Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Adebowale Ojowuro on November 26, 2010 at 4:01pm

Oh yes, John! I truly get your point here, and it's very valid. What you really mean is that, as a result of these excessive birth rates, "There's a sucker born every minute," as Joseph Bessimer has rightly said. I agree 100%.

Permalink Reply by Hidden in the crowd. on November 23, 2010 at 1:35am

i think it shows that when an animal is pushed in to a corner it fights harder.

Permalink Reply by ɟǝןıx dǝʇɹɐɹ on November 23, 2010 at 9:04am

Mr Ojowuro, may I see the source of this information (that evangelism is on the rise in Africa)? Probably is true, probably is just evangelic propaganda.

If it is true, it has to do with the lack of critical thinking. Critical thinking is something people learn in school but it is not necessarily that schools teach critical thinking to the students. Many African states have a very great defficiency in educational system anyhow. If people are not taught to think critically, they are very vulnerable to toxic ideas: religious, political, etc and they can be manipulated easier. Sometimes this is the intent of the political system, to keep the people in dark and to control them better.

This is not exclusively an African phenomenon. Let's take Romania for example, my country of origin (I am actually from Transylvania but now it is in the same system). Romania was a communist country, an atheist regime. Contrary to what is known outside of the communist world, communists weren't very harsh on religions and let them be. I learned in school about evolution and other facts of science but they didn't teach us, the kids, how to think critically. Now the school system is also deteriorating.

They created a population that was good in sciences but without much critical thinking so now it is very vulnerable to religious ideas. Just look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religions_by_country . Romania is 99% religious (I don't believe that is the real data but the percentage is high nevertheless). I know wikipedia is not an academical source but there are cited good sources.

Permalink Reply by Adebowale Ojowuro on November 26, 2010 at 4:58pm

I think you need to visit the continent of Africa to get a firsthand experience of the alarming rate with which dogmatic evangelism is fast spreading like wildfire on the continent of Africa. There is no need for you to rely on any paper source that could be defective and out of order. The fact is very obvious here in our villages, towns, and cities. Therefore, you’d easily experience it live and direct, in practical demonstration. Should you be interested in following this line of investigation, I'd recommend that you commence your case study from Africa’s most populous city of Lagos. A city where all the industrial units, warehouses, and factories, which I grew up to know as a child have, in reality, been shut down and bought over by churches that converted these industrial premises into redundant properties. Unfortunately, the stronghold of organized religion all around the continent of Africa has bred very awkward delusions for my people to be contented with not understanding the world they live in. My people are extremely delusional to a fault, as they wholly engulfed, in an exceedingly baffling manner, in this very sickening plague of insanity called religion.

Permalink Reply by Adebowale Ojowuro on November 26, 2010 at 5:07pm

This is a response to my Romania friend's comment. I really don't know why it has registered under a different comment for which it's not intended.

Permalink Reply by Susan Stanko on November 26, 2010 at 5:13pm

If you look at the arrows you will see that it IS registered under the correct comment.

Permalink Reply by Geraldo Cienmarcos on November 23, 2010 at 10:55am

Dear Mr. Ojowuro,

What part of the world are you thinking of? The data, compiled by PEW and other organizations indicates that church and religious institution attendance and membership is in decline in North America and Western Europe.

On another thought, the criticism of religion tends to be intellectual. Nothing wrong with that, but that is not what people who find some scrap of positive fellowship and hope in organized religion are reading, nor is it he kind of materialistic material they seek to read -- if they read at all. So I'm not surprised that efforts in that venue to have failed.

There needs to be more secular community and social support centers to offer a magnet to draw people away from the exploitation of religious institutions. Unfortunately, the free thought community doesn't have the resources to compete with the religious centers.

Gary

Permalink Reply by Bryon on November 23, 2010 at 1:31pm

This is do to the decline of education and the growth of religion in politics. Secularism grows out of knowledge and the ability to think critically. With the stifling of education comes a reduction in intellectual curiosity. Education that is based upon teaching to the test is a turn off to both educators and students alike. In my mind it is a mater of values. So long as we value material and reality TV we are doomed. When we decide to value truth, justice, education and intellect again things will change. But I fear it will require a great fall before most of us will even see the hole.

Permalink Reply by Adebowale Ojowuro on November 26, 2010 at 5:16pm

Dear Mr. Cienmarcos,

Thanks for your insightful response to this discussion. I am actually refering to the continent of Africa as you can see in the elongated version of the question, recapped herein: "Despite the fact of substantial criticism from Non-Theists, the spread of doctrinaire evangelism has continued to be on the rise, as can be seen in the alarming rate at which countless self-styled prophets and professional preachers saturate every corner of our society with proliferate churches, most especially within the African society. Does this actually indicate that the series of our strong reproach of religion are totally futile and unproductive in the society?

Permalink Reply by Bryon on November 23, 2010 at 1:12pm

Religious propensity is directly related to levels of education. Critical thinking skills are vital to the growth of any society. People in this country (the US) are not interested in, generally, education and as a result we are rapidly being marginalized. In the US, education is being reduced to reading, writing, and math. Teachers and schools are being forced to teach to the tests, and other non-core education areas like, science, history, art and music are being scrapped. These are the areas that critical thinking skills are expressed most. Science education is almost non-existent before high school and if you want any real knowledge, you must wait for college and by then it is too late. Science literacy has been dropping steadily since the early 1980's and now it is becoming disastrous. Unemployment is hovering at 10%, yet there are more then 5 million high skill, high pay jobs that go unfilled do to lack of qualified applicants. This is a direct result of the decline in science based education. Business is not any better. One of the areas of critical thinking that is vital to the future of any business is forethought and a big picture view, but this has been replaced by a short term, get rich quick, narrow focus view, based on greed. The end result of this is obvious given the global catastrophe we have just endured and continue to endure. All of this, at root, is the effects of religion. The "stupefaction" of America began with the rise of the political religious right in the 1960's and while worship attendance may be going down in churches it is on the rise in the church of "American Idle" and "Dancing with the Stars". When did stupid become attractive? Evolutionarily it has not and that may spell doom for America's future. If it can happen here it can happen anywhere, just ask the Romans.

Permalink Reply by Susan Stanko on November 23, 2010 at 1:32pm

it is on the rise in the church of "American Idle" and "Dancing with the Stars".

How does this contribute to the "stupefaction" of America? Or do you mean that most people care more about American Idol and Dancing with the Stars then real issues?

Permalink Reply by Bryon on November 23, 2010 at 1:45pm

yes... The entrancement of the masses. The new opiate that keeps people right where advertisers and merchants of the useless want them. So long as we are content with the games, we don't notice the fleecing of the flock till it's too late. If it's not reality TV it will be something else. Keeping people distracted is the point. AI is just the newest incarnation of the gladiators in the arena while the fires are being lit and Nero warms up his lyre.

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