jotacar

The majority of young Americans think astrology is a science.

What the what? Have I been transported back to the Dark Ages? Astrology, of course, is not a science; it is a spiritual belief system at best and at worst a pseudoscience driven by charlatans and the tabloid press. The positions of the stars and planets in the sky do not affect my mood and my horoscope has little bearing on the kind of person I am. Even in China, one of the birthplaces of astrology, 92 percent of the people know that astrology is bunk. Really America, get your act togethehttp://news.discovery.com/space/astronomy/1-in-4-a...

Science tells us that the first life forms consisted of single-celled creatures which took shape billions of years ago in alkaline deep sea vents.

***NOTHING*** "created" life. It simply appeared in compliance with the laws of thermodynamics which apply *throughout the universe*. (This is why most people assume that there are life forms beyond the earth.)

If you don't know what that means, shouldn't you either educate yourself or find other things to discuss?

It is wonderfully reassuring for children to feel that they are the subject of god's love and that their grandparents, at their deaths, have moved on to a heavenly paradise.

However, as you know, the Bible tells us that as adults we should "put away childish things" What is more childish than believing in an imaginary god and denying the truth about death - that it leads immediately to oblivion? At some point in our teen years, all of us ought to decide not only to get older, but to grow up and become genuine adults as well.

For many centuries profound ignorance caused virtually all adults to adopt theism

as their way of understanding their world.

But it is 2014 now, and all truly thoughtful people accept what our finest scientific

minds have discovered on our behalf. Physicists and cosmologists explain that a

fluctuation in space/time - which is commonly called the big bang - occurred 13.8

billion years ago, producing our  universe and everything in it. 

Of course for most people this scientifically proven description of what brought the 

universe into being cannot compete with the theist explanation. It provides no 

comfort that a loving god is watching over each of us. It provides no assurance 

that we have immortal souls, which will live on through all eternity. 

It is perfectly understandable that given the choice between the reassuring 

fantasies of theism and the bleak truth of atheism, the great majority of adults 

choose the more attractive explanation.  This holds true for individuals of low and

average I.Q's and even a minority of really bright people.

Clearly, one need not be only intelligent to embrace atheism. One must be a courageous 

realist as well. Perhaps 20% of us measure up to these requirements. For the rest theism

provides a good substitute for the truth.

"Over the last five years the number of student “freethinker” groups in the US, has begun to snowball: from 100 in 2007 their number has leapt to more than 350 today, according to the nationwide Secular Student Alliance.

Their growth reflects a rapid shift in attitudes towards religion in America among young people, with one recent Pew poll finding that more than one third of Americans aged 18 to 29 now say they have “no religious affiliation”, compared with less than 10 per cent of their grandparents’ generation."

1, Are users here - whether theists, atheists or agnostics - aware at the speed with which

religious affiliation is dropping among young Americans?

2. The figures are accurate. Do not waste your time and ours by disputing them, please.

You might like to give your personal opinion as to why faith is diminishing so rapidly.

(It would be of interest, if you could identify yourself - theist, atheist, agnostic.)

One of them just removed a question which suggested that we needed to

take another look at the *Mayan Calendar*.

I for one appreciate having that sort of weak-minded clap-trap being deleted here.

We should applaud those who are sparing us having to read such utter silliness.

From time to time I come across the most bizarre and mindless question on R&S.

Occasionally, I'll decide to answer one of them, only to find that they about to be

removed as in bad taste, irrelevant, or profoundly stupid.

I'd say that the people put in charge of censoring questions and answers here are

doing a fine job. Most of the craziness disappears very quickly.