Religion May Become Extinct in Nine Nations

Jason Palmer
Science and technology reporter, BBC News, Dallas

A study using census data from nine countries shows that religion there is set for extinction, say researchers.

The study found a steady rise in those claiming no religious affiliation.

The team's mathematical model attempts to account for the interplay between the number of religious respondents and the social motives behind being one.

The result, reported at the American Physical Society meeting in Dallas, US, indicates that religion will all but die out altogether in those countries.

The team took census data stretching back as far as a century from countries in which the census queried religious affiliation: Australia, Austria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Switzerland.

Their means of analysing the data invokes what is known as nonlinear dynamics - a mathematical approach that has been used to explain a wide range of physical phenomena in which a number of factors play a part.

One of the team, Daniel Abrams of Northwestern University, put forth a similar model in 2003 to put a numerical basis behind the decline of lesser-spoken world languages.

At its heart is the competition beween speakers of different languages, and the "utility" of speaking one instead of another.

"The idea is pretty simple," said Richard Wiener of the Research Corporation for Science Advancement, and the University of Arizona.

It posits that social groups that have more members are going to be more attractive to join, and it posits that social groups have a social status or utility.

"For example in languages, there can be greater utility or status in speaking Spanish instead of [the dying language] Quechuan in Peru, and similarly there's some kind of status or utility in being a member of a religion or not."

Dr Wiener continued: "In a large number of modern secular democracies, there's been a trend that folk are identifying themselves as non-affiliated with religion; in the Netherlands the number was 40%, and the highest we saw was in the Czech Republic, where the number was 60%."

The team then applied their nonlinear dynamics model, adjusting parameters for the relative social and utilitarian merits of membership of the "non-religious" category.

They found, in a study published online, that those parameters were similar across all the countries studied, suggesting that similar behavior drives the mathematics in all of them.

And in all the countries, the indications were that religion was headed toward extinction.

However, Dr Wiener told the conference that the team was working to update the model with a "network structure" more representative of the one at work in the world.

"Obviously we don't really believe this is the network structure of a modern society, where each person is influenced equally by all the other people in society," he said.

However, he told BBC News that he thought it was "a suggestive result".

"It's interesting that a fairly simple model captures the data, and if those simple ideas are correct, it suggests where this might be going."

"Obviously much more complicated things are going on with any one individual, but maybe a lot of that averages out."

from an e-mail sent to me

Views: 100

Comment

You need to be a member of 12160 Social Network to add comments!

Join 12160 Social Network

Comment by Marklar on June 30, 2012 at 7:55pm

Thank god.

Comment by suzie on June 30, 2012 at 1:49pm

religious affiliation becoming extinct is an interesting topic but i find this kinda incomplete ..   is God then becoming extinct ...  language is a funny thing ..  one might say "he's got religion" doesn't mean he got Methodism or Mormonism but it meant a relationship with his maker or God.  Many things can be considered religious affiliation. . Atheist don't like to admit it but they are "religious" in that belief and gather to discuss it religiously and also try to influence a world view as much as any organization... interesting ;)

"Destroying the New World Order"

TOP CONTENT THIS WEEK

THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING THE SITE!

mobile page

12160.info/m

12160 Administrators

 

Latest Activity

tjdavis posted a blog post
14 hours ago
Less Prone favorited tjdavis's video
14 hours ago
Doc Vega's 4 blog posts were featured
15 hours ago
tjdavis's 3 blog posts were featured
15 hours ago
Larry Harmen's blog post was featured
15 hours ago
tjdavis posted a photo
15 hours ago
MAC posted a discussion
yesterday
cheeki kea commented on cheeki kea's photo
Thumbnail

New jobs off shore

"It's not surprising many former workers are heading away for better opportunities after being…"
yesterday
cheeki kea posted photos
yesterday
tjdavis posted a photo
yesterday
tjdavis posted videos
yesterday
MAC posted a video

This is INSANE! The Biden administration is doing it in ALL 50 states! | Redacted w Clayton Morris

American Financing:N M L S 1 8 2 3 3 4, N M L S consumer access dot org. APR for rates in the 5s start at 6.799% for well qualified borrowers. Visit https://...
Friday
tjdavis posted a video

Pete Seeger on being Black Listed in America, 1965: CBC Archives | CBC

In this clip from 1965, folk singer and activist Pete Seeger talks about being black listed for "un-American activities" and his refusal to answer questions ...
Friday
tjdavis posted a photo
Friday
tjdavis posted a blog post
Friday
Doc Vega commented on Doc Vega's blog post Letitia James You know the one who Announced She was going after Donald Trump Now targets Ivermectin!
"The Communists from within will not let you co-exist they will continue to try to steal your…"
Thursday
Doc Vega posted a blog post

Letitia James You know the one who Announced She was going after Donald Trump Now targets Ivermectin!

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/wp-content/uploads/0-1468-600x313.jpg 600w,…See More
Thursday
Mr. Sizzle posted photos
Thursday
Mr. Sizzle favorited Doc Vega's blog post A Message to Illegal Aliens
Thursday
Doc Vega posted blog posts
Wednesday

© 2024   Created by truth.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service

content and site copyright 12160.info 2007-2019 - all rights reserved. unless otherwise noted