How millennials replaced religion with astrology and crystals

[Matt5]

If there were a god, and he created a religion then how would you know? Well, that religion should be capable of lifting a society high above the rest. God is not going to waste our time with a religion that does nothing for us. There is a practical reason for religion: Lift people up (God), keep people down (man, demons) or conquer people (demons). People will waste our time with their man-made religions and so will demons with their very own religion - Islam.

[On a side note, if you put two crossed swords under the name of Allah (written in Arabic), then what do you get after you rotate 90 degrees clockwise? In Greek numbers, 600, 60 and 6 or 666.]

Where do we see a religion that has lifted people up high above the rest? We see it in the Christian world. But now Christians have fallen asleep. Christianity is under sustained attack. The West is no longer Christian even if Christians still exist in it. And sadly, the West is going mad.

How millennials replaced religion with astrology and crystals

The cause behind the spiritual shift is a combination of factors. In more than a dozen interviews for this story with people ranging in age from 18 to their early 40s, a common theme emerged: They were raised with one set of religious beliefs — Catholic, Jewish, Buddhist — but as they became adults, they felt that faith didn’t completely represent who they were or what they believed.

Millennials increasingly identify as “nones” when asked about their religious affiliation, according to a 2017 Pew survey: They are atheist or agnostic, or say they are “spiritual but not religious.”
​

Personally, when I go to churches in my community over here in Switzerland I can see they are out of touch with reality. They are on autopilot and just going through the motion. It's no wonder that people don't want to go to church and are looking for other spiritual fulfillment.

Below is an article on how atheism is becoming the largest religion in the US. That should worry you. The reason is that atheists gravitate to the religion of equality. It's the religion of equality that makes good into bad and bad into good. All religions are equal - none is better than any other. We all worship the same god. That's what equality brings. It puts a target on our back. And it will be God who takes us down by bringing our enemies against us: An Alternative Explanation for Seals 3 and 4 from Revelation | Christian Forums.

Take a look at this:

God Help Us: Atheism Becomes Largest Religion In U.S. | Daily Wire

For the first time in history, atheists constitute the largest religious group in America. According to the General Social Survey, the number of Americans who have "no religion" has increased 266% over the past three decades and now account for 23.1% of the population, just barely edging out Catholics and Evangelicals as the nation’s dominant faith. Mainline Protestant churches have suffered the greatest collapse, declining 62.5% since 1982 and now comprising just 10.8% of the U.S. population.​

Other sources:
From Astrology to Cult Politics—the Many Ways We Try (and Fail) to Replace Religion
Andrew Sullivan: America’s New Religions
Social Justice is a Crowdsourced Religion - Handwaving Freakoutery - Medium
Yes, we’ve lost our faith in God, but we’ve lost our faith in reason too | The Guardian
Is the end near for religion? – Orange County Register
Why millennials are ditching religion for witchcraft and astrology - MarketWatch

Video: Spirit Cooking With The Clintons - YouTube

 

[FireDragon76]

This is alarmism that doesn't soberly analyze what is really happening. Perhaps if more Christians had real fruit in their lives people actually wanted, instead of trusting in dogmatism pushing an outdated view of the world, people would feel differently about belonging to a Christian church.

 

[timewerx]

One majorly huge problem with the Christian religion, is the many denominations, and sometimes doctrinal teachings that contradict each other.

It doesn't bid very well with sound reasoning and quite frankly, the Truth doesn't operate in such manner.

 

[bèlla]

The practices you’ve mentioned were prevalent before millennials were conceived. And church attendance has been declining for some time.

Faith does not divorce us from reason and common sense. The deduction and conclusions in this post are errant.

It is easy to point to the alternative and cry foul without considering your contribution to the exodus. You are a walking testimony of your beliefs. And the best marketing campaign God has.

If the lone way a person can tell you’re a Christian is by your admittance. You’ve failed to demonstrate the essence of its message in your person. In other words, there’s no fruit.

 

[2PhiloVoid]

This is alarmism that doesn't soberly analyze what is really happening. Perhaps if more Christians had real fruit in their lives people actually wanted, instead of trusting in dogmatism pushing an outdated view of the world, people would feel differently about belonging to a Christian church.

So, what IS "really happening," FD? (I just thought I'd ask since I stumbled across this thread this morning ... )

 

[FireDragon76]

So, what IS "really happening," FD? (I just thought I'd ask since I stumbled across this thread this morning ... )

A cultural shift as profound as the Reformation was. But this time, the Church is blind-sided, for the most part.

Major churches associated with Christendom are dying. That doesn't mean necessarily people are less spiritual, it just means that their spiritual aspirations don't fit within a religious model developed within a dead empire.

 

[2PhiloVoid]

A cultural shift as profound as the Reformation was. But this time, the Church is blind-sided, for the most part.

...and here I thought it was just the latter outworking(s) of both the Reformation and the Enlightenment four hundred years or so later ...

Personally, I think that what we see today is just the progression of an ages old moral disease ... but that's my view. As many of us like to quote, "There's nothing new under the sun." But what Solomon forgot to add to that is "... and there's always much more of the same old crud to come." So, here we are today.

 

[FireDragon76]

...and here I thought it was just the latter outworking(s) of both the Reformation and the Enlightenment four hundred years or so later ...

Personally, I think that what we see today is just the progression of an ages old moral disease ... but that's my view. As many of us like to quote, "There's nothing new under the sun." But what Solomon forgot to add to that is "... and there's always much more of the same old crud to come." So, here we are today.

