I’ve been embracing a huge paradigm shift in my life recently as I’ve denounced my faith completely. Something that has really stood out to me is how I’m able to switch lenses from the viewpoints of a believer and nonbeliever.
It’s like getting red pilled in the Matrix. You begin to see how strange Christianity is from the other side of the fence. Especially the “dependence” on God aspect (relying on him to provide, heal, restore). In my experience there’s no evidence of this ever happening. Every testimony or statement has such loose ends baseless claims without any evidence. Eventually people are gonna have to catch on right??
I’m wondering on anyone’s thoughts of how we’ll develop as a society over time. I feel like eventually religion will come to an end? Generally I feel like the depth of belief is getting more and more shallow as technology and medicine progress. Thoughts?
I tried to be brief and direct with my perspective so I’m sure there are some things I could expound on but let’s run with this for now. Thanks for reading!
No. People who can't handle the truth that their God isn't real, it's like they shut down and can't handle it, it thrives on fear which people will never escape from. It took me years to figure out what to really do and what all this means and I don't think any Christian with no prior way of thinking this way is necessarily ready or even able to. Since it's like their minds are so stuck in a way of thinking it's like it just glitches and they run back out of fear. I think of it as really pathetic as they defend this cancer of a religion when it thrives on being just like a toxic ex, quoting scriptures they never read and following it religiously even though they have no idea what they're reading. And don't even know what the 1st Bible was or the original one as you can say before they were destroyed, it's a cancer really.
This is all just personal experience here, but I worked directly with teens in youth group for years. It’s obvious to tell which ones were just there because it’s what they were told. Many have hardly opened up the Bible themselves. Most just get blasted by the hype experience of youth conferences and cheap methods to keep kids around. Snacks, concerts disguised as worship, games, none of which ever have anything to do with biblical practices or teachings. Many kids are just there because their parents are involved in some way or they have a crush on someone. Sure, some will still grow to believe all the things, but I feel like the trajectory of the next wave of Christians is going to be slightly less convinced each time.
I feel like more and more will end up on subs like these someday. Sure it may just take a new face with the next generation but I wonder if it’ll ever hit a big drop off somewhere in time. Even in hundred of years.
I think with the growing amount of information, kids are less inclined to believe all the crap a power message could’ve done to a group of 90’s kids. They’ve been exposed to a lot more in a much shorter time frame. I think that’s gonna work against Christianity over more time.
Look at what is happening with maga Gen Zers. They are getting more conservative and Christian. Society goes in circles, not straight lines. We go through enlightenments and dark ages and we are entering a dark age now with anti-intellectualism taking hold and people using religion to oppress others more.
Exactly that has caused many to wake up yet even when you introduce facts to them, like how they don't follow the original and how they have been introduced a watered down with ideas never even in the 1st bibles, or even the conversation that a god that kills, and demands praise or he will send you to hell isn't a god worth praise and more of a, energy leecher, and even how the god of the bible is the "devil" as it directly goes against what Jesus really said, Jesus didn't want a religion just like Buddha didn't want one, and even that people don't even call him by his right name but a Greek white name given to him after hundreds of years, I mean how disrespectful is that? They actively contribute to the system he despised and was killed for, because you don't get killed for creating a church but for going against it. And then created a whole new one based on him, base a holiday of orgies and bunnies as his death day then hundreds of years later people celebrate it. Give him a name not even his,then have people pray and praise him when he never wanted that. Buddha too, the audacity of Buddhism is crazy. But when I bring this all up Its like their brain glitches and they can't handle it and just revert back to, "but Jesus said if I let him in my heart I'll be let into heaven", fucking pathetic and makes me so angry, even had a friend learn his Bible from chatgpt, I think of it as pathetic since you need to feel a need to fit in and or too scared to think for yourself but I'm trying to learn but it's so hard to not get mad.
Former Christian here who was never introduced to any prior way of thinking, mostly. I wasn't in America though and while I went to a Christian based school and had lots of church activities, I did have parents who applied different rules to non-christian friends (we were allowed to have them for the purpose of witnessing though that was never directly told to us because they wanted us to appear genuine but I did have friends who weren't allowed to have non-christian friends) so that possibly helped.
