Will we have religion year 3000?

[Kadagar_AV]

Coming from Sweden, one of the most agnostic/atheistic countrys in the world (I believe), I find this question interesting.

Now, as the social climate in Sweden is rather, well, cold against religion, most religious people who come here stops believeing in whatever diety they used to. And even if they dont, the next generation will. This has led me to believe that a modern society can function well without dogma.

Christians, Muslims, and so on.

As science progress, religion seem to lose influence more and more, except for newer ones like New Age who gains supporters.

Thus, as the poll shows, the discussion is: Will there be religions around year 3000?

Oh, and please play nice...

This is not intended for religion-bashing, nor science bashing. But an open discussion:)

[ICantSpellDawg]

They'll be around. The beauty about unknowable answers and the seemingly infinite nature of the galaxy is that there is always another hiding spot for God. People crave hope and create religions out of anything - look at scientology, the Green movement, Peta, etc. They constantly seek superlatives. I'd be suprised to see Christianity or it's monotheistic compatriots die out. Hinduism and east asian spirituality I would bet against. I also wouldn't be suprised if we fell back into another dark age of sorts.

[seireikhaan]

They'll be around. The beauty about unknowable answers and the seemingly infinite nature of the galaxy is that there is always another hiding spot for God. People crave hope and create religions out of anything - look at scientology, the Green movement, Peta, etc. They constantly seek superlatives. I'd be suprised to see Christianity or it's monotheistic compatriots die out. Hinduism and east asian spirituality I would bet against. I also wouldn't be suprised if we fell back into another dark age of sorts.

Just out of curiosity; why do you bet against the eastern religions?

[LittleGrizzly]

People crave hope and create religions out of anything - look at scientology, the Green movement, Peta, etc.

Peta ?! the green movement ?! you may not like these organisations and believe that thier beliefs are based on faith rather than fact but having faith in something does not make it add up to religion, if religion counts as having faith in something (something other than a unprovable god) then religion will be around as long as humans aren't machines...

I think there will still be some form of religion around, but it will be much rarer and not along organised religion lines.... in other words much better...

[ICantSpellDawg]

Just out of curiosity; why do you bet against the eastern religions?

They are currently being supplanted, they are not always written down and they contain more knowable untruths. Judeo-Christianity shrouds itself in universal verbage, parables and figurative storytelling. It also promotes a selflessness that is reveared by the hearts of even the most cynical atheists who are frustrated by the organizational aspects of it. I think that it has the right mix of history, ethics, shadowed historical claims and followers to make it a main contender in the years to come. Plus it is true and the only way to God.

Another beautiful angle of this topic is that in the realm of non-scientific speculation - religion tends to win out. Plus - you asked for our opinions.

[LittleGrizzly]

I would have though that the fact christianity is an organised religion might turn people off it, all the downsides that come with organised religion, though i suppose on the other hand the organisation strives to sustain and grow itself, am i right in thinking hinduism and east asain spirituality are less organised ?

[Sasaki Kojiro]

New ones will spring up, the old ones will become old fashioned but some will like them because they are "authentic"

Eastern religions are popular because they are non-western and philosophy focused.

[Lemur]

I'd like to point out that by the year 3000 we will be in direct, armed conflict with the minions of Lord Xenu. And we will be led by the thawed-out, re-animated head of Tom Cruise.

[Koga No Goshi]

Would we really count "causes", even very passionate ones, as religions? I don't really think it quite fits. (This inre: there will always be groups like Peta, etc.)

[ICantSpellDawg]

Would we really count "causes", even very passionate ones, as religions? I don't really think it quite fits. (This inre: there will always be groups like Peta, etc.)

I wouldn't be suprised if they transform into religions. The most absurd spiritual nutters that I have ever met happen to be "people of the earth" and newage people associated with animal rights groups.

[Samurai Waki]

No. I don't think humanity will survive the next 1000, or if we do, we'll be something entirely different. Rise of the machines and all that.

[CountArach]

Christianity is too large, established and wide-spread to completely die out. New religions will spring up (Look at Scientology for example) in addition to this. However, I think that the trend towards wide-spread Atheism/Agnosticism will continue and the vast majority will have no religion.

[Sigurd]

Christianity is too large, established and wide-spread to completely die out. New religions will spring up (Look at Scientology for example) in addition to this. However, I think that the trend towards wide-spread Atheism/Agnosticism will continue and the vast majority will have no religion.

I think that if the second coming of Christ hasn't happened yet by 3000 A.D, Christianity would be made up by small sects.
If Christianity is the universal correct religion, we are all living on a paradisaical earth by then.

