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AI hopefully becomes the shark that the internet jumps and people get back to being human and living in the real world without their faces glued to a 6” screen

monero-xmr 2y ago
The amount of 18 to 30 year olds who have joined my (American, blue state, large city) church in the last 5 years is huge, and we have the statistics to prove it. The conversion classes are also 2x, from 5 to 10 from 2000 through 2020 to 19 in this year's class. The private school attached to my church has doubled pre-K through grade 2 and we are now doubling each grade's size as the kids continue. My city spends over $30k per year per public school student and enrollment was collapsing until it was flooded with the children of immigrants last year and this. We charge $11k per student and the parents are overwhelmingly lower and middle class, because the education is superior in every measurable metric (we do give free and discounted tuition to those that need it). Counter-cultural awakening of the next generation is happening, at least here.
- Legend2440 2y ago
  Your specific church may be growing. Church membership as a whole is falling, and has been for decades.
  - monero-xmr 2y ago
    I would wait and see, society-wide changes that disagree with the mainstream dogma appear in popular press years after it happens
    - HeatrayEnjoyer 2y ago
      Hard statistics aren't dogma. Church isn't counterculture either.
      - Thorrez 2y ago
        I guess it depends on the definition of counterculture. 20% of Americans attend church every week. 57% of Americans seldom or never attend religious service. https://www.churchtrac.com/articles/the-state-of-church-attendance-trends-and-statistics-2023 https://www.churchtrac.com/articles/the-state-of-church-atte...
      - NeutralCrane 2y ago
        I guess it depends on exactly what you define as counter culture. If it’d just identifying as having some kind of religious affiliation with no actual participation or beliefs, then it’s not counter culture but is getting close. If it’s actually participating and actively attending religious services, it is absolutely counter-culture.
        tavavex 2y ago
        I think that a reasonable definition of counterculture is moving against the dominant culture, rather than just doing something uncommon. And if this is it, it absolutely can't be defined as counterculture. Look at a country as religious as the US - even if it's seemingly getting barely less religious than before, the dominant culture is absolutely run by religion. A political candidate, let alone a presidential candidate who's openly non-religious would almost always be seen as an abhorrent non-starter. Public servants swear on Bibles and school children recite a mantra to prove their belief in a "nation under God". Basically the entire ideological landscape is run by religion, from the issues that people talk about to the stances they take on them. You don't even have to be religious to be influenced by all this. It doesn't really matter if a believer is committed enough to go to a church, all of them are contributing at least a little bit. And then, just as my own unrelated opinion... the thing we associate with counterculture was always a radical disregard for arbitrary standards, an ability to pinpoint and reject the things in the world that are unjustly enforced by society. In that way, doing anything religious can never be counterculture - how can you envision a rebel with a capacity to question everything wholeheartedly believing a system of preconceived dogma?
        monero-xmr 2y ago
- antifa 2y ago
  In the US, "going to church" is about the least counter cultural thing you can do.

monero-xmr 2y ago

The amount of 18 to 30 year olds who have joined my (American, blue state, large city) church in the last 5 years is huge, and we have the statistics to prove it. The conversion classes are also 2x, from 5 to 10 from 2000 through 2020 to 19 in this year's class. The private school attached to my church has doubled pre-K through grade 2 and we are now doubling each grade's size as the kids continue. My city spends over $30k per year per public school student and enrollment was collapsing until it was flooded with the children of immigrants last year and this. We charge $11k per student and the parents are overwhelmingly lower and middle class, because the education is superior in every measurable metric (we do give free and discounted tuition to those that need it). Counter-cultural awakening of the next generation is happening, at least here.

Legend2440 2y ago
Your specific church may be growing. Church membership as a whole is falling, and has been for decades.
- monero-xmr 2y ago
  I would wait and see, society-wide changes that disagree with the mainstream dogma appear in popular press years after it happens
  - HeatrayEnjoyer 2y ago
    Hard statistics aren't dogma. Church isn't counterculture either.
    - Thorrez 2y ago
      I guess it depends on the definition of counterculture. 20% of Americans attend church every week. 57% of Americans seldom or never attend religious service. https://www.churchtrac.com/articles/the-state-of-church-attendance-trends-and-statistics-2023 https://www.churchtrac.com/articles/the-state-of-church-atte...
    - NeutralCrane 2y ago
      I guess it depends on exactly what you define as counter culture. If it’d just identifying as having some kind of religious affiliation with no actual participation or beliefs, then it’s not counter culture but is getting close. If it’s actually participating and actively attending religious services, it is absolutely counter-culture.
      - tavavex 2y ago
        I think that a reasonable definition of counterculture is moving against the dominant culture, rather than just doing something uncommon. And if this is it, it absolutely can't be defined as counterculture. Look at a country as religious as the US - even if it's seemingly getting barely less religious than before, the dominant culture is absolutely run by religion. A political candidate, let alone a presidential candidate who's openly non-religious would almost always be seen as an abhorrent non-starter. Public servants swear on Bibles and school children recite a mantra to prove their belief in a "nation under God". Basically the entire ideological landscape is run by religion, from the issues that people talk about to the stances they take on them. You don't even have to be religious to be influenced by all this. It doesn't really matter if a believer is committed enough to go to a church, all of them are contributing at least a little bit. And then, just as my own unrelated opinion... the thing we associate with counterculture was always a radical disregard for arbitrary standards, an ability to pinpoint and reject the things in the world that are unjustly enforced by society. In that way, doing anything religious can never be counterculture - how can you envision a rebel with a capacity to question everything wholeheartedly believing a system of preconceived dogma?
        monero-xmr 2y ago
antifa 2y ago
In the US, "going to church" is about the least counter cultural thing you can do.