Information v Religion

[jclalor 12]

It's only a matter of time.

http://www.technologyreview.com/view/526111/how-the-internet-is-taking-away-americas-religion/

[quade 4]

I'm not as convinced as you seem to be.

In my experience, people tend to separate themselves from people who don't believe what they do themselves. Further, the law of primacy tends to make people believe things regardless of whether they later learn the truth or not.

I have a LOT of friends who have closed themselves off to "negative people" and only hear the "happy thoughts" of their likewise minded friends and inner voices.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[jclalor 12]

quade

I'm not as convinced as you seem to be.

In my experience, people tend to separate themselves from people who don't believe what they do themselves. Further, the law of primacy tends to make people believe things regardless of whether they later learn the truth or not.

I have a LOT of friends who have closed themselves off to "negative people" and only hear the "happy thoughts" of their likewise minded friends and inner voices.

I think for the most part, once you reach adulthood, your belief system is pretty well established. It's not your friends that are going to abandon their religious beliefs, it's going to be their kids. Just 20 years ago, teenagers that questioned the existence of a god really didn't have too many options to find out if they were the only ones. Now they do and the numbers are going to keep growing, the genie is out of the bottle.

It's like Gay marriage, less than ten years ago, the most optimistic thought it would take twenty years until a majority of Americans would approve of Gay marriage. It took less than 10. It wasn't the 40 year olds that changed their minds, it was their children who were exposed to vastly different medias than their parents.

[Amazon 7]

quade

I'm not as convinced as you seem to be.

In my experience, people tend to separate themselves from people who don't believe what they do themselves. Further, the law of primacy tends to make people believe things regardless of whether they later learn the truth or not.

I have a LOT of friends family who have closed themselves off to "negative people" and only hear the "happy thoughts" of their likewise minded friends and inner voices.

Hence their addiction to FAUX NEWS....

[GeorgiaDon 385]

Someone else (the author of the article you linked, not you) who does not understand the concept of "correlation does not prove causation".

Don

_____________________________________
Tolerance is the cost we must pay for our adventure in liberty. (Dworkin, 1996)
“Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire.” (Yeats)

[kelpdiver 2]

GeorgiaDon

Someone else (the author of the article you linked, not you) who does not understand the concept of "correlation does not prove causation".

It's funny - midway through, the author finally offers up: "What Downey has found is correlations and any statistician will tell you that correlations do not imply causation." But then immediately says you can still draw conclusions, just guarded ones. Which apparently means just mentioning this briefly and ignoring it. Worse, even if you pretended this is entirely casuation, it only explained 25% of the drop, and they have not even a bad theory for 50%. Yet continues to say internet kills religion in the header, the conclusion, and in the headline.

I'll put out a counter theory that it was the Clinton Presidency that was responsible! Note how the flattens out when Bush came in, and then eventually it increases again with the the Hillary campaign. So while it seemed like it was Gore and his internet thingymajig, it was really that dirty old Bill.

(waiting to see how long until Fox News reposts this)

[RonD1120 62]

jclalor

It's only a matter of time.

http://www.technologyreview.com/view/526111/how-the-internet-is-taking-away-americas-religion/

Everything on the Internet is true. I saw it on the Internet.

Look for the shiny things of God revealed by the Holy Spirit. They only last for an instant but it is a Holy Instant. Let your soul absorb them.

[jclalor 12]

RonD1120

***
It's only a matter of time.

http://www.technologyreview.com/view/526111/how-the-internet-is-taking-away-americas-religion/

Everything on the Internet is true. I saw it on the Internet.

I know one thing for sure, the more fundamental the belief is, the more discouraged or restricted access to any "outside" information is. Religion, particularly for the young, has always feared information.

This is true from the Duggar family to the Peoples Temple. Restricted access to information is always the main defining characteristic of a cult.

[RonD1120 62]

jclalor

******
It's only a matter of time.

http://www.technologyreview.com/view/526111/how-the-internet-is-taking-away-americas-religion/

Everything on the Internet is true. I saw it on the Internet.

I know one thing for sure, the more fundamental the belief is, the more discourage or restricted access to any "outside" information is. Religion, particularly for the young, has always feared information.

This is true from the Duggar family to the Peoples Temple. Restricted access to information is always the main defining characteristic of a cult.

I am a member of the Church of God, Cleveland TN. We encourage college education and have an active ministry to the local college.

I never heard of the Duggar's until now. A quick glance at their family news indicates that God is certainly blessing them.

