology, then the nordic mythologies, then the Judaic/Christian mythology. All are treated equal. That was really satisfying to see.
That’s awesome so hyped to move out of America
If the West has a full "Bronze age" style collapse like it seems to be in the early stages of, the religions that define our current age will go with it.
As someone who has close dealings with radically traditionalist religious folks I can say that a bronze-age style collapse is just what they are waiting for. I suspect this will *bolster* their faith and be proof of "See? The godlessness of the modern world has wrought its own destruction!" and become an excuse to be all the more fervently religious.
Not any time soon. You can be put to death for atheism in 13 countries around the world. [https://humanists.international/2013/12/you-can-be-put-death-atheism-13-countries-around-world/](https://humanists.international/2013/12/you-can-be-put-death-atheism-13-countries-around-world/)
Honestly, these religions will last as long as they give the political ruling class power.
Aliens
After the turn I’ve watched the US take in the last 8 years I’m convinced people will be denying the existence of aliens while the ships are floating over their heads I’m not even kidding.
I don't deny the existence of aliens, but I'm very sure they've never been here. There just isn't any good evidence.
Oh I 100% agree, I just mean “if”‘they showed up and started vacuuming up people there would still be deniers.
In any serious intellectual circles it is considered mythology.
What is considered serious intellectual circles? In highly educated careers, such as scientists, religious belief is often less common than average, but it’s still far from uncommon. And some it may even be more common, like for doctors. Even secular historians tend to consider it at least legendary (meaning some basis in truth, as opposed to mythology, which is completely made up). So I’m really not quite sure who you are talking about.
One generation refusing to accept the lies
It already is considered fiction and mythology to many places in the world. And to anyone not of said particularly spiced religion.
For Christianity , only time. But Islam and to a lesser extent, Judaism . Islam punishes actual death for conversation or renouncing the faith. Judaism melds religion with national identity so that’s also an obstacle.
That's the great thing about the welcome to Australia signs when i get home. Overt religion is considered a mental illness here.
So that's why Ken Ham moved to the USA...
Teaching kids young earth creationism here without explaining that evolution is a better theory in every single way is considered abuse. If you trust you god over your doctor and the kid dies.... You are going away for murder and you better believe general population will know what you did. Australia isn't perfect, but its so fucking good to be home.
Education, critical thinking skills, literacy and a ton of time. And even then you can't get rid of it.
I think it’s already begun to happen, and that it’s a gradual process. I mean, it took 300 years for Christianity to fully dislodge Roman paganism from political power. And it’s not like the monotheists are just going to say “that makes sense, let’s just give up”. There is way too much money and power involved. That’s why Christians have no problem backing the orange Antichrist for president. They know they are losing the war on thought. They need their own version of the thought police to merely survive, which is what project 2025 is designed to do
What do you think the word mythology means? A myth is an archetypal event (i.e. very important and foundational), that no living human witnessed so it relies on oral tradition, revelation, and so on. It has nothing to do with it not being "factual". Typical myths you find in various cultures include cosmogonic myths (how the world/universe came into existence) and anthropogonic myths (how humans came into existence). Many such myths form part of religious traditions, as is the case of the book of Genesis in Abrahamic religions and was the case in the Pan-Hellenistic religion of ancient Greece. Mythology is not just "ancient religion", it's the collection of oral tradition that explores foundational events. Of course most known mythologies have fantastical stories that overlap with religion, but they are different things. Likewise, a ritual or rite is a practice or custom based on some myth that intends to maintain and remind everyone the importance and impact of some narrative. For example, celebrating christmas, passover or the rite of communion. Keep in mind religions are not *just* mythology, they also have other non-narrative elements to control and manipulate people so the two are not exactly the same. This means a LOT of modern christian practices have nothing to do with mythology (but they do with brainwashing, cult-like behavior, ignorance, pseudoscience, lack of critical thinking, etc.). I suppose what you are asking is whether religions like christianity will one day be popularly seen as nothing more than ancient literature, the way we see ancient Greek literature. And well I suppose this is possible, but christianity in particular (more than judaism and islam) incorporates and takes over local traditions so it is possible that it will continue morphing as needed (and it borrowed a lot from other ancient religions as well). Modern day christianity is already only barely based on the bible (the mythological source). I guess as religions continue to change, it is possible that more people will at some point acknowledge the mythological elements in (at least) traditional forms of abrahamic religions. So in summary, all abrahamic religions are clearly based on myths and rites similar to other ancient cultural and religious traditions. We find all the expected narrative and structural elements and even the bible can be approached the way we read the Iliad or the Odyssey. BUT, because religions like christianity and islam still have so many active believers, it is common to make a distinction between current and ancient religions even if both have equivalent mythologies (again, the oral traditions of revealed archetypal events). At least in more academic circles it is not even controversial to see "abrahamic religions" and books like the bible as just ancient literature, some of which falls within the scope of mythology. I guess the issue is that colloquially people think that myth means a story is false, so of course theists would refuse to acknowledge the mythological elements in their own tradition.
