 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
4 D/ f2 j: ], s
+ `1 C, s3 t+ `5 S/ x$ l b' }# q- p( F- `/ o) U
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12811197* ]0 {) ^ P( g2 I7 Q5 _& n
0 _6 V) l7 M7 c* J1 b22 March 2011 Last updated at 03:31 ET Share this pageFacebookTwitter ShareEmail Print Religion may become extinct in nine nations, study saysBy Jason Palmer1 b Z9 b0 }; H( x
6 u1 s% y8 _( b$ u: N+ UScience and technology reporter, BBC News, Dallas
' w" |: ?* t( D$ W% }8 v
+ ] V( C5 y T& J; nA study using census data from nine countries shows that religion there is set for extinction, say researchers.0 M+ h0 D; r9 y5 y. b6 T; n
! t2 }% `( S2 ?- o7 w* i
The study found a steady rise in those claiming no religious affiliation. }0 [/ q5 B* S: m, c5 v8 Y w* p: W- r$ B
6 W' W7 w0 g% s8 h& e3 {; 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.
; L- h' e, N+ {3 n: G' u4 ]) `' `2 y% B' w. c, T7 a
The result, reported at the American Physical Society meeting in Dallas, US, indicates that religion will all but die out altogether in those countries.- W- U7 m! B) R
$ b- F* l' R2 m2 G$ c7 vThe 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.
2 t2 Q; k' X8 ^& a
3 y, ^# H4 B4 lTheir 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.
( F1 \. I- w4 V
7 R* [, C+ |0 jOne 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.
9 ^3 X6 ~9 l. G) C J
8 `, s Y9 z* p- J8 F: NAt its heart is the competition between speakers of different languages, and the \"utility\" of speaking one instead of another.
- l7 l$ m- Z* o7 x' G* ]% ]% ?5 k0 ^: O- F" o
\"The idea is pretty simple,\" said Richard Wiener of the Research Corporation for Science Advancement, and the University of Arizona.5 X; j% v8 ?# { n6 g
/ {( b) g* P$ O$ ]& w$ m4 c. P
\"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.% k, u0 G2 D l P
- J( m) Y. k/ L$ V8 V- q
\"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.\"5 E' U: x4 ?: M) A5 Z0 E! Z0 M
% `8 b6 o5 d2 _3 I; a; xDr 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%.\"
2 `" s y* \* v( Z6 d, E# B. ], v6 i* _
The team then applied their nonlinear dynamics model, adjusting parameters for the relative social and utilitarian merits of membership of the \"non-religious\" category.
. j; z# I: }* m5 }' o5 x0 t$ q. Y# m3 ^$ 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.
2 R( o7 m. J5 U& ?8 v/ P/ M8 i
J8 i( l( G8 PAnd in all the countries, the indications were that religion was headed toward extinction.
. l& d: u7 E) p3 ]! Q) j) i, C7 Q* K% {+ m1 r4 {0 @
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.4 X, b* Q) P5 o# j
2 Y' `0 g* F9 S. W% \
\"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.
( [+ b/ U5 t# R+ Y! o+ C5 _8 f) Y% c7 b4 Q4 A- p8 N
However, he told BBC News that he thought it was \"a suggestive result\".
3 U% R6 @" }9 L w8 J$ |2 T9 P6 d0 ]. F, _1 h
\"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.8 z ]: c8 ^" C9 T
) C4 q) {& P- Z" S1 }' J. D
\"Obviously much more complicated things are going on with any one individual, but maybe a lot of that averages out.\" |
|