Around the World, Many People Are Leaving Their Childhood Religions.
Around the World, Many People Are Leaving Their Childhood Religions.
In many places surveyed, 20% or more of all adults have left their childhood religious group. Christianity and Buddhism have had especially large losses. Pew Research Center.
I was Buddhist, the community sucked, they've covered up a bunch of the standard religious atrocities, the groups I was involved with seem culty these days and they generally seem like mean selfish people claiming that those suffering hardship are "working through their bad karma" instead of actually helping. Rich white people performing Tibetan karaoke and lip service to sangha while ignoring the problems of the world that don't personally affect them.
When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
I escaped the Mormon cult years ago.
Two weeks ago, I cut all contact with my mother, because she is still clinging to their toxic spew.
My skin still crawls at one of the members saying 'it's much harder to keep children in the church'. Fucking gross.
And thank the heavens for that.
Good
I'm one of the few people who never had to leave a religion. My parents just never introduced any religion to me, so I remained at the default factory setting: Atheist.
I've heard this for 20 years and yet America has moved more fundamentalist than it was in 1981 when Republican Barry Goldwater said,
"Mark my word, if and when these preachers get control of the [Republican] party, and they're sure trying to do so, it's going to be a terrible damn problem."
I don't see it discussed in this article. But I recall reading another article suggesting that US Christianity is becoming more fundamentalist, which has been a driving force in pushing many people out, while leaving those that remain more extreme. The net effect is that while Christianity is shrinking, fundamentalism is growing. Coupled with fundamentalism becoming an increasingly political movement [0], and you see the current US.
Being Jewish, I've noticed a similar thing. Overall, people I grew up with have mostly shifted away from the religion (although still tend to consider them Jewish as a cultural marker). But those who are still actuvely religious tend to be more religious then their parents are.
[0] In the sense of governmental electoral politics.
I'm also going to question if Trump's followers are actually Christian or if they've become something else.
Religion is the opiate of the masses.