That's not faith at all. Faith is a process of non-thinking whereby one accepts beliefs passed down through tradition with no evidence, or even against the evidence. None of those things require faith; they can demonstrated scientifically (through inductive reasoning), not to mention that they're all glaringly obvious. Also, in my view it's futile to speculate about whether reality "really" exists; we can perceive it, and that's all that matters.
Edit: I think I understand now: It's my avatar, isn't it? It makes me look angry.
Besides, people WANT to believe that there is something controlling the world, because if not, the world is running itself. People don't want to believe that they are living in anarchy.
Edit: I think I understand now: It's my avatar, isn't it? It makes me look angry.
It's true that religions evolve, but they only evolve to come closer in line with secular culture. The more this happens, the more religion loses importance, and the easier it is for people to deconvert. Evangelical christians, for example, sometimes wonder what the point of christianity is if significant chunks of it are thrown out, and I'm inclined to agree.
Fabian, the fact that religions evolve increases their "chance of survival". I think it is reasonable to think that will also increase their chance of survival in the future. My point is that this makes your prediction "weaker" in that it is much harder to reliably make such a prediction. also, Science will never obsolete religion but on the contrary it encourages it. Science relies on asking the unexplainable then attempting to explain it. As a result there will always be something left unexplained (unless you believe that perfect knowledge it obtainable). Religion in some form will always be there to deal with the unexplained.
Question for those who think religions will die out. Are there any major religions that have ever died out in the past? and why did they? Answers to those question would certainly help make better predicitons in the future.
Interesting but I must disagree. For christianity at least, the belief that Jesus is the messiah and died for everyones since would be the main point. As long as that is the basis of a religion, it will be a form of christianity. The rest is far less relevant. This point in itself will prevent it from being watered down to the point of being indistinguishable from secular culture.
Question for those who think religions will die out. Are there any major religions that have ever died out in the past? and why did they?
Edit: I think I understand now: It's my avatar, isn't it? It makes me look angry.
People will eventually realise that some things are unknown, and the fakey religious explanations are unsatisfactory. I'm pretty sure that (organised) religion will die out eventually, though superstition and charlantry will probably live on forever in some degree. Prediction: Islam will be the last religion to die out, perhaps in a spectacular manner.
