Stephan: I have always made a very clear distinction between spirituality and religion. Spirituality is something innate to being a living being, it is the nonlocal aspect of our consciousness; it reveals to us that we are part of a greater unity.
Religion in contrast is entirely human created, exploitative of spirituality, often grounded in the words of people who have had nonlocal consciousness experiences, but who are otherwise often very disturbed individuals. Frequently sexual dysfunctionality plays a big role, which is why in so many religions women are made subordinate. Religion almost always also postulates dogmatic positions that are not in accord with actual facts, demanding that followers adhere to beliefs that create violence, pain, and death. More people have died as a result of religion than anything else in human culture.
But now humanity faces a challenge unlike anything we have ever faced before, and religion in the United States. I am afraid, has become the principal obstacle to our preparing to meet it. Look at the map that accompanies this report, and you will notice immediately the strong correlation between religiosity, poor health, low education level attainment, and conservative politics.
We need the guidance of spirituality, Based on social outcome data we can not say the same about the religiosity of christofascism.
Forty-five percent of Americans living in the Southwest and 43% in the Southeast are “very religious” — a classification based on how important people say religion is to them and how often they attend religious services. They are the only two of the nation’s eight regions with at least 40% of their residents classified as very religious. The percentage is below 30% in the Pacific and New England regions, while religiosity is in the 30s across the center of the country from the Rockies to the Mid-Atlantic.
Religiosity in U.S. Regions
Very religious
Moderately religious
Not religious
%
%
%
Southwest
45
31
23
Southeast
43
31
26
West Central
39
29
32
East Central
37
29
34
Rockies
35
27
38
Mid-Atlantic
33
30
36
Pacific
29
28
43
New England
26
26
48
GALLUP U.S. DAILY, JANUARY-DECEMBER 2017
The regional results are based on 130,959 interviews conducted in Gallup’s U.S. Daily survey in 2017. The data include more than 6,000 interviews in every region and at least 350 interviews in each state — with more than 1,000 in most states.
Gallup classifies Americans into three categories:
Very religious Americans say religion is important to them, and they attend religious services weekly or almost weekly.
Moderately religious Americans either say religion is important to them, or they […]
Stephan, you say: “More people have died as a result of religion than anything else in human culture.” Really? You must be channeling your inner Millennial. That is a popular belief among the inadequately-educated rising generations, but it is demonstrably false. Reckoned conservatively, the Nazis have been attributed with 11 million intentional killings of non-combatants, and Stalin with 9 million deaths (unless you’re counting atheism as a religion?). And this from Wikipedia, which estimates that 40,000,000 or “ approximately 5% of the world’s population were killed during Turco-Mongol invasions or in their immediate aftermath. If these calculations are accurate, this would make the events the hitherto deadliest acts of mass killings in human history.”
On the other hand, the best estimate I could find (from Quora) of religious killings topped out about 31 million total (though this figure didn’t include the Muslim conquests). I could go on, but I think that’s more than enough to throw your assertion into doubt.
Stephan Schwartz
on Saturday, April 7, 2018 at 3:28 pm
You have made a common mistake, Paul. You have confused war with religious struggle. Often death on the basis of religion is not about armies, it is about civil struggle in a society.
In fact Mao and Stalin caused the deaths of over 100 million people. Forty five million died in China during the Cultural Revolution one of whose central aspects was the struggle between religion and the anti-spirituality of communism, recognized by historians as a kind of materialist atheist religion. One of the notable things about China today, is the complete separation of religion and the state as a result of that struggle.
Although it gets very little coverage the Nazis movement had a strong religious aspect, The central Nazis philosophy was an occult religious struggle.
All of the death in the Middle East today is at its core a struggle in the name of religion, same with the civil struggles in Africa.
The Crusades of the middle ages were entirely fought in the name of religion on both sides.
The Roman Catholic/Protestant reformation struggle that raged in Europe for centuries was justified in the name of religion. The civil strife that raged in Ireland during the 20th century was based on religion.
I could go on and on.
Gus diZerega
on Sunday, April 8, 2018 at 3:15 pm
The Muslim conquest of India is estimated to have caused 80 million deaths. The TaiPing Rebellion in China caused around 20 million. In both religion was an overwhelming factor- Islam in the first and Christianity in the second.
Forty-five percent of Americans living in the Southwest and 43% in the Southeast are “very religious” — a classification based on how important people say religion is to them and how often they attend religious services. They are the only two of the nation’s eight regions with at least 40% of their residents classified as very religious. The percentage is below 30% in the Pacific and New England regions, while religiosity is in the 30s across the center of the country from the Rockies to the Mid-Atlantic.
Stephan, you say: “More people have died as a result of religion than anything else in human culture.” Really? You must be channeling your inner Millennial. That is a popular belief among the inadequately-educated rising generations, but it is demonstrably false. Reckoned conservatively, the Nazis have been attributed with 11 million intentional killings of non-combatants, and Stalin with 9 million deaths (unless you’re counting atheism as a religion?). And this from Wikipedia, which estimates that 40,000,000 or “ approximately 5% of the world’s population were killed during Turco-Mongol invasions or in their immediate aftermath. If these calculations are accurate, this would make the events the hitherto deadliest acts of mass killings in human history.”
On the other hand, the best estimate I could find (from Quora) of religious killings topped out about 31 million total (though this figure didn’t include the Muslim conquests). I could go on, but I think that’s more than enough to throw your assertion into doubt.
You have made a common mistake, Paul. You have confused war with religious struggle. Often death on the basis of religion is not about armies, it is about civil struggle in a society.
In fact Mao and Stalin caused the deaths of over 100 million people. Forty five million died in China during the Cultural Revolution one of whose central aspects was the struggle between religion and the anti-spirituality of communism, recognized by historians as a kind of materialist atheist religion. One of the notable things about China today, is the complete separation of religion and the state as a result of that struggle.
Although it gets very little coverage the Nazis movement had a strong religious aspect, The central Nazis philosophy was an occult religious struggle.
All of the death in the Middle East today is at its core a struggle in the name of religion, same with the civil struggles in Africa.
The Crusades of the middle ages were entirely fought in the name of religion on both sides.
The Roman Catholic/Protestant reformation struggle that raged in Europe for centuries was justified in the name of religion. The civil strife that raged in Ireland during the 20th century was based on religion.
I could go on and on.
The Muslim conquest of India is estimated to have caused 80 million deaths. The TaiPing Rebellion in China caused around 20 million. In both religion was an overwhelming factor- Islam in the first and Christianity in the second.