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I think one reason why religions have historically been so popular is that they fill a wide array of different needs: • Community (friends, support group) • G

I think one reason why religions have historically been so popular is that they fill a wide array of different needs: • Community (friends, support group) • Guidelines for morality / how to live life • Shared stories / beliefs about the origin of their people • Optimism and comfort from a belief in afterlife • Charitable causes In a way, I think religion has become "unbundled" over time, and these individual needs are increasingly being met my different alternatives (for example, meetups for meeting people, charities for helping others). But, of course, Americans are also just increasingly skeptical of religious beliefs.

caser 5y ago
This is on point! I’ve written about this a bunch here: humanmissives.com And hosted a conference on it here: summit.opendiv.org Just thought I’d share — may give you some additional academic perspective!
darth_avocado 5y ago
Or that the religion stopped providing that community for a lot of people and they found it elsewhere.
- mensetmanusman 5y ago
  They may have found the illusion of it on social media :) hence the loneliness crisis.
  - darth_avocado 5y ago
    For a lot of people that are marginalized by the communities they were born into, I’d say the illusion is still better. Assuming they haven’t actually found communities that accepts them that is.
- jimbokun 5y ago
  Nothing replaced it. Community is largely nonexistent for many people today.
- tsol 5y ago
  >religion Why say 'religion' when they mean 'Christianity'? I don't think Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, or Shintoism are suffering these problems-- in fact most people aren't even familiar with the daily practice of them. It's Christianity that you're actually taking offense to
  - darth_avocado 5y ago
    What are you smoking? Islam, Hinduism and pretty much all religions face similar problems. Which religion in the world doesn’t exclude people for being different? Last I checked even Scientologists chastise people for not being true believers. It’s not Christianity I’m taking offense to.
jjcon 5y ago
As one of these unaffiliated I actually think it is kind of sad in some ways that religion is so tied to shared origin stories (of earth, mankind etc) because I want many of the other things religion offers in my life: community, philosophizing about the big questions, shared guidelines on how to live a good life etc etc. It just so happens I don't believe in much of a god so it is hard to participate. We figured out that many of the origin stories were incorrect so we tossed the whole thing without replacing the actually crucial components.
- andai 5y ago
  I spent a few weeks living with religious relatives. While it wasn't really my thing, I was impressed by how it brings the community together (they met twice a week) and by the heavy emphasis on morality (even if I disagreed on the particulars). I feel like we've really lost something. I suppose the regular meetings thing exists today with most clubs, but clubs are way more niche -- it used to be that the whole village got together every week. Though I suppose the same was true (weekly meetings in a town hall) of Viking society before Christianization.
  - theplumber 5y ago
    >>it used to be that the whole village got together every week It'a a good thing until you end-up being excluded from that big community which means excluded any kind of social life or even worse(i.e killed with stones). I say: good riddance of that kind of community! More niche communities are better because you have more choices and less powerful community leaders.
    - jimbokun 5y ago
      You can be ostracized from those other communities just as easily.
      - nnf 5y ago
        Sure, but the point is that they’re niche, so if you get ostracized from one, you can seek other communities. It doesn’t work that way if there’s just one community in your village.
TigeriusKirk 5y ago
Are those needs being met, though? Or is there just now a deficit in those areas?
- hallway_monitor 5y ago
  There's definitely a deficit. It's pretty hard to have shared beliefs unless they are the table stakes. It would be great to have an organization that provided community, charity etc but it's hard these days to get people to agree on anything. I've thought about starting a new church and calling it something like the Church of Jesus Christ, Storybook Character. Keep the life lessons, dump the strained interpretation as non-fiction. Not sure how it would work out in practice.
lolthishuman 5y ago
You’re kind of missing the whole point. It’s about the psychic epiphany of the divinity. This epiphany is the root of magic and cults, which then develops into the sacred mysteries and the herds that follow. Despite the religious veneer that has a poor taste in the zeitgeist of today; there are deep spiritual roots that are the essence of both spirituality and science.
betterunix2 5y ago
I would suggest that it may be more related to the declining birthrate. Having just had a second child, I can say that kids have made me more active in my local religious institution, and I have observed the same among other friends with kids. I suspect that many people wander back to their childhood religion once they have kids, especially if their major cultural events are at least nominally religious (e.g. Christmas).
- throwawaygal7 5y ago
  There's something to holding a child. I look at Israel as an example. The ultra orthodox have exploded as a percentage of the population and together with conservative Jewry have completely dominated secular Israel- it's clear that demographic trends (if they continue as they have for 70 years) mean that fundamentalist religious perspectives will dominate Israeli culture and life for the foreseeable future. Similarly the Amish and Mormons are quietly taking over vast territories. I think it can be said that only moderate forms of religion are at risk of extinction.
manquer 5y ago
Peer Pressure / persecution/ discrimination I would say is up there is why people identified with some religion ? For modern example Scientology in Hollywood you maybe discriminated against or atheism during McCarthy post war period you would be persecuted or killed if you were jew in Nazi Germany. While by no means completely eliminated, we have kind of gone from genocide -> persecution -> discrimination, so more people are comfortable identifying what they really feel. The discrimination is still strong, today it is almost unimaginable to elect an explicitly atheist president. Being gay/woman/non-white a candidate would face probably lesser discrimination for presidency than not identifying Christian even if they don't practice in meaningful way like say Trump, also being more devout seem to give no advantage either, but not identifying as Christian seems big challenge for office.
fernly 5y ago
I'll take the opportunity to self-promote my book[0], which is subtitled, "Plundering religion to benefit the Nones", and addresses precisely these points! I'd only add to your list, * Shared rituals to structure and celebrate life's mileposts * An array of moral role models [0] https://leanpub.com/tothrivebeyondbelief https://leanpub.com/tothrivebeyondbelief
nitwit005 5y ago
That's more of a description of why Christianity is popular. Not every religion was big on charity, had a happy afterlife, or even particularly ethical gods. I suspect a lot of the appeal is that people want some explanation for things, and the idea that anyone is running the show is comforting.
- mbfg 5y ago
  Is the Christian god (as portrayed by the bible) ethical? Seemingly allowed or encouraged Sex Slaves of young girls Slaves in general, and beating/tormenting them Killing women for having sex out of marriage Killing children for being unruly Killing people for believing other gods Forcing rape victims to marry their rapists Hatred of Gay people

