...sport psychologists find that spectatorship yields much the same kind of social, and spiritual, benefits as people obtain from church membership.Fans are passionate. They rally around a common goal and find friendship and community with other fans. Who you are, or what you believe in, become irrelevant in this type of setting. Given the huge popularity of sports and the fact that the number one watched sport happens to be on a Sunday...
The second interesting point in the article,
Anthropologist James Fraser proposed that scientific prediction and control of nature supplants religion as a means of controlling uncertainty in our lives. This hunch is supported by data showing that the more educated countries have higher levels of non-belief and there are strong correlations between atheism and intelligence.It really is no secret that the number of atheists and agnostics are very high in the sciences.
Another major factor, in my opinion, and not mentioned in the article, is the sheer lack of morals in many religious authorities today. Whether it be Catholic priests, or mega church leaders like Ted Haggard or Eddie Long. Even going back to Swaggert and Bakker. Even the Jones clown from World Dove Outreach and his Koran burning fiasco. More and more, religious leaders are seen as failing to have a moral compass.
Organized religion may for the most part go away someday. That will be well outside our lifetimes. But it won't be replaced by atheism or agnosticism. I visualize it being replaced by a simple spirituality that does not require multi-million dollar churches and shyster, hypocritical preachers. A spirituality that recognizes there is a higher power - call it god, call it what you will - that operates in this universe we call home, and can be manipulated for our own betterment. Unlike religion, which tends to take us in the opposite direction.
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