Religiosity Plummets In Ireland And Declines Worldwide; Atheism On The Rise

[Richard Amiel McGough]

From the Huffpo. Note that the moral corruption of institutional religions appears to be playing a significant role. This makes a lot of sense to me since the broad corruption and intellectual dishonesty of fundamentalist Christians played a very significant role in my rejection of Christianity.

Religiosity Plummets In Ireland And Declines Worldwide; Atheism On The Rise (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/08/religiosity-plummets-ireland-declines-worldwide-atheism_n_1757453.html)



Rocked in recent years by sex-abuse scandals (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/20/pope-slams-irish-church-o_n_506942.html) and crises in leadership, the Catholic Church in the Republic of Ireland has been struggling to keep its members close. (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/10/catholic-faith-on-line-as_0_n_1584306.html)
But this week, a new global survey on faith and atheism (http://redcresearch.ie/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/RED-C-press-release-Religion-and-Atheism-25-7-12.pdf) has revealed that the crisis of faith in Ireland may be much worse than previously thought.

According to the poll released by WIN-Gallup International, the traditionally Catholic country has seen one of the steepest drops worldwide in religiosity. (http://redcresearch.ie/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/RED-C-press-release-Religion-and-Atheism-25-7-12.pdf)

The poll -- which was based on interviews with more than 50,000 people selected from 57 countries (http://redcresearch.ie/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/RED-C-press-release-Religion-and-Atheism-25-7-12.pdf) -- asked participants, "irrespective of whether they attended a place of worship, if they considered themselves to be religious, not religious, or an atheist."

In Ireland, only 47 percent of those polled (http://redcresearch.ie/news/significant-drop-in-irish-claiming-to-be-religious) said they considered themselves religious -- a 22-point drop from the 69 percent recorded in a similar poll conducted in 2005. In addition, 10 percent self-identified as atheist.

The only country that registered a steeper decline in religiosity was Vietnam, (http://redcresearch.ie/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/RED-C-press-release-Religion-and-Atheism-25-7-12.pdf) which saw a 23-point drop from 53 percent to 30 percent. However, Ireland and Vietnam were not unique in this dip in faith, (http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-religion-world-declinebre87716j-20120808,0,7312400.story) Reuters notes.

According to the global index, there has been a notable decline in religiosity worldwide. (http://redcresearch.ie/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/RED-C-press-release-Religion-and-Atheism-25-7-12.pdf) Current data shows that the number of people worldwide who call themselves religious is now 59 percent, (http://redcresearch.ie/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/RED-C-press-release-Religion-and-Atheism-25-7-12.pdf) while 13 percent self-identify as atheist.

However, according to trending data, religiosity has fallen by 9 points globally since 2005 (http://redcresearch.ie/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/RED-C-press-release-Religion-and-Atheism-25-7-12.pdf) and the number of people who identify as atheist rose from 4 percent to 7 percent. Note that only 40 countries were polled in both 2005 and 2012, so there are two different sets of data available.

[CWH]

From the Huffpo. Note that the moral corruption of institutional religions appears to be playing a significant role. This makes a lot of sense to me since the broad corruption and intellectual dishonesty of fundamentalist Christians played a very significant role in my rejection of Christianity.

Religiosity Plummets In Ireland And Declines Worldwide; Atheism On The Rise (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/08/religiosity-plummets-ireland-declines-worldwide-atheism_n_1757453.html)

I have expected Christianity to plummet worldwide and Islam to increase in numbers. Ths is due in part to the defections of Chrfistians to Islam. Islams is already growing well in Europe. Sounds familiar isn't it that Christianity will decine as this is expected in the end times but however those who persevere to the end will be saved:

3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
4 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.

9 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

May God Bless those who persevere to the end. :pray: