Popularities Influence On Religion

Nick from the forums brought up a few interesting questions about the influence of majority opinion when it comes to religion.

Christianity is so mainstream, at least here in America. Ask someone what religion they are, and they will most likely say that they are of the Christian faith.

My question is if someone knew of the religion but knew that no one practiced it, would they still become a Christian?

Do people really believe so strongly in these things or do they just THINK that they do because the majority of the population believes the same?

Is it like a school or club where everyone just wishes to fit in, or are there really honest beliefs in a God and “The Messiah” despite proven sciences supporting something else?

I am willing to bet many Christians would respond to these questions saying “Yes I would still be a Christian.” What if it were shunned upon to be a Christian? Would you still believe in what you do?

Here in America, I think it is somewhat brave to be an Atheist, at least an open one. It is very frowned upon here, mainly because of huge misunderstanding. When you tell someone that you are an Atheist (at least a Christian, which makes up most all of the population) they immediate hold somewhat of a resentment against you, which is unfortunate for me if it ever is a topic for employment.

I would say that religions tend to evolve, growing exponentially, branching off into different doctrines etc, so majority opinion must have at least something to do with it. If it were shunned to be a Christian I doubt very much that believers would change their minds. It seems that the only way to get someone to “choose” to believe something else is to present them with evidence contrary to their beliefs. Like all the great religions, Christianity has implemented factors to stop people deconverting:

Fear that everyone who doesn’t believe will go to Hell.
Reassurance that only believers are the correct ones (The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”).
Brainwashing that is used to enforce the view that anything (be it science, another religion, literature, etc) that is against the Biblical view in any way is wrong.

Atheists are very brave people since a large percentage of them have broken free from the above control methods, and have openly accepted their fate, whatever it may be. Those who weren’t brought up in a particular faith are equally as brave for resisting it’s advances.

What do you think? Give your opinions to Nick in the forums.

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Written by Adrian Hayter

May 31st, 2008 at 6:33 am

Posted in atheism, belief, christianity, religion

Tagged with atheism, atheist, belief, christianity, evidence, forums, religion, science

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Comments to “Popularities Influence On Religion”

Nasamat Says:
June 1st, 2008 at 6:05 pm (GMT)

What we tend to forget is that most destruction is man-made. Natural disasters had no hand in the unbelievable destruction that occurred in the heart of Europe in the first half of the twentieth century. Natural disasters have had no hand in the destruction that has taken place in Iraq, for example. We tend to overlook man-made destruction, but when it comes to natural disasters, some of us yell out, “Why does God do this to us ?”

Practical-minded people get down to work at once to mend the destruction, leaving to God what is God’s and to Ceasar what is Ceasar’s. Sometimes the destructors themselves rush to reconstruction. The U.S., who helped bring down Hitler’s Reich and Japan’s empire, put in place the Marshall Plan to rebuild postwar Europe and Japan. A thriving Baby boomer generation enjoyed the fruits of that reconstruction, thus turning the page on the horrors of the War their fathers had witnessed. “Unhappiness of some makes the happiness of others,” as the French proverb goes.

Now the Chinese say it will take up to three years to resettle the survivors. This means that a lot of (Chinese) people will have a lot of work, a steady income for at least three years. A lot of companies will thrive during this period and a lot of trade will take place. Some Chinese parents who lost their children in government-run schools are now blaming the government for the disaster, claiming that the schools had been constructed poorly. Now, not only those demolished schools, but the whole (old) infrastructure is going to be much better than it had been before the earthquake. This will give the opportunity to newly graduated engineers to prove their worth, to build their personal lives.

Idem for Burma. Idem for any other disaster-hit place. Destruction is followed by reconstruction. And when souls are “reconstructed”, Muslims rebuild their mosques , Christians rebuild their churches, Bhuddists rebuild their temples, agnostics repeat their eternal indestructible question, “Why did that happen in the first place ?”