[Kralizec]

I'm sure there will always be marginalized cults like scientology, but I honestly wouldn't dare to guess wether religion would be such a massive social phenomenon 1000 years from now.

[Husar]

If Christianity is the universal correct religion, we are all living on a paradisaical earth by then.

Or in the fiery pits of hell.

[Viking]

Other: impossible to tell. What's a religion? It's a rather relative thing; and, even if we define the word 'religion' to be the biggest religions in the world as of today, how on Earth could we know?

[Hooahguy]

judaism will keep going on forever....
we survived thousands of years anyways.....
whats another thousand to us?

[macsen rufus]

Judeo-Christianity shrouds itself in universal verbage, parables and figurative storytelling. It also promotes a selflessness that is reveared by the hearts of even the most cynical atheists who are frustrated by the organizational aspects of it. I think that it has the right mix of history, ethics, shadowed historical claims and followers to make it a main contender in the years to come. Plus it is true and the only way to God.

But WHICH Christianity is the "only" one?

Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, Mennonite, Baptist, Seventh Day Adventist, Presbyterian, Quaker, Anglican, Pentecostal, Anabaptist, Mormon, Anglo-Catholic, Methodist, Lutheran, Celtic, Shaker, Coptic, Jehovah's Witness, Christian Science, Amish, Assyrian....

or one of the other churches that doesn't trip off the tip of my tongue?

Personally I expect this tendency to schism will multiply in the coming years. Hard times have a habit of breeding millenial cults and I think these will flourish as people look for scapegoats and salvation in equal measure. I also believe the eastern traditions will hold on well, many are essentially atheistic due to their very different conception of God, and will be less prone to apostasy in the face of "abandonment" by God.

But after another 1000 years, that is just too long a window to guess really. Depends how far we fall in the meantime.

[Lemur]

Don't you idiots realize that by the year 3000 we will all be kneeling before Zod?

[ICantSpellDawg]

But WHICH Christianity is the "only" one?

Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, Mennonite, Baptist, Seventh Day Adventist, Presbyterian, Quaker, Anglican, Pentecostal, Anabaptist, Mormon, Anglo-Catholic, Methodist, Lutheran, Celtic, Shaker, Coptic, Jehovah's Witness, Christian Science, Amish, Assyrian....

or one of the other churches that doesn't trip off the tip of my tongue?

Personally I expect this tendency to schism will multiply in the coming years. Hard times have a habit of breeding millenial cults and I think these will flourish as people look for scapegoats and salvation in equal measure. I also believe the eastern traditions will hold on well, many are essentially atheistic due to their very different conception of God, and will be less prone to apostasy in the face of "abandonment" by God.

But after another 1000 years, that is just too long a window to guess really. Depends how far we fall in the meantime.

I think that the tendency toward schism will both increase and decrease. I see a more widespread return to Roman Catholicism for those in similar faiths - like High Church Anglicans, real presence Lutherans and some eastern rite catholics that have not yet resumed links to Rome. On the other hand I think that there will be more schism among the already schismatic churches and smaller denominations. Among these schisms will be those like in Unitarianism where many congregations rejected christianity. An outright rejection of faith will continue, but I don't see it happening in an avalanche.

I see smaller christian groups that are highly dogmatic as being the big losers - both to high church practices or heresy. The churches with less dogmatism will become more universalist in scope and reject christianity as anything other than a philosophical outlook.

[Rhyfelwyr]

TuffStuff we are told that during that during the falling away period the true Christians (the elect) will be driven out from the established churches (which will all commit abominations such as introducing homosexual clergy etc), but God will give them strength as they are persectued.

I do believe the apocalypse will come well before 1,000 years have passed, although not as soon as some others think, I'm not really into date-setting.

But WHICH Christianity is the "only" one?

Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, Mennonite, Baptist, Seventh Day Adventist, Presbyterian, Quaker, Anglican, Pentecostal, Anabaptist, Mormon, Anglo-Catholic, Methodist, Lutheran, Celtic, Shaker, Coptic, Jehovah's Witness, Christian Science, Amish, Assyrian....

or one of the other churches that doesn't trip off the tip of my tongue?

For all we know no denomination could hold the correct interpretation of the Bible right now. But nearly all the one's you listed above will get you into Heaven if you follow them truly. Also Mennonites are Anabaptists BTW.

[Caius]

We won't make it. The CERN project will lead us to death in some years.

[Koga No Goshi]

TuffStuff we are told that during that during the falling away period the true Christians (the elect) will be driven out from the established churches (which will all commit abominations such as introducing homosexual clergy etc)

Oh man, seriously, do you believe this is new? Ask someone who has worked in seminaries for a long time and they will tell you it's not. And there's a reason. What's easier for a gay man to give up than sex with women? The priesthood has probably been a social shunt for gay people throughout most of the Church's history.

