 鲜花( 0)  鸡蛋( 0)
|
澳洲, 奧地利, 加拿大, 捷克, 芬蘭, 愛爾蘭, 荷蘭, 新西蘭, 瑞士
o2 |; w: C* R
8 z% h1 q% A( e, Z
+ y1 m9 w4 \( nhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12811197
* z% |* @4 x9 n& g" Q1 @1 z/ x m' w! |, b/ q7 b
22 March 2011 Last updated at 03:31 ET Share this pageFacebookTwitter ShareEmail Print Religion may become extinct in nine nations, study saysBy Jason Palmer8 B$ M: d5 X2 F/ x$ h3 c+ j
9 k/ F$ b3 B, L/ m. GScience and technology reporter, BBC News, Dallas
* K$ F) N- V8 n) I9 r" Z% G, ^) I' c0 N
A study using census data from nine countries shows that religion there is set for extinction, say researchers.
9 D. `: ~: M$ a5 m8 s9 k# n5 k; }( s+ B+ U% E. R
The study found a steady rise in those claiming no religious affiliation.
9 ~7 @/ @5 T& A1 ~7 }, d7 Z8 x+ _* R: O9 l6 k( n7 _/ i2 J8 I
The team\'s mathematical model attempts to account for the interplay between the number of religious respondents and the social motives behind being one.
7 O/ ]- Q0 k7 c! J% E- D& q2 v1 ^% h1 l& Y' J$ A; \+ i! T
The result, reported at the American Physical Society meeting in Dallas, US, indicates that religion will all but die out altogether in those countries.
4 K9 t1 E, Q) T4 \) D7 X$ o$ V$ \2 b/ B0 h: K
The team took census data stretching back as far as a century from countries in which the census queried religious affiliation: Australia, Austria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Switzerland.
% ~5 K: O9 L$ k6 B* J6 i2 v0 v/ E6 y$ x; S5 V- M6 `! u2 k
Their means of analysing the data invokes what is known as nonlinear dynamics - a mathematical approach that has been used to explain a wide range of physical phenomena in which a number of factors play a part.$ K/ w7 k. X+ v8 y7 J4 }- l
$ Y, @5 x( W! M; W* P
One of the team, Daniel Abrams of Northwestern University, put forth a similar model in 2003 to put a numerical basis behind the decline of lesser-spoken world languages.- j. m: p5 Y4 U5 _
9 v% U5 {" {2 C& Z* E7 X
At its heart is the competition between speakers of different languages, and the \"utility\" of speaking one instead of another.
& V8 W" t5 _, b# C" S J$ E! n" M. K2 L, f k% | r$ }3 J
\"The idea is pretty simple,\" said Richard Wiener of the Research Corporation for Science Advancement, and the University of Arizona.
( i$ a5 B& X% x4 l7 Q4 b$ f" F# ^/ _
\"It posits that social groups that have more members are going to be more attractive to join, and it posits that social groups have a social status or utility.( ~ a% v. o3 L8 w
- p7 O* |6 v' f' o4 T" r
\"For example in languages, there can be greater utility or status in speaking Spanish instead of [the dying language] Quechuan in Peru, and similarly there\'s some kind of status or utility in being a member of a religion or not.\"7 I2 k: D# ]9 I& x T( ?
# g8 a' I" D3 b4 n; ~3 MDr Wiener continued: \"In a large number of modern secular democracies, there\'s been a trend that folk are identifying themselves as non-affiliated with religion; in the Netherlands the number was 40%, and the highest we saw was in the Czech Republic, where the number was 60%.\"+ c5 _) W, n, x3 ^' |2 B
; Z. B3 W2 d6 D" \2 {
The team then applied their nonlinear dynamics model, adjusting parameters for the relative social and utilitarian merits of membership of the \"non-religious\" category.* `" R4 d A7 @7 N
( R2 q1 N9 u0 u- _& B
They found, in a study published online, that those parameters were similar across all the countries studied, suggesting that similar behaviour drives the mathematics in all of them.
5 d! ~1 w; V& b- |. M4 i' W+ ~4 n0 R3 v* T6 ^
And in all the countries, the indications were that religion was headed toward extinction.3 M* V4 p7 Z' f1 M" O ?+ k2 I& {
+ Z9 M1 a" [/ G6 L& w- _; n$ {However, Dr Wiener told the conference that the team was working to update the model with a \"network structure\" more representative of the one at work in the world.
" g2 }# ~6 ]6 Y( I6 ^1 R. O1 d9 M& ]* {6 I8 P
\"Obviously we don\'t really believe this is the network structure of a modern society, where each person is influenced equally by all the other people in society,\" he said.
' r% W; _0 f7 d5 `9 z) `4 i: t
( E7 Z$ h h) D* S7 @5 MHowever, he told BBC News that he thought it was \"a suggestive result\".
$ R( @! }1 u& k! ^9 W. F9 N0 w8 Y: R3 c) Q
\"It\'s interesting that a fairly simple model captures the data, and if those simple ideas are correct, it suggests where this might be going.2 M9 d( C( c! Y4 [( l1 g
( M, L! {1 h" _$ c0 Q; @$ B4 p9 p\"Obviously much more complicated things are going on with any one individual, but maybe a lot of that averages out.\" |
|