The fall of atheism

[otseng]

I've been stumbling into several articles recently on the decline of atheism around the world. They mention that the intellectual and ethical support for atheism has proved wanting.

Science, 'frauds' trigger a decline in atheism

Two developments are plaguing atheism these days. One is that it appears to be losing its scientific underpinnings.

The other is the historical experience of hundreds of millions of people worldwide that atheists are in no position to claim the moral high ground.

The rise and fall of atheism

Stephen Jay Gould, renowned defender of evolution, in his statement that the God question cannot be solved by science. A purely scientific debate must end in agnosticism, says Gould. I conclude that as atheism declines, agnosticism might correspondingly increase.

Four genocides in the twentieth century which involved millions of deaths were by atheistic regimes. Hitler, Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot were atheists and their regimes were officially atheistic. These mass atrocities ruin the moral credentials of atheism. Dostoyevski wisely warned that without God every evil thing can be permitted.

Conclusion: Atheism is a waning force in the world.

The incoming sea of faith

Historians of ideas often note that atheism is the ideal religion of modernity — the cultural period ushered in by the Enlightenment. But that had been displaced by postmodernity, which rejects precisely those aspects of modernity that made atheism the obvious choice as the preferred modern religion. Postmodernity has thus spawned post-atheism.

The Collapse Of Atheism

Although some people may still be unaware of it, there has been a huge change in the field of science and philosophy in the last 20-25 years. Atheism, that has so influenced the world of science and thought, is now undergoing an irrevocable collapse.

[Dilettante]

The most recent figures I could find for my country are as follows:

Religious affiliation
80% consider themselves as Catholic
2% say they profess other religions
10% describe themselves as non-religious
4,4% say they're atheists
1,4% don't answer

Church attendance
46,4% never go to church
19% attend church every Sunday
18,8% go to church several times a year
12% go to church once a month
2,9% attend church more than once a week
0,9% don't answer

57% of young people say they only attend church for weddings and funerals.

The data suggest a decline in religious participation, probably because the social pressure to attend church which existed in the 1970s has disappeared. This also indicates that, although less people attend church nowadays, those who do are self-motivated to do so.

[DanMRaymond]

I can't seem to understand where the idea of a decline in atheism comes from. A very large amount of the people I know are atheists or agnostics. (I'm talking about people in my age group, 18-20) I can't imagine there being a decline in the number of atheists. I believe that as atheism becomes more socially acceptable, more people will become atheists. Agnosticism, though, I am sure is extremely prevalent in people my age. I doubt my generation is just a bump in the road - i'm sure that agnosticism and atheism is increasing and its quite obvious if you meet and talk to a large amount of people.

Of course this is true in my region of the US, the northeast, and doesn't apply to other areas of the country. I'm fairly sure that if we did a poll, atheism would be more popular in cities and it would progressively become less popular as we moved out to the countryside.

[The Happy Humanist]

I can't seem to understand where the idea of a decline in atheism comes from. A very large amount of the people I know are atheists or agnostics. (I'm talking about people in my age group, 18-20) I can't imagine there being a decline in the number of atheists. I believe that as atheism becomes more socially acceptable, more people will become atheists. Agnosticism, though, I am sure is extremely prevalent in people my age. I doubt my generation is just a bump in the road - i'm sure that agnosticism and atheism is increasing and its quite obvious if you meet and talk to a large amount of people.

Of course this is true in my region of the US, the northeast, and doesn't apply to other areas of the country. I'm fairly sure that if we did a poll, atheism would be more popular in cities and it would progressively become less popular as we moved out to the countryside.

Opposite of what happened originally. In the first couple of centuries, it was Christianity that flourished in the cities and paganism that remained in the countryside - the word "pagani" means "peasant."