The Internet Will Lead to Religion’s Downfall

The same can be said of doctors. Of course, I’m not suggesting medical practitioners are charlatans like religious leaders, not at all. But before the internet, they were revered and respected more and their special skills were put up on a pedestal. Now people go to the doctor usually having googled all their symptoms, and come ready with the right questions. And often they know what they want prescribed too. Sometimes doctors google during consultations too, at first I found this not very confidence inspiring, but not I just think why not, they should use the best information available to them to help their patient.

I’ll believe it when I see it.

I have occasionally considered getting one of my ex-catholic relatives to write to the Pope about how dangerous the internet is to the faithful; to see if he denounces the internet (like what happened when the German lady wrote to him about how bad Harry Potter is…) Probably won’t, but it’d be an interesting experiment…

Frankly I’m a bit more upset about the magic shops than the churches.

When I came out as a nonbeliever to my mom a few days back, she blamed the Internet specifically, calling it a “tool of the devil.” What she doesn’t realize is that I started out on the Internet trying to engage my beliefs, even going into atheist chat rooms at 16 and overconfidently trying to propose arguments against atheism. (I continued to do this, but the forums and sophistication [sophistry?] of my arguments changed somewhat.) One of the best things the Internet did for me was to expose me to different views, not only with atheism but with a wide range of issues (like homosexuality and evolution). I obviously consider this a net gain, but if your primary goal is the conservation of ideology, then the Internet will not always be your best friend.

And their special skills should still be placed on a pedestal. While you might be able to Google your syndrome and how complicated it is to perform a complex surgery it still takes a highly skilled doctor to perform the operation.

If I visit a doctor and he is using Google to figure out what is wrong with me I’m going to go find a new doctor.

“…eventually help lead to a rapid decline…”
Speeding up an existing erosion, surely?

I’d be a large part of what a Dr. does could be done with Google.  It’s the part that can’t that they get paid for.

I could see a show like “The Masked Magician” called “The Masked Theologian,” where a theologian shows how the illusions of religion work. 

If you want to read an interesting take on this, read Clive Barker’s “Mister B. Gone”…

Also, to further your point, secular counselors who hold licenses and/or certain certificates have peer-review and the scientific method as well as decades of theoretical frameworks and best-practices on their side.

wishful thinking people,the internet will cause an explosion to christianity.the more it becomes available to the poor,the billions in china and india,the crushed by islam in the middle east,when they discover the love of christ,lookout….the internet is brilliant and we will be using it to its maximum potential.booyeh

The internet has certainly caused a rise in paganism as people discover that religion is a multiple-choice question.

I disagree, and the reason has been stated by others.  The printing press didn’t do away with religion because people still fundamentally prefer to be told what to think than to suss it out for themselves.  The internet, as we all know, is maddeningly awash in contradictory claims of truth, and its democratic openness means that anyone can confirm just about any belief since there will be a page/forum/community to defend it online.

And as Bruce Wright stated, even if on the decline, magic shops still serve a minimal function as a meeting space for like-minded people.  Even if non-belief is on the rise, people still need to congregate, and churches still serve that function in society.

I too am incredibly optimistic about the spreading of more freely available knowledge, and the good results that must ensue.  But let’s not forget that churches and organized religions are extremely crafty and they know the Internet can be a tool for them as well. 

Rest assured there are millions of believers currently going all-out to engage their congregations and like-minded friends via web pages, blogs, tweets, Facebook pages, shared calendars, e-cards, online annotated Bibles, and any other tool that has been dreamed up.  From their perspective, it’s a competition for souls, and let’s not fool ourselves that they’re just sitting around going “well shucks, now people can Google up competing viewpoints, we might as well throw in the towel.”

Religion is a mental health issue and a plague. Knowledge and education are the cure. I didn’t need to Google that to know it either. I just wish more theists could “step back” from their belief system and see it for what it really is. Fear of death and punishment or hope of eternal happiness is no reason to live by the rules and laws from a 2,000+ year old manual that was written by scientifically ignorant people with little to no understanding of the natural world. Just boggles my mind why seemingly rational people can’t reason this out.