Getting a non-christian education in university and moving out of home at 18 was vital to opening me up to being okay with myself having different ways of thinking. Prior to that I thought that it was okay for non-christians to think a certain way but Christians had to think a certain way and I always felt guilty for thinking slightly differently.
Still I held on for quite some time. I do believe it's possible for people with lack of other ways of thinking prior to change, but it's harder. I think moving out of your own culture can really help.
I think if you have a good sense of reason, logical processing, and people reading skills; suffering will bring many to a place of realization. If you go through enough challenges with these traits I think eventually a correlation to Gods inaction of doing what scripture and others describe might begin the process. Being close with other believers and seeing how they just pull shit outta thin air and say it was God when you’re already doubting could at least start it.
It’s not the only way, but a likely one. And of course there’s going to be varying levels of mental turmoil per person that may just chalk it up to faithlessness and choose to push past reason.
100%
And the fact that the Bible is written in such an ambiguous fashion that people can interpret it in any way that they see fit is just preposterous. A just God would have had his word written in a clear, precise manner so that it would be clearly understood and easily followed. What’s with all the food prohibitions when it would have been much more beneficial to mankind if God had instructed about personal cleanliness and the need for avoiding germs and bacteria, things that are never mentioned in the Bible anywhere.
Christianity will continue to exist for a very long time. Perhaps forever.
But what is noticeable is that churches in the West are losing members overall and people are becoming less religious (less or no prayer, fewer or no visits to church).
At the same time, fundamentalist forces are becoming stronger, or at least louder. Nationalist Christians like Charlie Kirk have been declared martyrs.
Yeah, it’s bizarre to see political figures use religion as leverage. I think this is a big reason it will prevail in one form or another is the amount of passive control it provides over people.
I don’t think that Christianity will last, like all the Greek Gods that lasted thousands of years people finally tired of them and made new Gods. The same will happen to Christianity
pre-christian religions didn’t just wither up and die. that is christian propaganda. they were ruthlessly persecuted out of existence by christians after they came into political power. if Christianity ever comes to an end it will be by the same means.
Don't tempt me with a good time.
The main thing I want to shut up is the control freaks
Honestly. I’m a very hands off type of person and I understand a parents desire to protect their kids. But Christianity seems to attract a very specific type of over protective controlling parent.
Iv spent my life arguing against the delusional superstition of Christianity. Its been deeply satisfying to see and find that more people then I expected were able to step out if the insanity pushed onto them as children.
From my perspective its only a matter of time for Christianity to be actively pushed against by mainstream society and government as the absurdity and harmful system of minupulated grooming.
Hell yeah, one of the first comments thinking it might fade out lol.
Its inherently abusive. Its harmful. It teaches shame self hatred and that humanity isn't worthy of respect with self abasement to a space fairy.
Its fucking insane bullshit. And you have to be fucking stupid to think magical invisible eyeball beings fly around and interfere in people's lives...
But hey fear and child hood brainwashing is digusting.
I feel the same way now, but I also realize indoctrination is very real. Pressure to perform, fear of losing community, judgement from others, and many other factors solidify a churchy lifestyle from day 1. I agree, it is all insane bullshit. If you’re lucky as a kid you might get out early or already have parents far from it.
My suspicion began through people. It was how unconvinced people were in what they did, especially through my peers as a child. It was just learned behavior. My friend and I always called people out on pretending to just mimic what they saw an adult do. You could tell they just made it up when God spoke to them. It was also such correlated and traceable event to whatever was being shared at the time. It wasn’t until later in life did I actually explore the Bible and realize it was all crap. A lot of people in this sub carry hella damage from religion, myself included. So many young people in this sub who don’t believe but are still forced into a lifestyle that reflects it.
There’s an Optimus Prime quote I love when the auto bots are debating whether to help the humans and he responds “were we so different?”
It took me a very long time to finally stop believing there was a God. And it came with a lot of confusion and challenge and still does. It’s cutting through generations of bullshit for many. I imagine there are people who stopped long ago but can’t admit to the family or close people without seriously fucking some things up. It’s sad but practicality and convenience often overrides truth. How convenient is it to just dump everything into the “it’s in Gods hand now” camp.
