Catholicism's huge decline (everybody welcome)

[lieexpsr]

westmanguy

But atheists and religion-haters, will twist and spin info by saying Catholicism has lost believers.. when its actually lost attendance, and registered members. Because.. many people are taking church out of their lives, and having religion with-in-themselves.

I think that if catholicism has lost attendees and has lost registered members, It's quite a stretch to say that they have not lost believers. That evidence in itself is the proof that the catholic church is declining and I can't for the life of my atheist brain imagine how one could prove otherwise. However, if you would like to try to provide some evidence or statistics I would be happy to entertain them. And one thing for certain, I am entertained by such ideas!

 

[tanakar]

westmanguy

I think that if catholicism has lost attendees and has lost registered members, It's quite a stretch to say that they have not lost believers. That evidence in itself is the proof that the catholic church is declining and I can't for the life of my atheist brain imagine how one could prove otherwise. However, if you would like to try to provide some evidence or statistics I would be happy to entertain them. And one thing for certain, I am entertained by such ideas!

Dude, you don't believe that, surely? I'm not even Christian or CAtholic and even I know the Catholic Church is hardly declining. Let's see, just looked it up on the net. Right now they got about a BILLION AND HALF MEMBERS. They are also listed as one of the fastest growing religious groups in the world..., and there is an increase in people going into their priesthood.....sooo..what planet are you on?

 

[tanakar]

Nice Spin, Catholicism is on the rise internationally, especially in Africa.

So now you are trying to attack religion by saying its declining... you are zeroing in on 1st World Nations.

Africa, Asia has great growth in Bible-based religions... Catholicism, Christianity, overall is growing in numbers.

Living in an industrial and service based nation, people fall from religion, because they don't think they need it in their lives, where in poor nations, people need religion.

But when it comes down to death, people who have fallen from religion usually fly back..

Easy man. I get the feeling "L" don't care about facts.

 

[dumpthemonarchy]

There are millions of "cultural" catholics, who like Christmas carols etc. but don't want religion in their everyday lives. Religion is dated software.

The media should count all the people that go to the Catholic churches in Vancouver or Toronto say for a few sundays to get some practical numbers in Canada. I think they would be very low. I remember in university a professor told the class that the gov't in Britain wanted to find out in the 19th century how many British people went to church and the number was only 10% of the population. Do 100,000 people go to church each week in Vancouver? Put a human people counter on the church doorsteps over a few weeks.

 

[tanakar]

There are millions of "cultural" catholics, who like Christmas carols etc. but don't want religion in their everyday lives. Religion is dated software.

The media should count all the people that go to the Catholic churches in Vancouver or Toronto say for a few sundays to get some practical numbers in Canada. I think they would be very low. I remember in university a professor told the class that the gov't in Britain wanted to find out in the 19th century how many British people went to church and the number was only 10% of the population. Do 100,000 people go to church each week in Vancouver? Put a human people counter on the church doorsteps over a few weeks.

Dude, Canada and Vancouver are not the whole world. How do you know what's in people hearts anyways? I don't. I just know what I know and it is pretty clear to me that the Catholic Church is not in any danger of declining yet.Not with that many people and considerings its age.

Anyway, in my opinion it does so much good around the world that I respect the good in it, always. Enough to make me aCatholic. Nope, but I see good in it and know it means allot to allot of people.

 

[snfu73]

Dude, you don't believe that, surely? I'm not even Christian or CAtholic and even I know the Catholic Church is hardly declining. Let's see, just looked it up on the net. Right now they got about a BILLION AND HALF MEMBERS. They are also listed as one of the fastest growing religious groups in the world..., and there is an increase in people going into their priesthood.....sooo..what planet are you on?

Dude...just the other day I was talking to a mormon who said that the church of latter day saints was the fastest growing religion in the world.

Meanwhile, church pews are sitting empty, congregations are aging, and churches of all denominations are figuring out new ways of filling seats.

 

[L Gilbert]

Personally, most religions (like whatever they are based on) do not matter that much to me, so I don't really care whether they decline or multiply. They just aren't that important to me as philosophies. I do, however like to provoke people into thinking for themselves rather than follow like sheep whatever philosophy they choose (atheism, agnosticism, deism, theism, etc.).

 

[Dexter Sinister]

DexterSinister, people in rich nations need God/religion just as much as people in poor nations.

Can't buy that, unless you'd agree that the need is zero. And I know you won't. I don't believe anybody needs religion, what they need is to learn how to think clearly. We're not born knowing that, it's a learned skill, and it's not easy to do well. Most people want religion in some form, for a variety of reasons, mostly I suspect for the certainty and easy answers it provides, but it's been decades since I thought it had anything to do with reality. Every culture invents a religion and there's no conceivable basis for deciding which one is correct because at heart they all come down to the same hypothesis: there is at least one--some say only one--supernatural being that has some interest in us. There's no evidence to support that. It's a delusion, a delusion generally approved of by most cultures, but a delusion nonetheless. We're on our own, we are each of us responsible for what we do, and nobody's going to save us from ourselves but us.

 

[tanakar]

Dude...just the other day I was talking to a mormon who said that the church of latter day saints was the fastest growing religion in the world.

Meanwhile, church pews are sitting empty, congregations are aging, and churches of all denominations are figuring out new ways of filling seats.

IN CANADA. That's the problem with most of the stuff I have read in this thread. You guys take your city to mean the whole world. Think beyond your small part of the world.