 LOL.  I was hoping someone would pick up on that.  I’m glad it was you.  Believe it or not, I am rather skeptical.

Wouldn’t it be cooler if he weren’t a bigot?

Besides, I didn’t know that turning a blind eye towards hate was the cool thing these days.

Bigot shmigot. What’s to differentiate? All religions are messed up. I prefer to label myself an anti-theist because I despise all religions, not just Christianity. And since you can’t seem to take atheists seriously might I suggest that you too are a bigot. Have a great day!

I think you and FSq compare notes.

So, you’re not a bigot.  You must be practicing a secular version of “hate the sin but love the sinner”.

(Only, that approach is roundly decried around these parts.)

However, if you hate the delusion but not the deluded one, then you shouldn’t have any problem with those who find homosexual acts sinful but still love the sinner.

Got it.

In any event being blinded by your bigotry, combined with your penchant for rationalization, I doubt that you could comprehend the facts of the matter in and of themselves.

But please, stop the hate.

I’m a little torn here.

I actually agree with you that here in our echo chamber we egg each other on and our rhetoric gets more and more extreme.

On the other hand, I don’t disagree in principle with anything T-Rex said.  I don’t think ‘plague’ is really an accurate word, and intentionally carries negative connotations.  And ‘mental health issue’ is also intentionally abrasive, but to be honest Nordog, I think ALL theists are just plain wrong about their theism.  And I don’t think it helps to sugar coat that.  I’ve jettisoned enough crazy beliefs in the past that I can only assume I still have some of my own.  I hope to discover them at some point.

I’m struggling with ‘hate the sin but not the sinner’.  You may have a point, but I’m just not ready to accept it yet.  I think perhaps a difference is that I think your religious beliefs are harmless.  Not only do I not hate you, but I don’t hate your beliefs because they’re not making you do bad things to other people.  Maybe that’s a semantic distinction in my attempt to deflect, I dunno.  It’s hard for me to compare since I really don’t know what it’s like to hate homosexuality.  Let’s put it this way, I deep down feel no desire to make you change your mind.  Honestly.  I enjoy theological banter, but I really don’t expect you to change your mind, and I really have no stake in it.  I think an anti-gay Christian would always want a gay person to never have sex with a person of the same sex.  Does that make my version of ‘love the sinner’ any different?

My beef with religion is that a) it does lead some people to do horrible things and b) the good that religion causes people to do could be done without religion.  With the minor caveat that I have met a few people who truly seem to need faith to keep doing good things.  Before they had faith, they were shitheads.  But most theists I’ve ever encountered, I honestly think would be doing the same good works with no belief in the supernatural involved.

Been away, so this reponse comes late.

Rich, thanks for your response, particularly I am struck by…

“… but to be honest Nordog, I think ALL theists are just plain wrong about their theism.”

You know, that is a perfectly respectful way of stating the truth.  And even if you think theism is “crazy” one can still mention that in a respectful way, “No offense, but I think what you believe is crazy.”

You strike me as the type of person who can and does take the respectful route when discussing even the less pleasant aspects of a disagreement.

Regarding religion and what makes people “good” I have a different approach.

People do bad things, but no one wants to do bad things.  People either believe the bad thing they do is good, or they rationalize it.  Those who rationalize it will draw on what they have.  A theist will likely draw on some rationalized aspect of faith; an atheist will draw on something else.

At one time I was an agnostic.  I couldn’t quite go so far as to say there was no creator or creative power to everything, but I was close.  I specifically and explicitly rejected the Bible, Christianity, and genrally rejected all other religions altogether.

When I came to the faith it wasn’t because of some Bible verse, or the idea that I would be a better person.  I came to the faith because I came to be convinced, through a personal experience, that it was true.  This is why I still have faith despite the fact that some of the worst people I’ve run across are Christians (which is also why so many of the criticisms of Christians on thie blog have such power; they are true).

In any event, if you make it out to Los Angeles, let me buy you a beer.  I would love to chat with you at length.