Underseer
Contributor
Article about study: http://www.rawstory.com/2015/05/tee...-massive-new-study-exposes-religions-decline/
Study: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0121454
Yet another study shows that the young are abandoning religion in ever-increasing numbers.
I find it bizarre that the researcher tries to explain this in part because younger people are "narcissistic" and selfish. That's not the sense I get from talking to younger atheists at all. What I find interesting is that with older atheists, leaving religion is a mostly academic matter. Someone spent years studying the Bible, apologetics, etc., and concluded after much contemplation that the arguments for religion simply don't stack up. However, when I talk to younger atheists, it seems mostly about moral considerations. Instead of spending years of study trying to figure out what is true, they simply conclude that Christians are immoral and that they would rather not have anything to do with Christianity because of this. Of course, these are strictly personal observations, and thus subject to the usual problems with anecdotal evidence and selection bias.
I remember years back hearing an interview on NPR with a scientist who studies tipping points, and he insisted that we already passed the tipping point for the loss of religion in the industrialized world. If society is undergoing such a large change as the tipping point scientist suggested, then it would make sense that the young change more and faster than their elders.
PS -- I wasn't sure whether to post this thread here, in Science, or in Secular Lifestyles. If any mod thinks it belongs in another forum, please move it.
Study: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0121454
Yet another study shows that the young are abandoning religion in ever-increasing numbers.
I find it bizarre that the researcher tries to explain this in part because younger people are "narcissistic" and selfish. That's not the sense I get from talking to younger atheists at all. What I find interesting is that with older atheists, leaving religion is a mostly academic matter. Someone spent years studying the Bible, apologetics, etc., and concluded after much contemplation that the arguments for religion simply don't stack up. However, when I talk to younger atheists, it seems mostly about moral considerations. Instead of spending years of study trying to figure out what is true, they simply conclude that Christians are immoral and that they would rather not have anything to do with Christianity because of this. Of course, these are strictly personal observations, and thus subject to the usual problems with anecdotal evidence and selection bias.
I remember years back hearing an interview on NPR with a scientist who studies tipping points, and he insisted that we already passed the tipping point for the loss of religion in the industrialized world. If society is undergoing such a large change as the tipping point scientist suggested, then it would make sense that the young change more and faster than their elders.
PS -- I wasn't sure whether to post this thread here, in Science, or in Secular Lifestyles. If any mod thinks it belongs in another forum, please move it.