caser 5y ago

This is on point! I’ve written about this a bunch here: humanmissives.com And hosted a conference on it here: summit.opendiv.org Just thought I’d share — may give you some additional academic perspective!

darth_avocado 5y ago

Or that the religion stopped providing that community for a lot of people and they found it elsewhere.

mensetmanusman 5y ago
They may have found the illusion of it on social media :) hence the loneliness crisis.
- darth_avocado 5y ago
  For a lot of people that are marginalized by the communities they were born into, I’d say the illusion is still better. Assuming they haven’t actually found communities that accepts them that is.
jimbokun 5y ago
Nothing replaced it. Community is largely nonexistent for many people today.
tsol 5y ago
>religion Why say 'religion' when they mean 'Christianity'? I don't think Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, or Shintoism are suffering these problems-- in fact most people aren't even familiar with the daily practice of them. It's Christianity that you're actually taking offense to
- darth_avocado 5y ago
  What are you smoking? Islam, Hinduism and pretty much all religions face similar problems. Which religion in the world doesn’t exclude people for being different? Last I checked even Scientologists chastise people for not being true believers. It’s not Christianity I’m taking offense to.

jjcon 5y ago

As one of these unaffiliated I actually think it is kind of sad in some ways that religion is so tied to shared origin stories (of earth, mankind etc) because I want many of the other things religion offers in my life: community, philosophizing about the big questions, shared guidelines on how to live a good life etc etc. It just so happens I don't believe in much of a god so it is hard to participate. We figured out that many of the origin stories were incorrect so we tossed the whole thing without replacing the actually crucial components.

