Is the West Becoming Pagan Again?

BidenPresident said:
This year, at the height of what used to be called the Christmas season, a Pew Research Center poll on religion revealed that only slightly more Americans described themselves as Roman Catholics (21 percent) than as believers in “nothing in particular” (20 percent). The millennial generation, which includes most adult Americans under 40, is the first one in which Christians are a minority.

Ms. Delsol is quite clear that what is ending is not the Christian faith, with its rites and dogmas, but only Christian culture — the way Christian societies are governed and the art, philosophy and lore that have arisen under Christianity’s influence.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/29/opinion/christianity-paganism-woke.html
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I believe America is leaving organized religion, but not necessarily turning to paganism.
 
Cypress said:
It probably sounds cooler, and makes better copy, than writing a headline claiming America is becoming atheist.

My sense is that Americans are becoming less engaged or enthusiastic about formal religious institutions, but they largely remain at least somewhat interested in the possiblity of a spiritual or metaphysical truth.
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To me Atheist should refer to those that make a conscious effort to believe there is no God.
What America has is a majority that doesn't spend a bit of time thinking about if there is a God or not.
Americans are self absorbed secular creatures caught up in American secular culture.There search is for pleasure and self satisfaction .
 
Mr Apollyon said:
To me Atheist should refer to those that make a conscious effort to believe there is no God.
What America has is a majority that doesn't spend a bit of time thinking about if there is a God or not.
Americans are self absorbed secular creatures caught up in American secular culture.There search is for pleasure and self satisfaction .
Click to expand...

Most Americans still identify as Christian.
 
Mr Apollyon said:
To me Atheist should refer to those that make a conscious effort to believe there is no God.
What America has is a majority that doesn't spend a bit of time thinking about if there is a God or not.
Americans are self absorbed secular creatures caught up in American secular culture.There search is for pleasure and self satisfaction .
Click to expand...

Most Americans still identify as Christian.
 
ThatOwlWoman said:
I'm surprised that they used the term "pagan," which would indicate a religious belief other than Christianity. Instead, more and more younger ppl are secular and/or atheist/agnostic. I am pagan; that is a belief system of its own and probably not what the author meant to say.

I should probably read the article before further comment. lol
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Agreed; paganism is a religious belief. The NYT link wouldn't let me read the article but I've seen the stats before; industrial nations are leaving dogmatic religions but still having spiritual awareness. The percentage of pure atheists remains low with most of the American Atheist numbers are inflated with "no religion", Buddhists and agnostics.

Since I can't see the NYT article and no one has posted the actual Pew link, so I'll use this one: https://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/

Unaffiliated (religious "nones") 22.8%
Atheist 3.1%
Agnostic 4.0%
Nothing in particular 15.8%
Don't know 0.6%
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Most people remain spiritual even when they no longer follow a particular religion.
 
Mr Apollyon said:
To me Atheist should refer to those that make a conscious effort to believe there is no God.
What America has is a majority that doesn't spend a bit of time thinking about if there is a God or not.
Americans are self absorbed secular creatures caught up in American secular culture.There search is for pleasure and self satisfaction .
Click to expand...

My two cents is that all of us are products of history and geography. History lies deep within us, even if we don't conciuosly realize it.

North America and Europe is the offspring of 2,000 years of culture which germinated in the ethical, cultural, and social traditions of the Abrahamistic faiths.

Naturally, it has been seasoned at the margins with a little eastern and south Asian thought, particularly as we incorporate more immigrants.

But, in this country, whether one is Christian or not, the vast majority of citizens have either directly or indirectly been influenced by the Judeo-Christian culture, ethics, and history this society has been stewing in for two thousand years. Even if only in the most oblique way.

I do not see us reverting to the values, ethics, or culture of Greco-Roman civilization, Aztec civilization, or archaic Celtic civilization.
 
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