Its designed to spread as well as crush independent thought once inside. It will probably always exist in one form or another.
Yep. It will continue to exist in one form or in another (merging with other religions, the equivalent of Puritans living isolated of the world and of course irredeemable Fundies, etc.), perhaps as long as mankind exists. It's one advantage it has being based on a printed book unlike so many forms of Paganism lost due to the lack of contemporary written records, and especially that it's so merged with Western culture.
Same as religion minus the last part.
Christianity is on an inevitable path to becoming a minority religion in the West, and in the world as a whole.
It will survive, it will change and adapt, but it will not be the same in fifty years as it is now, or that it was fifty years ago. The peak of its power has come and gone, and here in the states, we are seeing the last desperate acts of a religion accustomed to holding power trying to keep hold of it, but all it's doing is accelerating the process.
I think this is the response I agree with the most so far. It’s not an ultimatum of yes it will exist or no it won’t, but rather it’ll devolve from where it once was to something ideally much less influential. I agree.
The only that is constant is change, or so they say
Not sure about the rest of the world, but in the USA I think it is morphing into something unrecognizable to early Christians, with the decades long American Evangelical movement
Faith and logic cannot cancel each other
A true believer (has faith due to emotions and attachment) won’t stop believing no matter how good our arguments are, neither us are gonna believe due to faith.
The only way a true believer can stop being so is due to emotions, and the only way we could believe is due to facts (if they existed).
Faith doesn’t need facts, neither facts need faith.
Most believers think many things in their lives come from God, they really feel calmer thinking and “communicating” with him, they’re convinced of it, no fact is changing their mind.
Thomas Aquina once said faith can never comprehend God, but can a proximate, but i see it kind of differently; We can never get to the shore (truth), so if we don’t know what the (truth) shore is, how do we know we’re close to it; why would we want to bring other into our beliefs, whatever they are, if we don’t know if we’re right? We think we are headed in the right direction, but that’s what we feel, every individual should be free of going the direction they want based on their knowledge, emotional state and their experiences.
To all things there is an end. Will Christianity last? Probably, but certainly not in its current form. Its hegemonic dominance can’t and won’t last. A certain kingdom once existed in one form or another for millennia before Nebuchadnezzar’s swords finally put an end to it. History can and does repeat itself.
More and more people are leaving the religion in the United States. The data is undeniable and they know it. The Christian Nationalists’ hateful noise is the snarling and bared teeth of a cornered and outnumbered animal that’s about to be devoured by some very pissed off enemies. It’s the extinction burst before the great silence. The world is long overdue for an extended break from the Abrahamic religions.
I think it will. It is a very resilient virus.
It’s made it pretty far. I can definitely see how it’s such an attractive thing. It offers answers to questions even if they’re not true. That’ll always be something people desire.
It feeds on very basic human emotions, wrapped up in pseudo intellectual language. It's truly an abomination and I wish it nothing but total eradication.
I don’t think big mega churches or organized religion in general is going anywhere fast. It might transform, but there will be believers as long as there are people. Religion is a big part of human society. I’m an atheist, but I can see what other people get out of it.
As long as humanity will need hope it will always exist.
I now see Christianity as a pyramid scheme. There are those that truly believe what the pastor-peacher-teacher presents as the Truth and those that use the religion to scam others.
I've lived long enough and recognize that the "Truth" of the scriptures constantly changes. But what doesn't change is tithes and offering, cash flow.
Another aspect that will always exist in Christianity is abuse. Blanket forgiveness leads to cover-ups. r/pastorarrested is the tip of the iceberg.
While the creationists deny evolution, Christianity is constantly evolving, splitting into tens of thousands of distinct sects, cults, denominations and independent churches.
Last, the brotherhood and church family fail more often than they pull together. They are quick to call your troubles "sin" and you a "sinner" than support you in your time of trouble. They hand you off to your problem with a prayer, "God will provide" and go on their way..
If it carries political weight against opposition/countries, then yes
There are two elements at play here. One is society at large wanting to have some assurance of a greater "good" watching over us and acting as the ultimate judge to compensate for the injustice that everyone sees around them. Science, rationality, and critical thinking is not going to get them there.
