[bigthink.com]
"A surprising explanation for the global decline of religion."
Well, I'm always glad to read of the decline in religiousity, but is it linked to automation and technology?
"Our studies demonstrate that automation is linked to religious decline across multiple religious traditions (e.g., Christian, Muslim, and Buddhist), world regions (e.g., North America, South Asia, and Oceania), and levels of analysis.."
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8 comments
Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.The author really put the selective sophistry peddling to the metal on this frolic into Drive L.
Polemicist
Level 7
Aug 30, 2023
2
And how many of the numbers surveyed now have smart phones that immediately allow them to obtain information from a much greater library of world information than was readily available during industrial revolution, space race etc.?
FrayedBear
Level 9
Aug 30, 2023
1
Correlation is not proof of causation. And just replacing gods with A.i., even if it was happening is not a decline in religion. Just replacing one religion with another. What I do think is maybe a connection, is that a.i. has brought increasing global awareness and contact with other cultures and religions. And that is likely to cause a decline in belief, especially in a traditionally very isolated and isolationist culture like the US.
Fernapple
Level 9
Aug 30, 2023
1
How is AI credited with what was started by human beings - the internet, wikipedia, f'buk, X, etc. - all human created sources of knowledge & human influence.
@FrayedBear All religions are human inventions, A.I. would just be a little more real than most.
Whatever the reason, it's a good trend.
Flyingsaucesir
Level 8
Aug 29, 2023
1
It’s a fairytale. Not a trend.
@skado Religious belief is not declining?
@Flyingsaucesir depends on the fairytale that you believe in!
@skado whether religion is declining or not is a contestable issue, but the secularisation of the West, and the decline of religion as measured by lower church attendance and people not actually taking any notice of these archaic religions etc, is certainly clear, and I do not think these trends are fairy tales. Religions believe in fairy tales. Secular and non religious people do not, I like to believe. The trend away from religion is clearly there, but it's complex, variable based on geography and culture, and we should be open about analysing it.
@FrayedBear It is or it isn't. Belief is (ironically) irrelevant. 
@Flyingsaucesir
Correct. It is increasing as a percentage of world population, mostly due to population growth.
[pewresearch.org]
@David1955
The West isn’t representative of the world.
[pewresearch.org]
@skado Solid though disturbing information. It's not explained how improved knowledge in developing countries will overcome the tyranny of religion.
@FrayedBear
There are a lot of unknowns. The current problem is that religious people reproduce more than the non-religious. So they’re not converting more people to Islam, for example - they’re just making more Muslims from scratch. So it’s not an ideological competition, so much as a biological competition.
@skado I'm hoping, for the sake of future humanity, that future education will knock the assumptions made by these researchers out of contention & result in a mass exodus from all religions & the propaganda maintaining the delusions in religiosity & political reality.
FrayedBear
Level 9
Aug 29, 2023
1
Something happened. Try now. Thanks.
@David1955 thanks David.
Though the decline of religiosity is a good thing, not sure I’m fond of excessive automation in its stead.
Scott321
Level 7
Aug 29, 2023
2
Yes, I had the same thought. Worries me that people are turning technology into a kind of thing to worship. The trend is towards us being something like The Borg in Star Trek. No thanks.
Maybe a reason to not create a vacuum and leave it unattended?
It doesn’t take much to entertain me. I think my favorite thing is when the reference people provide to support their argument actually undermines it.
skado
Level 9
Aug 29, 2023
0
Yes, well I knew you wouldn't approve of it. You are, well, you, on the subject of religion.
@skado well I agree, but I wouldn't say it lacks factual accuracy as much as factual detail on which we could determine that accuracy. What is true is that technology obsession is changing human belief systems, both in positive and negative ways. The subject both interests and worries me.
@David1955
I agree it's an interesting subject, and I appreciate knowing about it. I'm not taking issue with the main subject of the article - just commenting on the misleading title. Love of technology may well be moving into the spaces where religion is receding, but there is no "global decline of religion."
@Fernapple
All the more reason to call the title misleading. I totally understand why people put clickbait titles on their work, because the marketplace is competitive and if everybody else is doing it, you almost have to in order to be seen. But it, perhaps inadvertently, reinforces the popular misconception that religion is declining worldwide, when in fact, it is atheism that is declining as a percentage of world population.
[pewresearch.org]
Whether we fancy ourselves believer or non, we all have a tendency to distort the truth in favor of our preferred worldview. This article is either intentionally or carelessly misleading. There is no "global decline". Yes, there are declines "around the globe," but there are even greater increases.
The 2015 and 2017 updated Pew Research survey measured it and reported it accurately.
Even the link that this article provides as reference states the following:
"This is based on a single question on the importance of God in the respondent’s life on a 10-point scale. The average importance declined in 39 countries and increased in only 5. Apart from the fact that this is based only on a single question on the importance of God, it also does not tell us how regional or global average ratings have changed. Depending on the relative populations and scale shifts in different countries, it could potentially even be consistent with a global average increase."
[colinmathers.com]
skado
Level 9
Aug 29, 2023
0
Ummm, the Facts state that religion Declined in 39 countries and increased in only 5...the rest is a Weird, extremely weird, spin on that.
@AnneWimsey
Yes, but there was greater increase in the 5 than the combined decrease in the 39, resulting in a net increase. They forgot to tell us that part. And yes, the rest was a pretty weird spin! 
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