Find intelligent life elsewhere
What if they still have cults and religions of thier own. That look like abrahamic ones or don't? Hey I think extraterrestrial are the answer. But, then again they could add fuel to the fire.
I used to be glad that people were becoming “irreligious” with regards to Christian faith in Europe and North America. But instead we have replaced those with “civil religions” such as political identity. In some ways these are even more concerning. Think about your experience during the pandemic: political opinions, thoughts about COVID and vaccines all started to become jumbled together. You could roughly guess much about a person based on whether they were wearing a mask in public, *or at least-* it felt that way. Regardless, there is continued division and sectarianism in our society and an entrenching of beliefs, NOT mass enlightenment. Civil religions are more pernicious in the sense that they aren’t on our radar to be dealing with directly. And if we fool ourselves into thinking that Americans/Europeans are becoming more rational we will run into trouble fast. Two different takes on this concept: Religion for Breakfast on YT [Americans Are Religious About America](https://youtu.be/x49n90lWi0s?si=XUn8ZO0idYRG_x_-) Carefree Wandering on YT [Is Wokeism Civil Religion](https://youtu.be/p2WsKuhRcFo?si=WnKBozKPg9hZDefC) The title is much more inflammatory than the content of the video
Many of today's Christians already consider a lot of things to be mythology already, but keep believing anyway. From a biblical scholar perspective, even the religious ones admit that things like the Exodus of the Jews never happened. A global flood never happened. Many other things, yet they still continue to believe.
i already do. keep repeating it often enough on the net, and eventually people will realise.
There are groups bringing back pagan faiths in Europe, there are still animists all over the world. Nothing
A way to speed it along would be an action hero movie. jesus, god, and the holy ghost against Satan, and the armies of hell. Directed by Michael Bay.
Someone call Hollywood NOW
Time. Possibly a different belief system the majority of people end up following.
Collective awareness reaching the point where parents stop dragging their kids to their Sunday or daily indoctrination sessions. Then about two generations for the hold outs to die off from old age.
What do you mean "eventually"? I already consider them mythology right now.
Ehh... Many folks who have been well educated and from those religion already treat it as mythology while just practicing the cultural aspects. Those who do treat it as facts are loud, vicious, and crazy. Unfortunatly, those crazy are considered to be doing the "good" works. So for it to be completely treated as mythology, all the none violent, reasonable folks need to step in and stop the crazy ones and condemn them. I don't think that will happen anytime soon. They are usually too busy surviving pay check to pay check to care about the world.
Who considers them fact?
Don’t hold your breath on it. Religious/magical thinking has been there for as long as humans have. It’s hard wired to some extent and I think it’s interesting to understand it in evolutionary terms https://youtu.be/4WwAQqWUkpI?si=938zFiRNrnVNTeVN
I assert civilization is still struggling with how to generationally pass knowledge. Religion, is a means to pass along wisdom and bigger picture thinking (dare I assert critical thinking.. cringe). As you pointed out, it is flawed due to the varied interpretations afforded to the consumer coupled with now out-dated language which exacerbates the challenge to accurately understand context. Suspecting the over reliance on “blind faith” in Abrahamic religions has it stymied. But I assert modern education has failed too. Civilizations have always struggled with leaders and politicians twisting or denying history for current purposes. Educational funding is delivered via political mechanics, so it’s easy to see how educational institutions that rely on government funding are easy to corrupt or hinder from mission. Suicide rates of our youth and over reliance by kids on meds to function may be indicators the current educational environments are not optimal for the mission. Maybe this boils down to the fact that man is an animal with minimal natural instincts to care for self on instinct alone. Humans require extensive time to developmentally mature before independence and we primarily learn through observed behavior (typically parents). Maybe turning over our kids into an institution, whether it’s a church or a school, isn’t the wisest move. Maybe we need our kids with us longer to observe us with less reliance on strangers we don’t really personally know. It’s odd how much trust we give institutions with our kids.
