Atheism on the Rise Among Gen Z

”Atheism Doubles Among Generation Z”

https://www.barna.com/research/atheism-d...eration-z/

More than any other generation before them, Gen Z does not assert a religious identity. They might be drawn to things spiritual, but with a vastly different starting point from previous generations, many of whom received a basic education on the Bible and Christianity. And it shows: The percentage of Gen Z that identifies as atheist is double that of the U.S. adult population. To examine the culture, beliefs and motivations shaping this next generation, Barna conducted a major study in partnership with Impact 360 Institute, now available in the brand new Gen Z report. In this release, we take a look at their views on faith, truth and the church in a time of growing religious apathy.

The term 'atheism' as it is used here is perhaps misleading.
What it seems to indicate is a lack of subservience to authority, and principally earthly authority at that.

There is another term, 'spiritual but not religious' which conveys a similar idea, and represents another growing demographic. This places more emphasis on opposition to earthly control, and leaves the question of god unexpressed.

The term 'atheism' as it is used here is perhaps misleading.
What it seems to indicate is a lack of subservience to authority, and principally earthly authority at that.

There is another term, 'spiritual but not religious' which conveys a similar idea, and represents another growing demographic. This places more emphasis on opposition to earthly control, and leaves the question of god unexpressed.

Agreed. I made a similar point in another thread about atheists claiming those who identify as "not religious" (which includes myself) being counted as atheists (which I am not). Apart form the deity issue, atheists almost universally deny the possibility of a spiritual reality (such as an afterlife).

If NDE research eventually comes up with experimental "proof" and if it's handled objectively without trying to make it fit the various doctrines, then maybe everyone (one day?) will accept that birth and death are not necessarily beginnings and endings and that there is a meaning and purpose to it all and we are responsible for our actions.

Based on history, I'm not very optimistic this will ever actually happen, though. I could sort of see something developing like the "love" movement of the sixties for a time, everyone full of fervour until it all  'petered out' once the novelty wore off ?

There is already enough data for the open minded IMHO, but it hasn't got through to the majority, partly I think because of the lies and propaganda from materialists and pseudo sceptics who don't want to know.

 Not quite on topic, just my thoughts.

Having more and more people understanding that the concept of authority is fundamentally irrational and self contradictory (You can't "choose" to "obey") is incredibly good though.

As for the whole NDE thing, I think the most dangerous thing would be for people to think there's any meaning or purpose to it since that's just propping those things up as the next authority... which is fundamentally irrational and self contradictory.

As for the whole NDE thing, I think the most dangerous thing would be for people to think there's any meaning or purpose to it since that's just propping those things up as the next authority... which is fundamentally irrational and self contradictory.

Not sure what you're getting at there, Mediochre. I would have thought what is experienced and reported in NDE's is just the opposite of that.

Not sure what you're getting at there, Mediochre. I would have thought what is experienced and reported in NDE's is just the opposite of that.

It's going to depend on how meaning and purpose are defined then

For example someone living longer (which is all afterlives/reincarnation amount to) doesn't mean they like peanut butter, or that love conquers all, or that chocolate is better than vanilla, or, or or. There is no "If X, Therefore Y" relationship beyond them having more time to do things. Although I would agree, I do like that better.

As for purpose, assuming purpose relates to idea like soul contracts or that the person has a mission to do in life or that life in and of itself ha the purpose of say teaching people so specific lesson. That comes back to the authority thing. Sure, someone else, maybe even  discreet entity with the power to create universes and whatnot, may have designed the universe to teach some lesson. But that's what they wanted, not me. I can reject that purpose if I feel like it, and if I do then it's not the purpose of anything.

This gets into a pretty large subject that relates very closely to both my alleged past life memories but also the many, many debates and outright fights I and, to a lesser degree, Dreamsoap had with spirits in life about. 

"Is interference okay?" 

In short, some (including me) argue no and others argue yes. It also then gets into a bunch of other closely related things like property ownership albeit not in the way that you'd think. For example, if you have so much knowledge experience and power with magic that you are capable of making your own universes including the souls inside of them, regardless of how they're generated, do you own those souls? Do you have the right to "teach" them whatver it is you want them to learn?

The general consensus as per the memories, is that as long as whatever you're doing isn't affecting whatever I'm doing, it's fine. So hey if one person wants to create a tortureverse, that's fine so long as the energy from that doesn't seep into someone else's whateververse. And especially that the souls from one don't somehow end up incarnating outside that universe.