The second (and in my opinion more important) element is people who crave power and control, and religion is a great tool to attain that power and control (as it can be seen in the U.S. these days)
Unpopular opinion: It may take multiple decades, but eventually christianity will be OK with the LGBTQ+ community, and christianity will be OK with abortion, and greater equality among people. They will have to. Otherwise, as we are seeing nowadays, people will abandon the religion, and the people craving power and control will do whatever it takes to gain it back.
Religion is 100% man-made, and it will adapt with the times doing whatever it takes so that it always remains relevant, to continue attracting members (and money) for further control and manipulation.
Christianity and religions in general will probably always exist forever because of an evolutionary trait called Hyperactive Agency Detection Device (HADD) or Agency Detection along with Agenticity. So HADD is the thing that makes us hyper aware or alert to our environment to keep us safe or alive. Like when we are alone in a dark forest, but feel like something may be watching us or that a predator might in the dark despite not being able to see anything. This trait developed in humans and other animals because it better for survival to over detect than under detect dangers.
Agenticity is when we take those over detected stimuli and question or assign intention, purpose, or agency to them. So if we hear the creaking of the wood in our house and think it might be a burglar that is causing that sound.
So instead of just experiencing stuff, we assingn causal responsibility to some agent, be it "luck","burgler", or "God". Makes sense. Also with the fact that we hate being in a state of doubt, and we will make stuff up to end it.
Its like they need hope. And without their god they dont think hope can exist. It can, but its def harder for me now on that part. But i cant start believing in santa after i found out he wasnt real
We need to just keep schools secular and eventually within 3 generations they'd be a fringe minority. Lots of Christian kids in the new modern world don't buy it when they're exposed to ideas besides the Ten Commandments. They know this, why do you think the fuckery with schools goes on so often in the US?
“For the great enemy of truth is very often not the lie--deliberate, contrived and dishonest--but the myth--persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic.”
I was raised by deeply religious grandparents, and I can remember vaguely of being afraid of God as the Nazarene religion tends to use fear as a motivator more than the other religions in my personal view, but I was only 7 or 8 when I brought the question to church: Since the vast majority of Chinese people in China do not practice any religion, that means that they haven’t accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior, does that mean that all those millions of people are going to Hell? The answer of course was no, because they did not know about Jesus, so they are forgiven and allowed into Heaven. At that exact moment, at that young age, I realized what they were teaching me was a bunch of crock. I instantly became an atheist, and have been so ever since. Another bothersome thing with the religion, is that as science has progressed, the church initially rebukes the science findings, and when it becomes proven without a doubt, the church will change the scripture to match, for example, the earth being the center of the universe, Galileo spent his final years in prison for heresy because he taught that the earth rotates the sun, after it was proven beyond all doubt, the church also says that the earth rotates the sun, that doesn’t seem quite right. An all knowing God should have known that in the first place.
It's gone on for 2000 years. I don't think it's in its death throes. It's adaptable, hence, it will simply look different. But I don't think it's going away anytime soon.
The very open availability of different ideas will pose a challenge to any religious group going forward. When I was a child I needed some logical answers about God so naturally I went to my parents who shut me down and told me I was blaspheming so I continued to silence the questions coming to mind until I got older.
If I was a child during the Information Age I would have turned to the internet where I would be able to see other ideas. Access to the internet removes people from the closed mind bubble. At a minimum we might see watered down beliefs.
Indeed. Now even children have phones and can google "does god exist. Or is Christianity true."
Its not like the only information young people and kids today have access to is the information their parents or church offers them.
I remember when I was 14 and got my first laptop, in like 8th grade. I went bonkers googling every question I had about everything in existence that I didn't want to ask anyone else, like my parents.
To this day, I keep googling stuff. The history, science, philosophy, mythology and much more have informed me about why people believe what they believe and the basis for their beliefs. And there's such a broad range of theories, ideas, and concepts.. much more than the limited scope one gets from a particular kind of Christian denomination.
