[Yollopoliuhqui]

Give the Internet another generation and there will be no Islam, New Age Paganism or any other religion to speak of. Christian Fundamentalists will have to sort this out on their own. Hopefully they won't become Luddite technophobes. We need to become smarter faster, that's all there is to it.

[freebilly]

Sure....

[Yollopoliuhqui]

Forgot to mention that this also includes any ideology, doctrine, dogma or orthodox convention including those in academia. Humans will start gathering data, analyzing data and drawing their own sentient, independent conclusion on issues and events free from from fear and emotional extortion.

[Sidebar Moderator]

to prevent duplication, please do not alter the published heading. Thank you.

[Neidermeyer]

I don’t buy that premise ... Islam will strengthen because it has absolutes and other religions are becoming more and more squishy to the point of irrelevance ,,, take the Church of England as my #1 example.

[Nepeta]

I’m not buying. The primary hellraisers in Islam have access to and heavily use the internet.

[Nepeta]

I’m not buying. The primary hellraisers in Islam have access to and heavily use the internet.

[Alberta's Child]

The basic premise here is baloney. Most Europeans lost any religious identity long before there was an internet.

[txrefugee]

One of the signs of the approaching Judgment Day is “The Great Falling Away,” taught in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3, so this should not surprise those waiting for the Savior’s return.

[PaulCruz2016]

Like so many other things, the internet has convinced many young people that weed, gay marriage, atheism, etc. are ‘cool’. That’s my take anyway.

[ClearCase_guy]

I think the media has been pushing ungodly values very strongly over this same time period. I think that is a more important factor.

[Albion Wilde]

about 25 million people, all of whom have somehow lost their religion... how come? Why are Americans losing their faith?

I haven't lost my faith or religion, but my denomination (UMC) went down the liberal homofascist tube. Now I visit churches, and get involved in small groups for prayer or Bible study. I leave a check here and there. That is all. Maybe if I move, there will be a Bible-believing church in shooting distance that won't turn Communist in my old age.

[RIghtwardHo]

Wrong.

History is replete with the blaming of outside sources for problems within. Teach. Lead by example. The problem is the individual, not the “outside”. The outside has been there for millennia and can be overcome.

[Alex Murphy]

....we get a possible answer thanks to the work of Allen Downey, a computer scientist at the Olin College of Engineering in Massachusetts, who has analyzed the data in detail. He says that the demise is the result of several factors but the most controversial of these is the rise of the Internet. He concludes that the increase in Internet use in the last two decades has caused a significant drop in religious affiliation.

PFL

[Viennacon]

Asking this question here is the same as asking why fewer and fewer people in Russia declared themselves religiously affiliated after 1920. As the Eich incident shows, if you openly declare yourself of a viewpoint contrary to left wing academia, you suffer, and they make sure of it. There has been a concerted effort to destroy all religion in public life for at least 60 years in this country. What do you expect?

But the facts remain the same. This is contributing factor to the terminal decline of America, and all it will gain is a lot of people condemned to hell. Truth hurts. Some like it hot.

Are these the people we’re saving America for?

[Amendment10]

... has caused a significant drop in religious affiliation.

Religious affiliation doesn't mean that the good news of Jesus is being preached.

[Salvation]

**That’s where the Internet comes in. In the 1980s, Internet use was essentially zero, but in 2010, 53 percent of the population spent two hours per week online and 25 percent surfed for more than 7 hours.

This increase closely matches the decrease in religious affiliation. In fact, Downey calculates that it can account for about 25 percent of the drop.**

Comments?

[palmer]

From the article: There is another possibility, of course: that a third unidentified factor causes both increased Internet use and religious disaffiliation. But Downey discounts this possibility. “We have controlled for most of the obvious candidates, including income, education, socioeconomic status, and rural/urban environments,” he says.

If this third factor exists, it must have specific characteristics. It would have to be something new that was increasing in prevalence during the 1990s and 2000s, just like the Internet. “It is hard to imagine what that factor might be,” says Downey.

That leaves him in little doubt that his conclusion is reasonable. “Internet use decreases the chance of religious affiliation,” he says.

The third factor is the rise is the rise in stupidity as demonstrated by his own.

[Spok]

Too much prosperity and leisure time without discipline destroys human character. The loss of religion is both a symptom and a cause.

[skinkinthegrass]

!

[KarlInOhio]

Since this is a 20 year study, it would be intersesting to see if the change happens to people in the same age group (20s in 1990 vs 40s in 2010) or if the change comes from older religious people dying and younger non-religious people being brought up.