Futurist Thomas Frey: A few years ago I was taking a tour of a dome shaped house, and the architect explained to me that domes are an optical illusion. Whenever someone enters a room, their eyes inadvertently glance up at the corners of the room to give them the contextual dimensions of the space they’re in.
Continue reading… “10 Unanswerable Questions that Neither Science nor Religion can Answer”
Americans in almost every demographic group increasingly claim “no religion.”
The number of Americans who are not religious is on the rise. Researchers from University of California, Berkeley and Duke University went through the recently-released results of the biennial General Social Survey and found that…
Continue reading… “More Americans than ever before “have no religious affiliation”: Survey”
A religious circumcision.
The Bundestag hurriedly passed some strange new legislation last month: the “Circumcision Law.” The law guarantees the right for parents to have their children circumcised. This was the government’s answer to a passionate and uncomfortable five-month debate over the practice, in which religious minorities and their supporters clashed with a cabal of doctors and politicians over tolerance versus children’s rights.
Airplanes are banned from flying during Azan.
The parliament in Iran has banned airplanes from flying in the country during the Azan call to Islamic prayer and allowed to take off only after 30 minutes has passed to give passengers time to fulfill their religious duties, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported on Wednesday.
Continue reading… “Iran bans flights during Azan call to Islamic prayer”
Eight in 1o people identify with a religious group.
More than eight-in-ten people identify with a religious group worldwide. A comprehensive demographic study of more than 230 countries and territories conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life estimates that there are 5.8 billion religiously affiliated adults and children around the globe, representing 84% of the 2010 world population of 6.9 billion.
Continue reading… “Pew study on the global religious landscape”
The latest bombing in Nigeria shows how Christians are increasingly suffering for their faith.
Can you imagine the unspeakable fury that would erupt across the Islamic world if a Christian-led government in Khartoum had been responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Sudanese Muslims over the past 30 years. Or if Christian gunmen were firebombing mosques in Iraq during Friday prayers. Or if Muslim girls in Indonesia had been abducted and beheaded on their way to school, because of their faith.
The “nones” are far from godless. Many pray, believe in God and have regular spiritual routines.
One in five U.S. adults say they are not part of a traditional religious denomination, new data from the Pew Research Center show, evidence of an unprecedented reshuffling of Americans’ spiritual identities that is shaking up fields from charity to politics.
Continue reading… “1 in 5 adults in the U.S. have no religious affiliation”
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Pirates and file-sharers, rejoice! The Missionary Church of Kopimism (just say it out loud) has been recognized as a religion in Sweden:
Since 2010 a group of self-confessed pirates have tried to get their beliefs recognized as an official religion in Sweden. After their request was denied several times, the Church of Kopimism – which holds CTRL+C and CTRL+V as sacred symbols – is now approved by the authorities as an official religion. The Church hopes that its official status will remove the legal stigma that surrounds file-sharing.
All around the world file-sharers are being chased by anti-piracy outfits and the authorities, and the situation in Sweden is no different. While copyright holders are often quick to label file-sharers as pirates, there is a large group of people who actually consider copying to be a sacred act…
Apple Inc. has removed from its French online store an application called “Jew or Not Jew” that says it allows users to identify whether a politician or celebrity is Jewish, amid pressure from French social activists.
Continue reading… “Apple withdraws app in France amid pressure from social activists”
Religious beliefs have a high level of influence with voters.
Even though church attendance in western democracies has declined, a new University of Missouri study shows religious beliefs still influence people at the polls.
Continue reading… “Study: Religious Beliefs Still Influence Voter Decision”
Frequent churchgoers frequently fatter.
An inactive lifestyle, watching TV and eating too many fatty foods are all to blame for many Americans being overweight and obese. We may have to add religion to that list.
Continue reading… “Obesity Rates Higher Among Church-goers”
Percentage religiously unaliated versus time in four regions: (a) the autonomous Aland islands region of Finland, (b) Schwyz Canton in Switzerland, (c) Vienna Province in Austria, (d) the Netherlands
A study recently released by a team from Northwestern University and the University of Arizona shows that religion and religious affiliations may be on the verge of extinction in the nine countries studied. Utilizing a mathematical model of nonlinear dynamics, the team analyzed data from censuses taken in nine different countries dating as far back as a century.
Continue reading… “Study: Religion on the Verge of Extinction in Some Countries”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
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