Like. I learned that the reason people believe that Jesus had to die on the cross was as a blood sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins is due to Judaic beliefs that God demanded blood sacrifices. Hence why Jews used to sacrifice animals to God. I also learned that this blood sacrifice culture to Gods, was something practiced by various ancient people in the levant to various gods, and not just in the levant, but in cultures across the world. Giving blood sacrifices to the Gods to gain riches, prosperity and wealth and well being was common across many cultures in the ancient world, not just the levant or levantine areas. For instance, he Aztec culture practiced blood sacrifices to the Gods as well, and those who were blood sacrificed would lead to a blessed afterlife. The earliest Christians were Jews, and they too believed in blood sacrifices to God. This is likely where we get the idea of Jesus as the final blood sacrifice to God comes from in Christianity.
The rabbithole goes deeper and deeper. Recently I've been watching mythvision on YouTube, an ex Christian debunking Christian myths and showing how the myths of the Jesus figure isn't exclusive to him, but was shared by other cultures and other god like figures, such as Dionysus, a Greek god. A god or deity that was connected to turning water into wine. A wine god. Some of the Lore in Christianity traces all the way back to the Egyptian gods, Sumeria or ancient mesopotamia and other ancient cultures, relics and writings that pre dates even Judaism as we know of it today, as Judaism before becoming Judaism wasnt monotheistic at all.
Judaism and Christianity didn't pop out of nowhere, but were built upon older lore. Lore that most Christians aren't even aware of. Because church doesn't teach the history of how the lore or myths was established, but the theology, or beliefs they have based upon the established lore or myths.
It's just absolutely wild. We definitely are lucky to live in the age of information.
From a research I've read (I forgot whose), people from most developed countries tend to rely less on religion in their everyday lives since hardships aren't on a scale too high to reflect on any kind of supernatural explanation. This has been evident in Scandinavian countries and Japan, where people are generally well off and majority are non-religious.
On the other hand, impoverished and developing countries tend to rely on religion to explain the hardships people are experiencing.
So I would say it would slowly die down in some areas of the world but still be strong in poor countries.
In a timeline on completely considering Christianity as a myth like Greek gods, it's hard to predict. It could go for a thousand years just by looking at the billions of believers.
I think the most likely scenario of it dying is if we die along with it, such as a mass extinction event either caused by the universe or human stupidity.
Sadly it will persist for a long, long time.
"Eventually people are gonna have to catch on right??"
Yes, *eventually*, but we're talking hundreds if not thousands of years. I see it dying a low death with a certain percentage of people holding on because of their family and community.
But it does appear to be dying by the number of church closings - 15,000 in 2025. Even Christians are very concerned.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Yt_xJmxS2w
It might not completely die out, at least for a long time, but it will likely diminish so much that it will end up being so fringe its basically irrelevant in the world. Eventually. That's my hope. Alot of people are leaving. I only left 3 months ago after 11 years. I've never been better.
I believe religion will end once society reaches a point where everyone has the option to remain comfortable or suffer of their own volition for a greater good. Almost no unwanted or unexpexcted or unknown bad things to use religion as cope for.
I think it will but with diminished influence.
I think the same way too.
You would think b people would have to catch in yet they haven't in what? 2,000 years?
When religion started, humans were polytheistic, with many gods representing different phenomena they could not explain. Now we are predominately monotheistic, so its stands to reason that at some point when womankind has adequately evolved, we will be atheistic.
I think it will die out eventually, like the major religions of old that lasted ages until they faded and were overtaken by new religions. I don't think it will happen anytime soon.
The age old ridiculous name that is mine "Stephen" has been under a deconstruction from being pronounced as "STEEV-en" to "STeF-en" but it's been in transition for the past one-hundred years. If You want "STEEV-en" then it should be spelled "STEVEN".
It won’t if it continues the way it’s going in the West, that’s for sure…
The very PLANET is not going to last. Christianity will take us all down with it.
As the climate worsens and things just generally get worse, I think religions like Christianity will become more and more popular again
I have a feeling it will still be around, but the next generation will just not care lol.
What do you gain by doing this? 35,000 days is 95.82 years. I have nothing to gain by listening to you and your baseless claim but everything to gain through prayer and spreading the word of God.