How many true religious believers are there in the world now?
If you look at the global picture you will find that the majority of religious people are so, not because of choice but because religion was forced upon them through culture and/or by law. Indonesia, for example, which has the world's largest Muslim population, decrees religion. Other countries prescribe the death penalty for denouncing the prescribed religion. Many societies have become displaced, people are fleeing in masses to escape the oppressive religious rule they were made to endure.
In civilized western society, religion is well and truly on the decline, France has declared itself secular and prohibited the wearing of any religious adornments in schools. In Australia, the latest government census found that one-third of the population identified as having no religious affiliation (this was a non-compulsory question). Looking deeper one finds that of those who call themselves Catholic, less than 14% regularly attend Church.
Does this show that those who identify with a religion give it no more than lip service?
Or, are they merely fence-sitters taking a two-way bet "just in case" God exists (in which case if there is a God, He would see straight through the sham anyway)?
We are entitled to assume that the number of true believers in a civilized society is very low and, although religion is not "forced" upon a hapless population as in less developed societies, we can reasonably believe that there is a certain amount of pressure from families and within some communities, for some people to "go along" with a religious belief.
Given that religious belief has well and truly declined in western civilized society isn't it time for religious followers to exercise their freedom of thought, take stock and think, "is there any truth in what reputable un-biased, qualified pillars of our society are telling us in that there is no such thing as God, no such thing as a master who controls us and no such thing as an afterlife?
Can we do a lot better, (in this day and age of freedom of thought and education) than cling onto ancient, draconian ways of thinking and living based on purely mythological doctrines?
Can we also start to question the motives, honesty, and morality of those in religious officialdom?
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