the slow death of religion

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youngbiologist

Registered Senior Member
Whats the greatest thing religion promises you? Unless you don't like getting good deals, your probably in a religion professing some sort of paradise/heaven after you die. Thats fine, the average life span is 75 years, so your never too far away from dying.

But then technology creeps in, and the average life span keeps going up and up! Cyrogenics, custom organs, designer stem cells, telomeric extension! Up and up the life span goes, 100, 200, 300. And beyond....

When your buying CDs, the longer it takes before you can cash in your CDs the larger the accrued interest. The longer you wait, the more the bank has to pay you to keep the deal worthwhile. If the main selling point of religion is paradise when you die, whats the point if death is so far off?
 
Not all the religious people believe in paradise/hell ! Then why they stick to religion? cuz, what is the point in not being religious !
 
Originally posted by spuriousmonkey
that you think about life yourself instead of accepting premade answers
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Sure. What if i'm interested in the questions religions raise than their answer to them. I'm free to accept it or not.. faith in God is just sufficient to be a non-atheist.!:p
 
Originally posted by everneo
Sure. What if i'm interested in the questions religions raise than their answer to them. I'm free to accept it or not.. faith in God is just sufficient to be a non-atheist.!:p
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which special questions does religion raise then that aren't raised outside religion?
 
Originally posted by spuriousmonkey
which special questions does religion raise then that aren't raised outside religion?
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what premade answers ur referring to in yr earlier post ?
 
Originally posted by spuriousmonkey
god created the universe is one
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since there is no other satisfying answer.. assuming that is no problem for me. do u have any answer..
 
When we cure the disease of aging and find we can live indefinitely then religion will take a major hit.

The underlying belief in every religion is the existence of a soul/spirit that can survive death.

If death never occurs then who cares whether souls/spirits/gods exist? They become irrelevant considerations, as they are for many people already.

Religions depend on the fear of death and offer promises of something better so that the ultimate loss need not be feared. Remove the fear and the basis for religion evaporates.
 
Originally posted by Cris
Religions depend on the fear of death and offer promises of something better so that the ultimate loss need not be feared. Remove the fear and the basis for religion evaporates.
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Interesting (and, in my opinion, incorrect) claim. It will be fun watching you substantiate it.
 
Religons (at least the one i follow) does not depend on the fear of death. Why should i be afraid? Religon wont die out if we get to live hundreds of years, instead it will be strengthened. Theres more to religon to just an afterlife, you have to understand, its about what you do to better the lives of the people around you. So what if we dont reach heaven or whatever sooner than later? I want to enjoy my life on earth as much as i can while im here, live every moment to its fullest:D :m:
 
Originally posted by Cris
When we cure the disease of aging and find we can live indefinitely then religion will take a major hit.

The underlying belief in every religion is the existence of a soul/spirit that can survive death.

If death never occurs then who cares whether souls/spirits/gods exist? They become irrelevant considerations, as they are for many people already.

Religions depend on the fear of death and offer promises of something better so that the ultimate loss need not be feared. Remove the fear and the basis for religion evaporates.
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Excellant argument Cris. But the fear of death would never vanish as far as we have those nukes/terrorists/homisidal criminals/freak accidents etc. The fear-of-death-factor as tool will now shift from preachers to poachers. The more the people live long the more they realise the point of (or the devoid of that) life.
 
Mainstream religion has been dying for some time now. It will continue to die as science progresses and people become more educated. It may be replaced with less conventional ideas of religion that fit within the mold of what we have learned.

I wish it would burn out instead of fade away. :)
 
Originally posted by ConsequentAtheist
Interesting (and, in my opinion, incorrect) claim. It will be fun watching you substantiate it.
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it is much more fun watching you puffing yourself up like a pigeon trying to pick up a mate on a shit covered rooftop!
flap those wings, dog! you might get lucky!



;)
 
Everneo,

But the fear of death would never vanish as far as we have those nukes/terrorists/homisidal criminals/freak accidents etc. The fear-of-death-factor as tool will now shift from preachers to poachers. The more the people live long the more they realise the point of (or the devoid of that) life.
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The assumption I make is that biological life will not endure for very long after we create the technology that will supercede the power of the human brain. At that point people will want to transfer their intelligence to a more resilient and less fragile medium. Once the full detail of all your neural patterns are digitized then the only reason you would fear death is if your insurance company couldn't find a readable backup and hence could not resurrect you after the inevitable fatal accidents or wars that will occur.
 
Cris :

Now u r frightening me to death. i could not imagine such a situation (living like a machine !) and the disire-to-live / fear-to-die gone forever. Its like those infamous phrase "The living envy the dead" illustrated after the war and ravage.
Is "Matrix" coming...?
 
everneo,

and the disire-to-live / fear-to-die gone forever. Its like those infamous phrase "The living envy the dead" illustrated after the war and ravage.
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Do you realize your description also describes heaven. A place where you live for eternity with no fear of death.

Isn't this what religionists desire? In Christianity we are told 'believe in Jesus and you will have everlasting life'. This is a key promise of this religion. The promise of immortality. A dream that man has sought for many thousands of years.

Through science and technology we might actually be able to make it happen.
 
I think religion is dying anyway, regardless of our life span, because of the school curriculum and the evidence for evolution. Hopefully this next generation will be a lot less religious.
 
Originally posted by everneo
since there is no other satisfying answer.. assuming that is no problem for me. do u have any answer..
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you still didn't answer my original question... Every time i ask you something you answer with a question.
 
Cris,

No. Both the situation describe a state where living is so miserable that getting out of that is the only relief ! Who bothers about Heaven/Hell. Going into oblivion/non-existence seems to be better option when

1. u live as mirror of your self (in this context, like machine, digitally vulnerable) ;

2. the survivers of the war,loot,arsons wish that they could have died in the war like others rather than being subjected/witness to these anarchy and torture.

Honestly, after-life thought is surely missing in both situation.

btw, the basis of God araise from a belief (i'm not going to justify it here) that the individual's soul cannot be replicated and the intelligence of human being is 'experienced' by that soul and intelligence is not the core of "self". thanx for the different view.
 
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