Look for the shiny things of God revealed by the Holy Spirit. They only last for an instant but it is a Holy Instant. Let your soul absorb them.

[Coreece 190]

jclalor

It's only a matter of time.[/url]

Throughout history, it's been estimated that nearly 70 million Christians have died for their beliefs, yet the faith has survived for over 2,000 years.

The idea that the internet is somehow going to obliterate Christianity is just ludicrous and nothing short of wishful thinking.

Now it's possible that Christianity may cease to exist in 100 million years, but by then evolution will have allowed pigs to grow wings...so there you go.

Your secrets are the true reflection of who you really are...

[jclalor 12]

RonD1120

*********
It's only a matter of time.

http://www.technologyreview.com/view/526111/how-the-internet-is-taking-away-americas-religion/

Everything on the Internet is true. I saw it on the Internet.

I know one thing for sure, the more fundamental the belief is, the more discourage or restricted access to any "outside" information is. Religion, particularly for the young, has always feared information.

This is true from the Duggar family to the Peoples Temple. Restricted access to information is always the main defining characteristic of a cult.

I am a member of the Church of God, Cleveland TN. We encourage college education and have an active ministry to the local college.

I never heard of the Duggar's until now. A quick glance at their family news indicates that God is certainly blessing them.

Blessed?

http://jezebel.com/5939635/the-duggars-are-an-evil-cult

[wmw999 2,600]

Sorry, they're no more an evil cult than anyone else who self-selects for world and experiences that match their desired worldview.

The educational materials that they use are very revisionist. Nearly all educational materials are revisionist in one way or another (75 years ago, Native Americans were Indians, and were always the bad guys in Cowboys and Indians -- my father was quite upset by "Dances with Wolves").

But the people who describe capitalism, socialism, or many other isms (including Islam, Christianity, religion, or atheism) as being primarily forces of evil ignore the people who use them to inflict evil on others.

Not accepting your children as they are is not good. However, plenty of families don't accept them as they are. How many don't want their kids to do drugs, or be lazy in school, or date the wrong guy?

The way to get your kids to be like you is to raise them in a world where what you provide is better than what the outside does. As long as there's exposure to the outside (which they're admittedly limiting, but obviously not excluding -- that whole TV show thing), there's nothing wrong with that. The children are well-nourished, they play, they receive educations, they understand the role of effort and delayed gratification in making their world a better place. There are plenty of things that are more worth focusing attention on.

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[jclalor 12]

wmw999

Sorry, they're no more an evil cult than anyone else who self-selects for world and experiences that match their desired worldview.

The educational materials that they use are very revisionist. Nearly all educational materials are revisionist in one way or another (75 years ago, Native Americans were Indians, and were always the bad guys in Cowboys and Indians -- my father was quite upset by "Dances with Wolves").

But the people who describe capitalism, socialism, or many other isms (including Islam, Christianity, religion, or atheism) as being primarily forces of evil ignore the people who use them to inflict evil on others.

Not accepting your children as they are is not good. However, plenty of families don't accept them as they are. How many don't want their kids to do drugs, or be lazy in school, or date the wrong guy?

The way to get your kids to be like you is to raise them in a world where what you provide is better than what the outside does. As long as there's exposure to the outside (which they're admittedly limiting, but obviously not excluding -- that whole TV show thing), there's nothing wrong with that. The children are well-nourished, they play, they receive educations, they understand the role of effort and delayed gratification in making their world a better place. There are plenty of things that are more worth focusing attention on.

Wendy P.

Everyone has the right to their own beliefs and to raise their children as they see fit, at least until a point, there does come a time when the rights of a child supersedes the parent's beliefs; are they at this point? Probably not.

The oldest Duggar girl is now engaged through an arranged marriage, that's quite disgusting to me. The nine girls will never have more than a home school education; no college for the Duggar girls. They will most likely never have the opportunity to live to their full human potential, outside of what their parents desire for them.

Are there worst things in the world? I suppose there are.

Outside of 9-11, the treatment of girls by the Taliban was probably the next item on the list for reasons for why we went to war in Afghanistan. I never once heard us say that their treatment of girls was an Afghans parent's prerogative, It seems that we have a lot more in common with them than we thought.

I suppose the FDLS parents in Colorado city that raise their children as they see fit, only to banish them from town on their eighteenth birthday. This is done so they won't compete for wives with the town's older men. These boys are lost and many turn to drugs and alcohol, and with their lack of education and family support become a burden to society. Is this the right of the FDLS parents to burden the rest of us?