the Religion of Niwrad

The atheistic evolutionary doctrines resemble a religion in many ways. They have their priests who preach the doctrine, their great prophet Darwin, and their minor prophets, dating back many years before Darwin. Their tenets are laid out and need to be accepted by faith. If you don't believe in them, you may be ridiculed, shunned, or even put out of the church. If you ask the priests too many questions regarding the foundational tenets of their faith, they can become defensive and may tell you to "have patience my son/daughter for the answers will some day be revealed to you." They claim that theirs is the one true religion and will not consider the validity of others.

Why do people go to church

These are in the order that they come into my mind, not of importance.

1. Duty
2. Fear - I think this may be a big one. I think there are a lot of people who are afraid of hell.
3. Societal expectations
4. Searching
5. They believe and are looking for teaching
6. Friendship
7. Parental/Family pressure
8. Hedging their bets - If there is no God, then no harm done, but if there is a God, they've circumvented hell
9. Routine
10. Comfort in the traditions
11. It makes them look respectable
12. Guilt
13. An anchor in a cruel and unstable world
14. A moment of peace
15. Networking - maybe some go to make business or social contacts
16. To feel needed
17. To reinforce our belief system
18. For ego boosting - Churches tend to be forgiving and full of praise for efforts and talents that might not be as appreciated elsewhere
19. It makes them happy
20. Because they believe God wants them to

Russian Religious Revolution

We had supper on Sunday with a couple who moved from Russia a number of years ago. They had a friend over who had just moved from Russia last Sept. We got talking about religion in the former Soviet Union. They talked about the new religious freedom in that country and the increase in church goers. I looked up a couple of surveys on religion in Russia and they both listed people who don't believe in God as less than 20 % of the population. I spend a month in the Soviet Union in 1986 when Gorbachev was just beginning to thaw the cold war and it was a very different situation, at least on the surface. The church buildings we saw in public places had either been turned into museums, been boarded up, or had been turned into warehouses and factories. The ethnic group to which I belong lived in the Ukraine and they told stories of the Stalin purges where anyone with a leadership role in a church was hauled off to Siberia, never to be seen again. Those who professed religion were denied promotions, ridiculed, and sometimes imprisoned. Religion was the opiate of the masses and the communist government did what they could to see that it was eradicated. Schools taught scientific atheism and evolution as fact with no other alternative. For 70 years the communists were in power which equates to about three generations of school children being indoctrinated with its teachings. Why are the vast majority now turning to religion?
One possibility is that it is a backlash against authority. People tend to push the other way when someone is forcing them down a certain path. It would seem odd that a back lash would last this long since it's been about 15 years since the collapse of the communist regime. Another possibility is that people search for meaning in their life and when they did not find it in scientific atheism, they turned elsewhere. A third possibility is that people tend to go with what makes sense. Looking at the universe with its trillions of solar systems and complex life forms and saying that it just happened is a hard sell. They often turn to other explanations that better fit with their view of logic.