A report in The Guardian shows that religion is on its way out in Europe.
Europe’s march towards a post-Christian society has been starkly illustrated by research showing a majority of young people in a dozen countries do not follow a religion.
The survey of 16- to 29-year-olds found the Czech Republic is the least religious country in Europe, with 91% of that age group saying they have no religious affiliation. Between 70% and 80% of young adults in Estonia, Sweden and the Netherlands also categorise themselves as non-religious.
This is good news. The teaching that belief without evidence — faith — is a virtue is dying. Soon, inevitably, it will be allright to discuss and actually think about moral issues instead of simply deferring to whatever some Bronze Age anonymity had to say about them.
And while we’re on the subject, let’s please once for all get over the idea that morality began with Jesus’ Sermon on the mount. Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics is traditionally dated to 349 B.C., and Confucius took a swipe at “turn the other cheek” ~ 500 B.C. From The Analects:
14:36 Someone said: “What do you think of the saying: ‘Repay harm with virtue’?” Confucius replied, “Then how will you repay virtue? Repay harm with righteousness and repay virtue with virtue.”
Whether or not one ought to turn the other cheek, clearly, was something that men had thought about a long time before Jesus.
There is nothing original in Christian thought but the Doctrine of Original Sin, which is among the most absurd and degrading ideas to ever soil the earth; good riddance.