I have noticed that the most fundamentalist forms of religion seem to be the most resilient in the face of social trends that have eroded other religions. The fundamentalist Christian denominations are slowly increasing while the liberal denominations decrease. Globally, Islam seems to be increasing, and Islam seems quite fundamentalist to me (not claiming to be an expert of course). Part of the problem is birth rates. Fundamentalists tend to have more children for whatever reason.
If the future of the world must include religions, I would prefer for those religions to be harmonized with science, non-evangelistic, non-political, private rather than public, etc. Although belief in the infallibility of religious revelations (my definition of fundamentalism) does not necessarily imply that the religion will be a problem, in most cases it does. In some ways, I think the hard-line attitude of fundamentalist religions helps to prevent their members from following the slippery slope of open-minded research.
So it seems to me that fundamentalism is resilient for several reasons:
(1) concentration in cultures with high birth rates
(2) tendency to value family over career for religious reasons (?)
(3) hard-line attitude against skeptical information
Apparently atheism is going to decrease in the future due to China's aging population. As an atheist, that doesn't make me happy. LOL
If the future of the world must include religions, I would prefer for those religions to be harmonized with science, non-evangelistic, non-political, private rather than public, etc. Although belief in the infallibility of religious revelations (my definition of fundamentalism) does not necessarily imply that the religion will be a problem, in most cases it does. In some ways, I think the hard-line attitude of fundamentalist religions helps to prevent their members from following the slippery slope of open-minded research.
So it seems to me that fundamentalism is resilient for several reasons:
(1) concentration in cultures with high birth rates
(2) tendency to value family over career for religious reasons (?)
(3) hard-line attitude against skeptical information
Apparently atheism is going to decrease in the future due to China's aging population. As an atheist, that doesn't make me happy. LOL
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