Then you get into the more blurry areas of interference in naturally occurring universes (which this one probably is) where such containment doesn't exist and arguably isn't possible. Where maybe someone wants to go help some people. Let's say this person grew up human on an earth in some other dimension and eventually gained enough magic that they certainly appear godlike. Able to travel around the multiverse unaided and whatnot. And one day they go,  "Wow, it would've been really awesome if we had someone who could've helped us back then. I'm gonna go do that."  So now they go out to some other place with an earth And they decide they're going to, in some way, teach the people what they know, or protect them, or get rid of all teh bad people, or, or or.

Something that, due to the interconnected nature of the multiverse, would cause ripples that would then affect neighboring realities/dimensions/planes in way that can be somewhat hard to predict. Should that person be allowed to help out, directly or indirectly? Moreover, if they help out are the people really better for it or did they just learn to be more like the people who helped them rather than themselves? Did they really even need the help in the first place or is this something they could've figured out on their own? What if the people don't want or like the help? What recourse do they have against something that can probably wipe them all out in a flash? Generally the consensus was that, no, under no circumstances are people allowed to go out into the wilderness and start interacting with people whenever they want. There's just too much that can go wrong and it's too hard to monitor and control.

According to the memories, my job/hobby/passion, eventually, was to be a hunter killer seeking out people doing just that and, usually, kill them for it. Which isn't a bad as it sounds because everyone at that level understood that death wasn't much of a consequence so it was used pretty liberally. I say usually because the nice ones who had good intentions generally stopped as soon as they understood why it's not as helpful as it seems.

And although I have to say that all that stuff is "alleged" it still sets off all my alarms when I read things in NDE's that are like "Oh we have this destiny computer that can influence people's destinies" and "Oh sorry you don't get to die yet because we decided you still have things to do" and other stuff like that. Especially since one of the last things the memories say I (And I'm pretty sure Dreamsoap as well) did before incarnating here was deal with some guy and his cartel who had this great idea of "Oh we're going to read people's souls and determine who they are and what they're best suited for and then make them be that during their lives and everyone will be happy!" and surprise surprise it was completely totalitarian. There's way more I should probably say about that event but I don't really know how right now.

I'm hoping this is a decently comprehensive explanation but chances are it's not.

::EDIT::

I am painfully aware of how crazy everything I said sounds. Very, very painfully. It is a struggle not to delete it. Obviously I expect no one to believe or take it the slightest bit seriously.

If NDE research eventually comes up with experimental "proof" and if it's handled objectively without trying to make it fit the various doctrines, then maybe everyone (one day?) will accept that birth and death are not necessarily beginnings and endings and that there is a meaning and purpose to it all and we are responsible for our actions.

Based on history, I'm not very optimistic this will ever actually happen, though. I could sort of see something developing like the "love" movement of the sixties for a time, everyone full of fervour until it all  'petered out' once the novelty wore off ?

There is already enough data for the open minded IMHO, but it hasn't got through to the majority, partly I think because of the lies and propaganda from materialists and pseudo sceptics who don't want to know.

 Not quite on topic, just my thoughts.

I’m not sure if this is exactly “hopeful”, but I’ve found that my generation, Gen Z, have no idea that NDE’s/parapsychology even exists. I think if it had a bit more mainstream attention, younger people would be open minded about it. After all, belief in an afterlife has actually gone up despite a decline in religious belief. This is probably something all generations have felt, but I have a gut feeling that  radical change is coming to the world and the youth are going to lead it. I think we’ll see a change happening in politics, religion, science, etc. worldwide soon. People are sick of the status quo, at least I’ve found this to be true in my experience.

I am painfully aware of how crazy everything I said sounds. Very, very painfully. It is a struggle not to delete it. Obviously I expect no one to believe or take it the slightest bit seriously.

It takes all sorts to make a forum, Mediocre. I did read your post but the only piece of it I would comment on is this :

"Oh we have this destiny computer that can influence people's destinies"

You are of course referring to that NDE (I posted) reported by the Canadian broadcaster. I also struggle with hearing descriptions like that (of destiny altering machines) to say the least  Over the years though, there is a realistic consistent number of reported elements that crop up again and again. I feel they can give me an idea of what this other dimension might be like.