Tsk tsk... you need to read more Bonhoeffer. What we are seeing is humanity come of age. Some people want to put that back into Pandora's Box.

 

[2PhiloVoid]

Tsk tsk... you need to read more Bonhoeffer. What we are seeing is humanity come of age.

... yeah, things are beginning to look fairly "ripe," and of course, I mean to say that tongue-in-cheek.

While I agree with Bonhoeffer in a narrow kind of way about the progression of humanity as it has come to today, I'd say that his thinking might tempt some folks to become complacent with a mindset that Pascal warned against: i.e. being apathetic to ultimate questions, especially those about one's own mortality. Bonhoeffer's view is also, I think, a temptation to equivocate "apathy" about spiritual things with the idea of human progression and "maturity."

On the one hand, Bonhoeffer is probably right in that it's good that those who take up some form of 'Western political/social thinking' want to get rid of the Old World and its religions. The downside to this is the tendency of humanity to push the envelope and destroy every ideology that doesn't seem practical and hence, also end up throwing the Christ-child out with the bathwater.

 

[Quid est Veritas?]

Christianity isn't going away. We've seen it all before. Chesterton said it much better than I ever could:

G.K. CHESTERTON: THE EVERLASTING MAN

 

[FireDragon76]

If there were a god, and he created a religion then how would you know? Well, that religion should be capable of lifting a society high above the rest. God is not going to waste our time with a religion that does nothing for us. There is a practical reason for religion:

I would suggest the opposite, why would a good God be the foundation of a religion like we find in the US that sanctions the destruction of the biosphere and that supports a culture of xenophobia? What has happened in the US is less "lifting up" and more like one culture bullying the rest of the world

 

[FireDragon76]

... yeah, things are beginning to look fairly "ripe," and of course, I mean to say that tongue-in-cheek.

While I agree with Bonhoeffer in a narrow kind of way about the progression of humanity as it has come to today, I'd say that his thinking might tempt some folks to become complacent with a mindset that Pascal warned against: i.e. being apathetic to ultimate questions, especially those about one's own mortality. Bonhoeffer's view is also, I think, a temptation to equivocate "apathy" about spiritual things with the idea of human progression and "maturity."

I think Bonhoeffer saw an end to Evangelicalism, but not the end of being a Christ-follower, necessarily.

Even issues of mortality are not necessarily ultimate. Bonhoeffer himself seemed to think that life after death was an insufficient motivation for truly authentic living, that Christianity had made a mistake by focusing on a wrong conceptualization of divine transcendence, when Jesus death on the cross really points to an emphasis on radical immanence.

And there are people that are non-Christians that do handle death with a sense of composure and equanimity. I was moved by hearing about the passing some time ago of Cheri Maples, a mindfulness teacher that was also a retired police chief and she really didn't have any particular hopes for the afterlife. With enough self-reflection and perhaps experience with certain mental states, some people at least can make peace with death.

On the one hand, Bonhoeffer is probably right in that it's good that those who take up some form of 'Western political/social thinking' want to get rid of the Old World and its religions. The downside to this is the tendency of humanity to push the envelope and destroy every ideology that doesn't seem practical and hence, also end up throwing the Christ-child out with the bathwater.

Well, the only kinds of Christianity that are being presented in the US are generally the kind that many people increasingly encounter as toxic. Now that we are in a post-Christian era, people no longer feel they need the respectability of the Church as an institutional force in their lives. So if we are going to be engaged with Jesus as a culture, it's going to have to be on post-Christian terms where evangelical orthodoxy is not a given.

That's why I'm curious to read books like "Living Buddha, Living Christ"... seeing Jesus through other peoples eyes might be the only way we can make any sense of him at all now.

 

[2PhiloVoid]

I think Bonhoeffer saw an end to Evangelicalism, but not the end of being a Christ-follower, necessarily.

Even issues of mortality are not necessarily ultimate. Bonhoeffer himself seemed to think that life after death was an insufficient motivation for truly authentic living, that Christianity had made a mistake by focusing on a wrong conceptualization of divine transcendence, when Jesus death on the cross really points to an emphasis on radical immanence.

Could be, but I'd have to see more about Bonhoeffer handles Pauline theology and so forth.

And there are people that are non-Christians that do handle death with a sense of composure and equanimity. I was moved by hearing about the passing some time ago of Cheri Maples, a mindfulness teacher that was also a retired police chief and she really didn't have any particular hopes for the afterlife. With enough self-reflection and perhaps experience with certain mental states, some people at least can make peace with death.

Interesting. I think I've made peace with death by simply getting tired of thinking about it so much during my younger years. Call it, emotional attrition.

Well, the only kinds of Christianity that are being presented in the US are generally the kind that many people increasingly encounter as toxic. Now that we are in a post-Christian era, people no longer feel they need the respectability of the Church as an institutional force in their lives. So if we are going to be engaged with Jesus as a culture, it's going to have to be on post-Christian terms where evangelical orthodoxy is not a given.

That's why I'm curious to read books like "Living Buddha, Living Christ"... seeing Jesus through other peoples eyes might be the only way we can make any sense of him at all now.

... truthfully, I'm coming to a place in my own thinking where I'm not even concerned with all of that anymore. I think our World has reached a tipping point that no amount of Christian outreach will cure or that any kind of Post-millenial style eschatology, Buddhified Christianity, or even (my favorite) Philosophically inclined hermeneutical approach to the Christian faith will reinvigorate. All I can do now is watch it all tumble down like a burning Notre Dame as the robots and zombies take over.