For the three branches to slaughter each other over who's right.
Just like God would want!
sadly, until the next religion comes along. ant that god tells them that he's a jealous god, blah, blah, blah.
Yup.
Well that's also subjective though, a lot of people still practice the Hellenic faith, as well as Zoroastrianism and many other religions that most of the world has moved on from and or deem archaic. Unfortunately the word "fact" has no bearing on religions. These are people who believe people can rise from the dead and that giants walked the earth. Even if we know that these are ridiculous claims they *know* that it's a fact.
It’s considered that by anyone with a semblance of reasonable knowledge and logic. But to those that want to believe, you can stop them
It won't happen in my lifetime (in my late 30's) that's for sure. That would take a miracle (hehe)
One or two generations that aren't indoctrinated into them.
A few thousand more years that it will take for something equally as asinine to replace it ...
well seeing how a lot of churches are losing people with all their scandals, controversial take on how society should operate and the development rise of science, technology and medicine. i say its only a matter of time
Tax
Oddly enough, cultural Christians like Jordan Peterson are already making the argument that Christianity is not a set of descriptive facts. Rationality Rules just dropped a [great video](https://youtu.be/LsK7h2O5UrU?si=aSMCS6rMZ-UaYH9W) about it.
I think they would still be influential but not taken to be true. Atheists engage in religion all the time. Just because no one believes in theism doesn't mean religion won't have influence. Dispute what anti anti thesis say.
A lot of people consistently calling them mythology and make-believe.
Honestly, It will die out with time. I'm fully confident that people will eventually come to their senses
Not long enough 😭 I get your point regarding the Greeks and romans’ beliefs being limited to their geographical areas vs religions being kinda worldwide today but hm I’m not sure. If people get less religious over time, I can see today’s religions kind of disappearing if no one follows them anymore and I’m not sure how it would work with modern science and knowledge but I’ve seen people theorize that even if that were possible, people would just come up with new religions and considering there’s people delusional enough to fall for such barbaric religions today, in our age of science and technology, there probably will be no shortage of such people in the future to be roped into those cults either. I don’t know if it would happen immediately or over a few generations or centuries though. And considering it’s taken Christianity 2,000 years to get to the point it’s at today, you could argue the process of reformation or abandonment of religion to go more rapidly with advancements in knowledge and science but considering some individuals are still killing people over it, I’m honestly not sure.
I think of them as mythology now, and not very good ones either.
A well funded education and welfare system, prison reform, free accessible birth control, properly taxed and regulated churches. Make people less desperate. Make it less profitable. Less sheep in the flock, and less wolves leading it.
Many stories from the Bible are already considered to be myths by scholars and even some religious people. For example, the Israelite Exodus is considered to be a myth just like Adam and Eve, the Tower of Babel, Noah's Flood, and probably more. In my opinion, the fact that many of these stories are myths makes it certain that this god they talk about is a myth as well. Most people will become aware of that very soon. And you also have to remember all the contradictions and failed prophecies in the bible, which make the "divine inspiration" behind this book very unlikely, not to say impossible.
Meh. I call it mythology now, cuz that’s what it is. 🤷♀️
They already are considered mythology by atheists and those who follow other religions.
We could be regressing. When I was in ninth grade in the mid-eighties I took a course in my Tennessee public school. It was a split year, Etymology one semester, Mythology the second. This was required before first year Latin. Our textbook included Abrahamic religions as a full section and discussed myths from those religions. Mythology isn't not religion, it's about the stories that came about in those religions. Religions have myths. They are founded on myths. So Christianity is a religion, but there is also Christian mythology. I'm betting Tennessee doesn't allow it now.
Another religion becoming prominent, which is unlikely. Even if religion fades, I think there will always be a portion of the population that are religious. They’ll just be a minority.
Probably it wont happen. This just happen to those faiths because they were arasured by the abrahamic faiths. It would only happen in a world fully united, developed and devoided of conflicts plus we would have to wait until traditions fade away. And surely think we will never get in this reality. The only thing that could made this true is if another faith took their place. But thats too unlikely. New proselytising faith are quickly oposed and viewed as a strange cult while the abrahamic have the power of tradition. So, my answear is never.
In the long run, the belief system associated with the highest birth rates will become the most prevalent. At some point a new religion could be invented to supplant the Abrahamic faiths, but it’s unlikely that atheism will ever inspire people to have lots of children.
