Two thirds of teenagers don't believe in God

[Beorn]

Exactly.

A fact that has basically put me off organised religion for life.

But has it put you off of God/Gods? If so, why?

[Thorum]

People don't fight because of a religion, but because the religion is an extension of themselves.

Religions don't cause wars. People do.

We agree Wat!! Yes, religion is man-made. Nothing more than a made up fantasy...

[Beorn]

We agree Wat!! Yes, religion is man-made. Nothing more than a made up fantasy...

That is not what I said. I said war is man made dressed up in justification by religion.

[Rainraven]

Put has it put you off of God/Gods? If so, why?

It has put me off trying to fit my beliefs into any other persons set religion. I don't like the assumptions people make when you tell them your religion. I have my own set of morals and beliefs and while they may be similar to some other peoples, I doubt they would be exactly the same.

It has put me off discussing religion with people (). The majority of people start talking about their religion by saying "I'm not going to try press my beliefs on you but..."

In some regards these factors alone put me off a god/s. If there is a god/s does it matter if people believe in him/her/them? Except if one of these said religions is true then we'll all be kicking ourselves when judgement day comes. If there is no higher being/s then it hardly makes a difference either, it just gave people something to believe in and found them people of similar morals. Religion is a personal choice and if modern day teenagers don't believe in god then I can't see it as the end of the world.

If we want to say a lack of belief in God is leading to a slide in morals and goodness in the world then perhaps we have a problem worth discussing. However I think this is more of a symptom of something bigger than a cause.

[Beorn]

Religion is a personal choice and if modern day teenagers don't believe in god then I can't see it as the end of the world.

Then what is to stop the people of one cohesive culture from replacing the indigenous disparate culture?

However I think this is more of a symptom of something bigger than a cause.

Would you care to elaborate that thought?

[Rainraven]

Then what is to stop the people of one cohesive culture from replacing the indigenous disparate culture?

The indigenous culture has the advantage of being longstanding. People are usually not fond of change and such an event would take a number of generations. To stop it happening the indigenous culture needs to keep up with the times. While old things that have been around for hundreds of years may appeal to adults, to teenagers they seem stuffy and old-fashioned. It would also be interesting to come back to the group in 10 years and see how their ideas have changed. It may just be a fact that teenagers are no longer interested in religion and without their parents forcing it on them they don't have any beliefs on the matter. In their later years with some more experience and maturity they may begin to have a desire to believe in something more than this little world.

Would you care to elaborate that thought?

I think the majority of teenagers are becoming more materialistic and selfish. I have nothing to compare this to and no real basis of this assumption but my own thoughts. It seems to me that as everything becomes easier we become less willing to do anything for ourselves and teenagers especially just want to spend all their time playing on their toys, or getting drunk/high then doing any real work.

Why would these people take an hour out of their Sunday morning sleep in to pay penance to a god? They are filled with a self confidence that they can do what they like and they are always right. This itself does not lend to the acknowledgement of a higher being or answering to someone other than themselves.

[Beorn]

To stop it happening the indigenous culture needs to keep up with the times.

Like enrolling in the OPs article?

[Útrám]

The Flynn effect could account for this, as humankind ages it becomes less genetically predisposed to blind faith.

[Thorum]

The Flynn effect is the rise of the average intelligence quotient (IQ) test scores over generations (IQ gains over time). It is an effect seen in most parts of the world, although at greatly varying rates. It is named after James R. Flynn, who did much to document it and promote awareness of its implications. However, the authors of The Bell Curve were the first to coin the label and not Flynn himself.[1] This increase has been continuous and roughly linear from the earliest days of testing to the present. "Test scores are certainly going up all over the world, but whether intelligence itself has risen remains controversial," psychologist Ulric Neisser wrote in an article in 1997 in The American Scientist.[2] The Flynn effect may have ended in some developed nations starting in the mid 1990s although other studies, such as Black Americans reduce the racial IQ gap: Evidence from standardization samples (Dickens, Flynn; 2006), still show gains between 1972 and 2002. [Wiki]

[Cato]

Then it's time to give them a new conception of God to believe in rather than the self-abasing suffering savior or the violence-crazed jihadi.