Why millennials are ditching religion for witchcraft and astrology
In tumultuous political times, the 18-30 demographic is reaching for the stars.Source: MarketWatch, by Kari Paul
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Interest in spirituality has been booming in recent years while interest in religion plummets, especially among millennials. The majority of Americans now believe it is not necessary to believe in God to have good morals, a study from Pew Research Center released Wednesday found. The percentage of people between the ages of 18 and 29 who “never doubt existence of God” fell from 81% in 2007 to 67% in 2012.
Meanwhile, more than half of young adults in the U.S. believe astrology is a science compared to less than 8% of the Chinese public. The psychic services industry — which includes astrology, aura reading, mediumship, tarot-card reading and palmistry, among other metaphysical services — grew 2% between 2011 and 2016. It is now worth $2 billion annually, according to industry analysis firm IBIS World.
Melissa Jayne, owner of Brooklyn-based “metaphysical boutique” Catland, said she has seen a major uptick in interest in the occult in the past five years, especially among New Yorkers in their 20s. The store offers workshops like “Witchcraft 101,” “Astrology 101,” and a “Spirit Seance.”
“Whether it be spell-casting, tarot, astrology, meditation and trance, or herbalism, these traditions offer tangible ways for people to enact change in their lives,” she said. “For a generation that grew up in a world of big industry, environmental destruction, large and oppressive governments, and toxic social structures, all of which seem too big to change, this can be incredibly attractive.”
Like the existence of God, however, there’s no actual scientific proof. Astrology has been debunked by numerous academic studies, but Banu Guler, co-founder of artificial intelligence powered astrology app Co—Star said the lack of structure in the field is exactly what drives young, educated professionals to invest their time and money in the practice.
“It’s very different from the way we usually work and live and date, where everything is hyper-mediated and rational,” she said. “There is a belief vacuum: we go from work to a bar to dinner and a date, with no semblance of meaning. Astrology is a way out of it, a way of putting yourself in the context of thousands of years of history and the universe.”
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Read it all at: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-millennials-are-ditching-religion-for-witchcraft-and-astrology-2017-10-20
"Nones?"
= new reply since forum marked as read
when we do find out what people believe in NOW? 
as much as it is which fantasy you believe in?
"Stars predicting the future" is acceptable...
where have I EVER posted anything like that on DU?
I am concerned with divisive intolerance.
I should be able to freely practice the religion of my choice - same as you.
It should only concern you if YOU are worried about what happens to YOU - however you come to those conclusions.
If it's all a childhood fantasy, why so worried? That's what I don't understand. 
reincarnated as a cockroach? 
If you don't believe it, what does it matter?
Is your religion fueling this? 
That's what you believe.
Funny how that gets missed in the general historical record of the evil related to this regime.
'Confirmation bias.'
Next, you'll tell me Donald Trump is a great religious figure! As he feigns Christianity. And surrounds himself with televangelists.
Anything for the cause! 
It's almost like the problem is with the people who miss it rather than the existence of the information. No, wait. It's exactly like that.
I first learned of the SS prohibition against atheists while reading Kurt Meyer's memoirs. He tells some whoppers in there--nearly half as big as your tales about atheists involved in the Holocaust--about the SS not getting priority for men or equipment, but his comments on atheism have been supported. Padfield's biography of Himmler mentioned his frequent comments that atheists did not have the moral requirements to commit genocide. Hitler's views on religion were a bigger part of Toland's and Kershaw's biographies than most of the others. Kershaw in particular ran with it for his view of Hitler as having a "drummer" phase before the "called by god" phase. Incidentally, the two-volume Kershaw set is probably the best biography of the man, with apologies to Snyder's dual Hitler/Stalin biography. The substance of the SS regulations I've already told you about twice are a historical document and available to anybody who can google them for 5 seconds. Here. Let me help:
On October 13, 1933, Deputy Führer Rudolf Hess issued a decree stating: "No National Socialist may suffer any detriment on the ground that he does not profess any particular faith or confession or on the ground that he does not make any religious profession at all." However, the regime strongly opposed "Godless Communism" and all of Germany's freethinking (freigeist), atheist, and largely left-wing organizations were banned the same year.