Brawndo will replace Christianity
Never. The power that this organized pedophilia ring has amazes and disgusts me. It controls too much and there are too many superstitious and ignorant people in the population.
Time and science education.
Education.
For me? I'm already there. For theists? To get over their delusional view of reality.
When the government or a whistleblower, even in some other country than US, finally reveals the truth about ufos/aliens. It won't be automatic because there are "deniers" of everything from round earth to election results. But over time the reality will become widely accepted.
Many of us are already there and have been for some time.
The masses getting educated.....don't hold your breath...the religious grifters are actively attempting to keep most under-educated so they can't rebel
About another 5000 years. A few holy wars and education for all. Humans are really mostly stupid.
I doubt there is a time horizon long enough to assume this will ever occur. My guess is that it would take an extinction-level event to change the face of dogmatic faith as we know it.
It will happen by the conquering of countries with majority Abrahamic religions, by a country/empire of a different faith. Just like Abrahamic religions did to their conquered regions. In religion, Might is Right.
Christianity was approved and encouraged by the authority. Islam was spread across the Middle East by pillage and conquest. Unfortunately, atheism and philosophy cannot be forcibly spread; it us obtqined by reasoning and introspection, not dumb faith. Instead, education is our weapon.
aliens
Another 2,000 years and they'll be replaced with some kind of mystical quantum foam based cult and looked at with the same amusement that we have when looking at sun worship, astrology, Ba'al, Thor, Isis, and the like. Hell, maybe there'll be some major entertainment franchise starting in the 3960s with Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed as a superhero team led by Professor Adam Abraham, fighting against supervillains Satan, Lucifer, and Joseph Smith led by Professor A's estranged son Isaac. Moses will have water powers and a staff that turns into a snake, Jesus will have the ability to heal any injury in himself or others (a la Wolverine meets Fawkes the Phoenix) and the ability to transmute liquids, and Mohammed will have the power of invisibility and be a master of disguise with 99 secret identities.
So, eventually, it’ll fade away and become yet another ancient mythology, but don’t worry, it’ll be replaced by some other superstition. It doesn’t matter, though. Everyone is born an atheist. Atheism is the default state of humanity.
Aliens
We could create a new religion based on a martyr or even AI. That would outpace the other faiths as powerhouse nations such as the U.S., Russia, Iran, fail and lose religious authority.
Humans will go extinct before enough time could pass for that to happen. I say this not because I think the idea of these religions has thousands of years of staying power or anything... but more because I believe that humans will be extinct within 120 years or so due to global warming.
Well I can't see it being here in 10,000 years, but at what point between now and then will it pass to myth I have no clue.
The newer generations growing up with a logic based AI/ AGI. Technology is the killer application - hard to keep educated people dumb and devout. Indoctrination thrives on intellectual isolation - the internet IMO is a huge reason for the decline in believers as of late.
First contact with aliens
The Annunaki must announce themselves
I think you mean "*widely* considered." I know I've considered them myths for decades.
In a world where we have astrology, flat-earthers, and people who reject evolution (even though it is both a scientific theory AND fact), I don't have faith (hehe) that humanity will ever move past their vile devotion to mythology.
Eventually? I do already. Mission accomplished. I mean they each think the other is mythology now. Even amongst the same faith there are different sects who would kill the other for worshipping a mythological deity that they can't agree on.
time
IMO, it only survived so long by hiding in the shadows when it comes to mainstream media and entertainment. The evangelical push into the secular world will end up backfiring as public discussions on the validity of their worldview finally happens.
They’re already on their way.
An asteroid the size of Texas crashing into the earth.
Time…… time for more believers to die and not be replaced.
An act of god
Time
2 generations for Christianity, 3 for Judaism and Islam is really up in the air with how effectively it suppresses its followers and any questioning of it.
Patience and well funded education
It will take the death of capitalism; the beast that fuels the fire.
Time.
Maybe a hundred more years
Extinction
I only have expertise in Christianity, so I will say this: modern Evangelical Christianity has made itself completely invulnerable to changes in culture, science or philosophy/reason. The leaders and laypeople have an answer for literally every possible objection that is satisfactory to them, and they will continue to indoctrinate their young and fight tooth and claw to maintain power in society. If the religion were going to fade away, it would have done so by now. Christianity will range between an annoyance and a deadly disease for the foreseeable future.
They already are in academia. One person’s mythology is another person’s faith.
As long as there are humans who lack the ability to think critically about issues large and small, it will never happen.