JOFTAA
March 28th, 2011, 09:34 AM
They're trying to kill off God again.
Back in April 1966, Time magazine ran its most provocative cover ever, asking, 'Is God Dead?'
Now, what Time tried to do in letters forty-years ago, math is now attempting to do by the numbers.
Researchers who've culled through census records, say religion may be headed to extinction in Canada and eight other Western nations.
The mathematicians looked at 85 nations, and their theory was recently presented at the American Physical Society meeting in Dallas.
Among the countries where religion is threatened are Australia, Austria, the Czech Republic, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Switzerland and here in Canada. The U.S. wasn't looked at, because they haven't kept track of religion on their census forms.
The fastest-growing trend in countries such as Canada, the researchers found, is for people to list 'unaffiliated' under their religious affiliation.
The breakdown of the breakdown is largely long lines of data and numbers and a head-scratching formula, though Richard Wiener, who helped tabulate the results, concluded: "Our model predicts that in many modern secular societies, religions will continue to lose members and be driven toward extinction."
The time when religion can be buried hasn't been exactly pinned down, and they admit theirs is only a "suggestive result" that could be off from the real world.
Their nonlinear dynamics modelling can be applied to more than just the end of organized belief, says Wiener and fellow researchers.
It's been used to predict about 80% to 90% of languages in use today will die in this century.
Wiener says their number crunching may also be used to predict the future of meat eaters, smokers and even Mac versus PC users.
But not everyone is convinced you can call an end to religion so easily.
"Religion relies on human beings -- they aren't rational or predictable according to the laws of physics," Barry Kosmin, a demographer at Trinity College in Connecticut, pointed out to CNN.
During the last census in Canada, the majority of adults in the nation said they are connected to a religion. Which means, for most Canadians, the answer asked by Time magazine in 1966 is still a 'no'.
Back in April 1966, Time magazine ran its most provocative cover ever, asking, 'Is God Dead?'
Now, what Time tried to do in letters forty-years ago, math is now attempting to do by the numbers.
Researchers who've culled through census records, say religion may be headed to extinction in Canada and eight other Western nations.
The mathematicians looked at 85 nations, and their theory was recently presented at the American Physical Society meeting in Dallas.
Among the countries where religion is threatened are Australia, Austria, the Czech Republic, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Switzerland and here in Canada. The U.S. wasn't looked at, because they haven't kept track of religion on their census forms.
The fastest-growing trend in countries such as Canada, the researchers found, is for people to list 'unaffiliated' under their religious affiliation.
The breakdown of the breakdown is largely long lines of data and numbers and a head-scratching formula, though Richard Wiener, who helped tabulate the results, concluded: "Our model predicts that in many modern secular societies, religions will continue to lose members and be driven toward extinction."
The time when religion can be buried hasn't been exactly pinned down, and they admit theirs is only a "suggestive result" that could be off from the real world.
Their nonlinear dynamics modelling can be applied to more than just the end of organized belief, says Wiener and fellow researchers.
It's been used to predict about 80% to 90% of languages in use today will die in this century.
Wiener says their number crunching may also be used to predict the future of meat eaters, smokers and even Mac versus PC users.
But not everyone is convinced you can call an end to religion so easily.
"Religion relies on human beings -- they aren't rational or predictable according to the laws of physics," Barry Kosmin, a demographer at Trinity College in Connecticut, pointed out to CNN.
During the last census in Canada, the majority of adults in the nation said they are connected to a religion. Which means, for most Canadians, the answer asked by Time magazine in 1966 is still a 'no'.