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The BBC reports on a study of nine countries, including Canada, in which a model suggests that religion will become extinct:

A study using census data from nine countries shows that religion there is set for extinction, say researchers.

The data reflect a steady rise in those claiming no religious affiliation.

…

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.

They claim that religion is like under-used languages and that it is increasingly more useful in these countries to be non-religious than religious.

The study is available online in the free arXiv under Physics and Society if you want to dig deeper (I may try to later). Here’s a teaser:

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Math proves religion is dead.

While I haven’t read it yet, this seems to be a case of physicists making oversimplified assumptions about the world. This is risk any time you extrapolate data.

Nevertheless, for anyone with more time on their hands, or more experience in modelling societal growth, let me know your thoughts.