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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7227629.stm

BBC News - 05/02/08

The Vatican has reported a further dramatic fall in the number of Roman Catholic monks and nuns worldwide.

Newly published statistics showed that the number of men and women belonging to religious orders fell by 10% to just under a million between 2005 and 2006.

Article continues ...

It's not all bad news then?

Aurora wrote: It's not all bad news then?

Perhaps the human race is maturing after all? See here:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ayc_zMlgKrs

A connection perhaps? Decline in violence goes hand in hand with the decline in religion?


.ui

Although perhaps a time of economic and physical hardship to come will see an increase in people's interest in the spiritual, once the material is taken from them. Then religion may see an increase.

mikepepler wrote:Although perhaps a time of economic and physical hardship to come will see an increase in people's interest in the spiritual, once the material is taken from them.

I'd suggest it's the sun that we'll all start to worship again.

Don't miss: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... &plindex=3

Peak religion? No, it's just a plateau, and of course the free-market economy is bound to provide incentives for coming up with suitable alternatives for satisfying exponential increases in the global demand for instant TV-dinner style spiritual fixes.

isenhand wrote:Perhaps the human race is maturing after all?

Awesome site! A couple of really stunning presentations. Enjoy:

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/92

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/116

I'm an atheist. It is the way god made me.

I am a committed Christian. I don't see any lessening of religion, only more and more around the world. The numbers of Christian believers are growing spectacularly especially in developing countries. In my opinion that is because Christianity is about a real experience of a real God who is in the business of changing lives and turning the world upside down.

Now you are welecome to criticise the Church when it mucks things up. Not all Christians are great people, some fail spectacularly and do bad things. But that is human nature, not because of their Christian faith.

If you believe that religion is on the wane, that's probably cos you probably don't know many religious people. Man is a religous creature and will always worship something. If its not God, then something else. Have you been to the footie lately?

To try and keep back on topic, my guess is that peak oil will remove most of the material wealth and leisure pursuits that some people rely on to fill their lives. With that crutch removed they might just find that there is a spiritual dimension to life and in that case I would thoroughly recommend checking out Christianity.

Waiting to duck the flames.....

I think that peak oil will have zero effect on the existence of religion as a phenomenon. Religion has and probably always will exist as long as humans exist.

Given that most of us, all of us at some time or other, rely on belief (religious or otherwise) rather than evidence to inform our view of the world, I hope that religious leaders start promoting the behaviour changes needed to cope post peak.

It may be that today's mainstream religions will be transformed or overtaken by something else. As Aurora says, sun worship may come back into fashion; who knows.

goslow wrote:I am a committed Christian. I don't see any lessening of religion, only more and more around the world. The numbers of Christian believers are growing spectacularly especially in developing countries. In my opinion that is because Christianity is about a real experience of a real God who is in the business of changing lives and turning the world upside down.

Now you are welecome to criticise the Church when it mucks things up. Not all Christians are great people, some fail spectacularly and do bad things. But that is human nature, not because of their Christian faith.

If you believe that religion is on the wane, that's probably cos you probably don't know many religious people. Man is a religous creature and will always worship something. If its not God, then something else. Have you been to the footie lately?

To try and keep back on topic, my guess is that peak oil will remove most of the material wealth and leisure pursuits that some people rely on to fill their lives. With that crutch removed they might just find that there is a spiritual dimension to life and in that case I would thoroughly recommend checking out Christianity.

Waiting to duck the flames.....

Congratulations for putting your cards on the table Goslow. The BBC article was talking about Roman Catholicism rather than Christianity though!

"Call no man upon the Earth your Father, for you have but one Father in Heaven" - Jesus

("Pope"="Father")

mikepepler wrote:Although perhaps a time of economic and physical hardship to come will see an increase in people's interest in the spiritual, once the material is taken from them. Then religion may see an increase.

Sort of opium for the people? To get them over the pain? Might be so but I hope not. If we are to emerge from anything like a TEC to a better world we would need a good grip on reality. Turing to delusions I don?t see as constructive.

.ui

isenhand wrote:

mikepepler wrote:Although perhaps a time of economic and physical hardship to come will see an increase in people's interest in the spiritual, once the material is taken from them. Then religion may see an increase.

Sort of opium for the people? To get them over the pain? Might be so but I hope not. If we are to emerge from anything like a TEC to a better world we would need a good grip on reality. Turing to delusions I don?t see as constructive.

.ui

Surely true spirituality is the pursuit of the truth?

goslow wrote:To try and keep back on topic, my guess is that peak oil will remove most of the material wealth and leisure pursuits that some people rely on to fill their lives. With that crutch removed they might just find that there is a spiritual dimension to life and in that case I would thoroughly recommend checking out Christianity.

Nah, Christianity was welded together by Constantin in the 300's, and morphed a couple of times to suit new purposes. The main effect was probably to quench vendettas and local in-fighting in Europe. Christianity is just a residual joke today, completely lacking social impact. In order for a religion to work, it has to explain the world and be perceived as a completely natural and obvious part of life.

Whatever religion we will have in the future will be something that helps our societies to function, and it will be perceived as completely natural and integrated in our lives. Christianity will not be up to the task, unless it morphs another time and makes itself useful again. My personal guess is that Christianity is rather "spent" as social force as it stands today.

I would like to make a case that science and economy, or rather "economism", has replaced Christianity as belief system in our current societies.

goslow wrote: If you believe that religion is on the wane, that's probably cos you probably don't know many religious people.

It?s one based on statistics. There appears to be a rise in atheism, and therefore, a decline in religion throughout the twentieth century. Also their appears to a negative correlation between intelligence / education on the one hand and religious belief on the other.

http://hypnosis.home.netcom.com/iq_vs_religiosity.htm
http://trance.nu/v4/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1834301
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v3 ... 313a0.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiCtMXvCNQw
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographi ... stribution

.ui

Andy Hunt wrote:

isenhand wrote:

mikepepler wrote:Although perhaps a time of economic and physical hardship to come will see an increase in people's interest in the spiritual, once the material is taken from them. Then religion may see an increase.

Sort of opium for the people? To get them over the pain? Might be so but I hope not. If we are to emerge from anything like a TEC to a better world we would need a good grip on reality. Turing to delusions I don?t see as constructive.

.ui

Surely true spirituality is the pursuit of the truth?

No, truth is a relative concept to start with and spirituality is about what ever feels good.

.ui