depends on your definition of evil. Voudon/Vodun is actually a very interesting religion, it's not all "Voodoo Dolls" and stuff out of "Live & Let Die"... The modern Amercianised version is called Voodoo and is more for tourists in New Orleans.
I would have thought that most people have no religion but that suprisingly came second by a longshot too! As the years go by I think the "None" staistic will grow. Go back a hundred years and half the religions on that list wouldn't exist and there would be very few "None".
i agree. as it becomes more and more apparant to people that the effort they put into work, is THEIR effort and not their gods, then certainly it will grow that more and more people have no religion! Its been a long time in the running has religion, and only recently have we been able to disprove with physics and science how much of it couldn't exist! As generations go by we will see how it all pans out! Lets hope we can all live to 1000
In reply to the 'none' will go up theory, you might actually be surprised at how the increase won't be that great. Many people still list themselves proudly as christian even tho they never practice their religion nor go to church or obey the 10 commandments yet by ticking the 'christian' box they automatically add one more to the list - which is why Jedi is't strictly a religion as how can anyone measure what they do to prove their religion? it's just people ticking a box. And even though there's substantial evidence to show that christianity is in decline, the amount of members in other religions such as muslim and sikhism and New Religious Movements is on the increase, which stops the 'none' category going up by much as people are changing faiths and in some cases combining different elements from a range of religions to form a new one.
thus leading to the possible emerging homoegenous global culture argument p.s york is quite boring tonight, everyone has gone home.
How the hell can satanism be held as a religion? It's a load of bull**** made up by 14 year olds. If you're going to be an evil little ****er, at least take responsibility for it yourself, instead of wearing Marilyn Manson hoodies and proclaiming to be a "satanist". It's pathetic. Me, I'm a nihilist. edit: swear filter broken?
14 yr old's don't fill out the census and satanism was around long before marilyn manson and the spooky kids.
People put Christian because they don't have the guts to admit what they know in their heart (that its crap). So they just go with the flow, just in case . . . and also then they get the buy into heaven/hell crap instead of just a death where worms are eating your brain.
Penski, Didn't mean to flame. It's just that all the people I've heard use the term before fit into the description I just posted. It just annoys me when little kids call themselves satanists because they wear black eyeliner and try to be oh-so-evil. No, I don't know what real satanism is. I will find out before I post about it in future. Sorry.
Religion isn't worth the trouble it causes, have you lot any idea how many people have died because of Religion, it's just stupid, the sad thing is a lot of confused people experienced something they couldn't explain due to their limited understanding of everything and from those unintentional lies spawned rumours and from those rumours people profitted by telling stories and essentially exploiting the infancy of humanity to a point where everyone who believes in religion has been conned. Thank you, you're all living a lie.
Now that was a well structured point and I agree. Not only that but it's blown my theory out the window Emzay. Since a lot of people who tick the Christian box won't be practising Christians, are the really Christian? Perhaps I was right? Maybe there are more people who consider themselves to be Christian than those who actually are Christian. Looking at those stat's though it's a long shot. Now on to _the_ question LayZeh. Religions purpose, existance and relivance in todays socieity all summed up in my one forum post (or perhaps not ). I belive religion was created for a good reason by some very inteligent people. The reason it was created for was obvious, to bring order and peace to mankind by striking fear into them and perhaps also created to comfort people. The feeling of being watched over and expecting to pass on to another better life sounds better than being totally alone just living out your days for no reason right? Does it do more damage than good though? It's really hard to say. Yes it has been responsible for many terrible things and still is but perhaps without it things would be worse? Back in the "olden days" (or so I'm told) people were more respectable. I have heard that people would leave houses unlocked, I wouldn't want to risk doing that now. It's asking for trouble. Something has changed people. Perhaps it's a lack of religion? Until you entiely eradicate religion you can't say it was a good thing or a bad thing in my opinion. I think it has both good and bad points. I think it's safe to say that while the "None" figure won't rise to quickly because of the other factors Emzay pointed out, it's safe to say the figure has risen a lot over the past 50 years say. Religion is the endless discussion. You can discuss it forever and still have no answer.
Just so you know not all those that claim to be satanists dress like that, if you were to put me in a crowd of people you would not be able to instantly tell that I was a satanist. The religion was originally invented by (I'll have to check this) a 30+ year old though many sub-religions have been made off it by people who are 14. I took the time before posting this to read up a little on nihilism (sp?) and I personally don't think its possible to be a true nihilist. If you would like to continue, or elaborate on this I would be wiling to over pms or msn, but I don't want it to be a juveinile argument over the forums.
I would like to know why you think it is not possible to be a true nihilist - consider yourself msn'd.
Surely if you *really* didnt think that anything had value, was important, you would act however you pleased regardless of the consequences, and would therefore be in prison most likely. The fact that you're sitting at your pc suggests that you have an income to buy the thing (ie/ a job!) and are therefore contributing to the system in terms of your time. The further fact that you're on a pc modding forum suggests you waste a fair bit of time where you are now, (as we all do!) sitting quietly out of the way of society. Either that, or you're a teenage goth sitting at home. .. or mabye you were joking - one of the three!
If you honestly can't understand the idea of faith then thats fine - as the figures given show, the majority (the vast majority!) of people do. Even given that many of those who put a religion down won 't be practising members, this still says something perhaps about a human need for faith? And if that's there in the modern world, I doubt it will go away. As someone above said, the figures for religious followers are unlikely to fall too far in the forseeable future.
There are two types of Joe Satanist, there is your delusional idiot that believes satan is an actual being that exists in some tangible way, similar to the christian view of "God". The main type of satanist however would be the one that sees satanism as a metaphore for the carnal nature of man, a nature which has often been assigned the christian term "evil". The majority of modern satanists are members or followers of "the church of satan" founded in 1969 by Dr. Anton LaVey. The group uses satan as a symbol to represent the carnal nature of man and also to "have fun ****ing off the church in general". Most people would find the philosophy suprisingly refined and the church of satan has many books written either by LaVey or other prominant followers, including the satanic bible which appears to be being bycotted by many large book-chains. The member of the British navy who was at the centre of recent controversy after being allowed freedom to practise his religion on a navy vessel was a member of this church. Often satansim is lumped in with occultism and as a result some people follow the works of the famous, gay, English, poet Aleister Crowley who whilst not directly pinned down to anything as formal as a full blown satanic religion proved to be an inspiration/influence to many. These types are in the minority though. Rather different from some baby-killing, obscure faux-cult invented by pop-metal stars such as "manson" and "slipknot" i think you'd agree.