In a speech made during the negotiations for the Nazi-Vatican Concordant of 1933, Hitler argued against secular schools, stating: "Secular schools can never be tolerated because such schools have no religious instruction, and a general moral instruction without a religious foundation is built on air; consequently, all character training and religion must be derived from faith." One of the groups closed down by the Nazi regime was the German Freethinkers League. Christians appealed to Hitler to end anti-religious and anti-Church propaganda promulgated by Free Thinkers, and within Hitler's Nazi Party some atheists were quite vocal in their anti-Christian views, especially Martin Bormann. Heinrich Himmler, who himself was fascinated with Germanic paganism, was a strong promoter of the gottgläubig movement and he did not allow atheists into the SS, arguing that their "refusal to acknowledge higher powers" would be a "potential source of indiscipline"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Nazi_Germany#Atheists Their cite is Michael Burleigh
Many of the concepts promoted with the SS violated accepted Christian doctrine, but neither Himmler nor his deputy Heydrich expected the Christian church to support their stance on abortion, contraception or sterilization of the unfit – let alone their shared belief in polygamy for the sake of racial propagation. This did not however represent disbelief in a higher power from either man nor did it deter them on their ideological quest. In fact, atheism was banned within the SS as Himmler believed it to be a form of egotism that placed the individual at the center of the universe, and thus constituted a rejection of the SS principle of valuing the collective over the individual. All SS men were required to list themselves as Protestant, Catholic or gottgläubig ("Believer in God" . Himmler preferred the neo-pagan "expression of spirituality". Still, by 1938 "only 21.9 percent of SS members described themselves as gottgläubig, whereas 54 percent remained Protestant and just under 24 percent Catholic." Belief in God among the SS did not constitute adherence to traditional Christian doctrine nor were its members consummate theologians, as the SS outright banned certain Christian organizations like the International Bible Research Association, a group whose pacifism the SS rejected. Dissenting religious organizations like the Jehovah's Witnesses were severely persecuted by the SS for their pacifism, failure to participate in elections, non-observance of the Hitler salute, not displaying the Nazi flag, and for their non-participation in Nazi organizations; many were sent to concentration camps where they perished. Heydrich once quipped that any and all opposition to Nazism originated from either "Jews or politicized clergy."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideology_of_the_SS The cite for atheism is Buchheim in that pesky historical record.
Remember those "godless communists" the Nazis had such a problem with?
In a speech made later in 1933, Hitler claimed to have "stamped out" the atheistic movement. The word Hitler used in this speech, "Gottlosenbewegung", means "Godless Movement" in German, and it refers to the communist freethought movement, though it might not refer to atheism in general.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discrimination_against_atheists#Nazi_Germany
How about the way the Wehrmacht oath changed in 1933 from
I swear loyalty to the Reich's constitution and pledge, that I as a courageous soldier always want to protect the German Reich and its legal institutions, (and) be obedient to the Reichspräsident and to my superiors.
to
I swear by God this holy oath, that I want to ever loyally and sincerely serve my people and fatherland and be prepared as a brave and obedient soldier to risk my life for this oath at any time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reichswehreid
Because the way you (not the rest of us, just you apparently) tell an atheist is the way he runs around putting god in everything.
You want some awesome photos of "atheist" SS troops wearing their fezzes, reading books like "Islam und Judentum" and kneeling on their prayer mats while facing Mecca?
http://www.tellthechildrenthetruth.com/gallery/
You're Fox News.
I reckon we aren't reading the same words, and I have no idea where you're "quoting" me on what I have never said - or disputing what a source actually says (why you're Fox )
Millions of Christians and Catholics were killed by the Nazi regime.
The entire purpose of this portion of this thread is in response to the stipulation earlier that nothing compares to "burning at the stake," that the intolerance found in religion is a "one way street."
I guess if this new assertion that Nazi fascism was in the name of God was true, and atheists were most heinously targeted, I would certainly be willing to "fall for anything."
I'm not.
You're wrong.
You're Fox News. 
I win! 
Catholics won't do it?
This isn't the Dark Ages. Hasn't been for centuries of sinning!
It's feel the 'burn'.
I send Stoli with love from the Carpathian Mountains. Na z'drovje!🍸
Ran out recently after stripping antique furniture.