[Rhyfelwyr]

Oh man, seriously, do you believe this is new? Ask someone who has worked in seminaries for a long time and they will tell you it's not. And there's a reason. What's easier for a gay man to give up than sex with women? The priesthood has probably been a social shunt for gay people throughout most of the Church's history.

I mean an open acceptance of homosexual clergy. In any case, what you say is irrelevant to the Protestant churches which are allowing this to happen, since most of them don't practise clerical celibacy anyway.

[KarlXII]

Coming from Sweden, one of the most agnostic/atheistic countrys in the world (I believe), I find this question interesting.

Now, as the social climate in Sweden is rather, well, cold against religion, most religious people who come here stops believeing in whatever diety they used to. And even if they dont, the next generation will. This has led me to believe that a modern society can function well without dogma.

I've found that Sweden has quite more agnostics than athiests. In my time living there, I've met more "Well, it's very well possible God exists, but I can't just base that off a book" than "No God." kind of people. Of course, as is with most Western nations, it depends on where you live. Stockholm was always less religious than say, Gothenburg, where I've lived and found quite an amount of religious followers there.

[Koga No Goshi]

I mean an open acceptance of homosexual clergy. In any case, what you say is irrelevant to the Protestant churches which are allowing this to happen, since most of them don't practise clerical celibacy anyway.

Well I read what you said about the elect and such.... and I've read the Bible and I don't believe there's a Biblical basis for it. All the Bible says is that a majority will be misled into false religion and false prophets. And that true elect will be a minority. I would say, if you define the true elect as people who really follow the teachings and such of Christ, they are already a minority who mostly don't go to church and probably have been for quite some time.

[Hosakawa Tito]

Hopefully we make out better than Charleton Heston did...but some form/forms of religion have been with the human species since time out of mind.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[KukriKhan]

So, we're asked to look forward 40 generations. Maybe looking backwards 40 generations would be instructive world events in 1008. A pretty rough period, even though they didn't have nukes, or credit market meltdowns. :)

Given our species' tendancy to move from generalist to specialist, I'd guess that yes, religion will exist in 3008, but look (to us, if we could trvel forward in time) a lot more cultish - religions with 20 or so followers, rubbing shoulders with other close-but-not-identical religions of 100 people, and so on.

Unless some verifiable miracle-worker becomes widely known. Then, maybe a more universal religion would prevail.

Either way, I'd be surprised to discover, in 3008, a still-standing Catholic, Lutheran, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, or even animist formal religion.

[Strike For The South]

I think that the tendency toward schism will both increase and decrease. I see a more widespread return to Roman Catholicism for those in similar faiths - like High Church Anglicans, real presence Lutherans and some eastern rite catholics that have not yet resumed links to Rome. On the other hand I think that there will be more schism among the already schismatic churches and smaller denominations. Among these schisms will be those like in Unitarianism where many congregations rejected christianity. An outright rejection of faith will continue, but I don't see it happening in an avalanche.

I see smaller christian groups that are highly dogmatic as being the big losers - both to high church practices or heresy. The churches with less dogmatism will become more universalist in scope and reject christianity as anything other than a philosophical outlook.

OH YEA! Well I think there will be no more Catholics. Long live the Baptists!!!! HAHAAHHAAHAHAH

[Kadagar_AV]

Swedishfish,

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

we just had a poll in our biggest newspaper, the question was "is it ok for politicians to be openly religious"
7% answered yes
68% answered no, they should be atheists or keep it from public view
25% answered they dont care

I know this poll was not "spot on" this topic, but should give a hint:)

Indeed we have more agnostics than atheists, but it's very hard to say who is what.

Me as an example, I do believe in a greater than human "will", however, I do not put much faith in a 2000 year old (and revised) book.

Does this make me a atheist or a agnostic? Depends on the view of "god" I guess:)

Tuff,

Judeo-Christianity shrouds itself in universal verbage, parables and figurative storytelling. It also promotes a selflessness that is reveared by the hearts of even the most cynical atheists who are frustrated by the organizational aspects of it. I think that it has the right mix of history, ethics, shadowed historical claims and followers to make it a main contender in the years to come. Plus it is true and the only way to God.

Isnt it just a liiiiittle but assumptious to claim it is "true". Also, how can you be sure it is the only way to a hypothetical god? As an example, a buddhist monk living a 100% good life, not hurting anyone and doing his best to make the world a better place... Would he be condemned to a hypothetical hell, cause he is of the "wrong" religion in your eyes?