Theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss: Religion could be gone in a generation

[trotsky]

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/11/theoretical-physicist-lawrence-krauss-religion-could-be-gone-in-a-generation/

People should not assume that religion will always be a part of human society just because it has existed for so long, according to theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss. Religion could disappear in the span of a single generation.

“People say, ‘Well, religion has been around since the dawn of man. You’ll never change that.’ But I point out that… this issue of gay marriage, it is going to go away, because if you have a child, a 13-year-old, they can’t understand what the issue is. It’s gone. One generation is all it takes,” he said at an event called the Victorian Skeptics Cafe 2014.

...

“So, I can tell you a generation ago people said there is no way people would allow gay marriage, and slavery — essentially — [gone in] a generation, we got rid of it,” Krauss continued. “Change is always one generation away… so if we can plant the seeds of doubt in our children, religion will go away in a generation, or at least largely go away. And that’s what I think we have an obligation to do.”

Krauss was addressing whether religion should be taught to children in school. Though, as an atheist, he opposes religious education, he said he does support teaching comparative religion classes instead of completely “shying away” from the topic.

[rug]

1. Krauss is more likely.

Empiricism.

[Dont call me Shirley]

2. The churches will adapt to accepting gays before they will lose their money stream.

[skepticscott]

3. Krauss is rather naive

The fact that gay marriage will probably be legal all over the US within a generation does not mean that opposition to it will be completely and totally gone in that time. Slavery is not gone either, and that's something that people have actively campaigned to make illegal for a couple of centuries. There is no such movement to make religion illegal, so why he thinks it will go away when slavery hasn't is a mystery. Religion may change and it may become less important to a lot of people, but it won't be "gone" in any foreseeable time span.

[trotsky]

5. Agreed.

I think he also neglects that marriage equality didn't just happen recently, it took events and education for more than a generation or two.

But overall, I think it's a good point. Things can fall out of favor very quickly in human society. Perhaps even religion.

[skepticscott]

6. But usually when things fall out of favor

it's because they've been replaced by something else that people like better or that works better. For a good chunk of the population, there is no substitute for the security blanket of religion. It may be woven out of different cloth in 50 years, but people will still cling to it.

[bravenak]

4. We still have slavery and 13 year old bigots.

I find the idea of religion going away to be unlikely. We would ALL have to want it to go away, and that won'y happen anytime soon. Even if it did, somebody would invent a new one.