andai 5y ago
I spent a few weeks living with religious relatives. While it wasn't really my thing, I was impressed by how it brings the community together (they met twice a week) and by the heavy emphasis on morality (even if I disagreed on the particulars). I feel like we've really lost something. I suppose the regular meetings thing exists today with most clubs, but clubs are way more niche -- it used to be that the whole village got together every week. Though I suppose the same was true (weekly meetings in a town hall) of Viking society before Christianization.
- theplumber 5y ago
  >>it used to be that the whole village got together every week It'a a good thing until you end-up being excluded from that big community which means excluded any kind of social life or even worse(i.e killed with stones). I say: good riddance of that kind of community! More niche communities are better because you have more choices and less powerful community leaders.
  - jimbokun 5y ago
    You can be ostracized from those other communities just as easily.
    - nnf 5y ago
      Sure, but the point is that they’re niche, so if you get ostracized from one, you can seek other communities. It doesn’t work that way if there’s just one community in your village.

TigeriusKirk 5y ago

Are those needs being met, though? Or is there just now a deficit in those areas?

hallway_monitor 5y ago
There's definitely a deficit. It's pretty hard to have shared beliefs unless they are the table stakes. It would be great to have an organization that provided community, charity etc but it's hard these days to get people to agree on anything. I've thought about starting a new church and calling it something like the Church of Jesus Christ, Storybook Character. Keep the life lessons, dump the strained interpretation as non-fiction. Not sure how it would work out in practice.

lolthishuman 5y ago

You’re kind of missing the whole point. It’s about the psychic epiphany of the divinity. This epiphany is the root of magic and cults, which then develops into the sacred mysteries and the herds that follow. Despite the religious veneer that has a poor taste in the zeitgeist of today; there are deep spiritual roots that are the essence of both spirituality and science.

betterunix2 5y ago

I would suggest that it may be more related to the declining birthrate. Having just had a second child, I can say that kids have made me more active in my local religious institution, and I have observed the same among other friends with kids. I suspect that many people wander back to their childhood religion once they have kids, especially if their major cultural events are at least nominally religious (e.g. Christmas).

throwawaygal7 5y ago
There's something to holding a child. I look at Israel as an example. The ultra orthodox have exploded as a percentage of the population and together with conservative Jewry have completely dominated secular Israel- it's clear that demographic trends (if they continue as they have for 70 years) mean that fundamentalist religious perspectives will dominate Israeli culture and life for the foreseeable future. Similarly the Amish and Mormons are quietly taking over vast territories. I think it can be said that only moderate forms of religion are at risk of extinction.

manquer 5y ago

Peer Pressure / persecution/ discrimination I would say is up there is why people identified with some religion ? For modern example Scientology in Hollywood you maybe discriminated against or atheism during McCarthy post war period you would be persecuted or killed if you were jew in Nazi Germany. While by no means completely eliminated, we have kind of gone from genocide -> persecution -> discrimination, so more people are comfortable identifying what they really feel. The discrimination is still strong, today it is almost unimaginable to elect an explicitly atheist president. Being gay/woman/non-white a candidate would face probably lesser discrimination for presidency than not identifying Christian even if they don't practice in meaningful way like say Trump, also being more devout seem to give no advantage either, but not identifying as Christian seems big challenge for office.

fernly 5y ago

I'll take the opportunity to self-promote my book[0], which is subtitled, "Plundering religion to benefit the Nones", and addresses precisely these points! I'd only add to your list, * Shared rituals to structure and celebrate life's mileposts * An array of moral role models [0] https://leanpub.com/tothrivebeyondbelief https://leanpub.com/tothrivebeyondbelief

nitwit005 5y ago

That's more of a description of why Christianity is popular. Not every religion was big on charity, had a happy afterlife, or even particularly ethical gods. I suspect a lot of the appeal is that people want some explanation for things, and the idea that anyone is running the show is comforting.

mbfg 5y ago
Is the Christian god (as portrayed by the bible) ethical? Seemingly allowed or encouraged Sex Slaves of young girls Slaves in general, and beating/tormenting them Killing women for having sex out of marriage Killing children for being unruly Killing people for believing other gods Forcing rape victims to marry their rapists Hatred of Gay people