denisdman wrote:
Articles are coming out on this. Crazy to think that a country fighting over its religious identity for like 600 years (King Henry VIII right?) is becoming non religious.
“ The proportion of people who identify as Christian in England and Wales has fallen below half for the first time, census data shows.
Meanwhile, the number of people with “no religion” has almost trebled since the turn of the millennium.”
I thought this was well-known. Different studies routinely refer to the West as "post-Christian."
Check this map out:
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2 ... ommitment/Everyone talks about the enlightenment when it comes to the decline of religion, but equally if not more interesting is the industrial revolution. Most major religions were fused with specific social practices that were wiped out following the industrial revolution. The concept of dating, for example, is not possible without the industrial revolution - it helped separate children from families/communities since nearness to the latter in a new age of mass production/machinery was no longer required for children to socially and financially thrive. This led to the development of categories and practices we take for granted today, like someone being "single," or cohabitating before marriage, and so on. It's not all ideological - it's also due to new material conditions brought about by advances sparked during the industrial revolution.