Atheists soon a majority?

When will religious dogma be a minority? Christianity is on the decline thanks to widespread access to information. Islam still seems to be on the rise due to birth rates. Most importantly, atheism and agnosticism are on the rise. I see this as a turning point for our species to give up superstition and tribalism for rationality and logic.

 

Nope. 60% of millennials are attached to some religious organization, while a total of 90% believe in the spiritual.

 

Atheists are anything but rational and logical. The whole idea of calling yourself an atheist is illogical.

I wonder how long it will be before they start shoving their beliefs onto society?

 

I don't believe that. Church attendance is way down. What does "believe in the spiritual" even mean?

Hmm... The idea of God is illogical to me.

You mean like other religions? I hope soon. It is long overdue and badly needed.

 

The idea that you would say that is illogical

 

mbk734 does not believe the numbers or the beliefs. Who gives a phuc, mbk, what you think? Look up the numbers and polls.

 

You made the claim. Show me the study.

In your biased opinion. This isn't about that though. It's about the rise of atheism among young people.

 

No, it's about irrational
people on the rise.

 

Okay I'll bite. Why is atheism irrational? What part of believing in a supernatural "God" is rational? Babies don't believe in God until they are brainwashed to do so.
And you admit that atheism is on the rise. I think it will be a good cultural shift for humanity.

 

You, mbk734, made the claim first that atheism was on the big rise. It's not. Scepticism against organized religion grows, I believe, but belief in a connection between the individual and the supernatural is above 90%.

 

https://news.gallup.com/poll/200186/five-key-findings-religion.aspx

• Almost eight in 10 identify with a religion, mostly Christian
• 21% have no religious identity, up from 15% in 2008
• Over seven in 10 say religion is losing its influence in U.S. society

Religious Identification in the U.S.: 2016

%
Protestant/Other Christian 48.9
Catholic 23.0
Mormon 1.8
Jewish 2.1
Muslim 0.8
Other non-Christian religion 2.5
None/Atheist/Agnostic 18.2
No response given 2.6

Gallup's longest-running religious service attendance question asks, "Did you, yourself, happen to attend church, synagogue or mosque in the last seven days, or not?" In 1939, when Gallup first asked this question, 41% said "yes." That percentage dropped to 37% in 1940 and rose to 39% in 1950. It continued to climb, reaching as high as 49% at multiple points in the 1950s. Attendance then settled down to figures around 40% for decades, before dropping to 36% for the past three years.

 

Good stats, although there is definitely a margin of error. Also that's just the US. The US seems to be far more theist than the rest of the world. Notably, Buddhists. Western Europe is becoming more and more secular (educated) and more freethinkers. The other interesting statistic is young people are becoming more atheist as they are more exposed to information online.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/...cans-with-no-religious-affiliation-is-rising/

"In recent years much has been written about the rise of the “nones”—people who check the box for “none” on surveys of religious affiliation. A 2013 Harris Poll of 2,250 American adults, for example, found that 23 percent of all Americans have forsaken religion altogether. A 2015 Pew Research Center poll reported that 34 to 36 percent of millennials (those born after 1980) are nones and corroborated the 23 percent figure, adding that this was a dramatic increase from 2007, when only 16 percent of Americans said they were affiliated with no religion."

Also interesting are the people that just say they're Christian because they celebrate Christmas.

"In a paper in the January 2018 issue of the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science entitled “How Many Atheists Are There?”, Will M. Gervais and Maxine B. Najle, both psychologists at the University of Kentucky, contend that there may be far more atheists than pollsters report because “social pressures favoring religiosity, coupled with stigma against religious disbelief..., might cause people who privately disbelieve in God to nonetheless self-present as believers, even in anonymous questionnaires.”

 

About the dozenth time you've done this thread, innit?

 

That is a good point, but that has been a good point for centuries. It was also true with church attendance. If you expected your small business to flourish in a small town, you had better be showing up at the local church on Sundays, and you had better bow your head at the right time. Only an idiot would disrespect the local pastor or his wife by talking 'Godless' talk and hope people would patronize his new coffee shop/ Dime store.

Being an atheist was a lot like being a closeted gay person. You had to be very careful who you showed your true colors around. It would impact your social standing, your marriage prospects, and, yes your job prospects if you did not profess to the proper faith.

Public atheism and advocacy of atheism or agnosticism over theism was something people the upper educated class could afford to do. They were not as co-dependent on church ties. We will never know how many agnostics and atheists sat in pews, because their in-laws, employers, neighbors, and patrons expected them there. .

 

It’s difficult to be exposed to modern science and think that the Bible is a ligitimate source of knowledge of how we came into existence. Have known lots of “devoted people of the cloth” and have yet to meet one that didn’t express doubt. I believe that would make them agnostic. Being an agnostic is much more reasonable then believing something with no evidence. And sorry, quoting the Bible is not evidence. There are a lot of us that still go to a place of worship for the “community atmosphere” and a general realization that we’re all going to die....that makes us all human.

 

Your definition of 'agnostic' is rather broad. How about you let them determine whether the scope,timing and frequency of their doubts deserves that label. If they are men of the cloth, they know the difference between doubting the veracity and literal nature of a specific verse or story in a specific holy book, and purporting not to know if God exists or purporting that it is 'unknowable' that any God exists.

I am agnostic but I don't think that doubts about the literal veracity of the story of Genesis, constitutes the same depth or breadth of 'doubt' to which I have been subject for decades. Mine is not temporary or a 'phase' . Mine is not restricted to a story within a faith, or a holy book describing a faith or even one entire faith.

While I have already stipulated that self characterization can be fraught with problems in social or cultural situations for the purposes of polling, its a hell of a lot better than someone else deciding to label me as a believer or agnostic based on a conversation about a section of one holy book.

How would you like to be told that you really do believe in God, but you just won't admit it to yourself.

 

I'm surprised you don't know r

If you want to say "there is not enough evidence to believe in God" that's one thing, saying "there is no God" is unprovable and unscientific, it's just another article of faith.

I'll never understand what makes atheists think they are the smartest people in the room.

 

Atheists have neither the language, the symbols, or the logic to disprove the existence of deity.

 

Atheist just means one doesn't believe in a God, they can still be spiritual and believe in a afterlife, many Buddhists are Atheists as an example

 

if I was gonna believe in a God, it would be the one that created your God, cause I mean anything so amazing needs a creator right? now disprove that God that created your God exists.....

if you can't then that proves your sub God is just one of many the Master God created - the my God is bigger then your God theory as he created your God

same logic some Christians and Muslims use

 

precisely, I am an agnostic and I neither believe nor disbelieve 'either side'. I totally abstain from a vote.

I have, here, from the neoatheists, just because I do not fall lock step into line with their dogma.

 

means you have seen no proof a God exists, so as of this point have no reason to believe one does, but your open to the possibility, thus a Agnostic

nothing wrong with that, I mean who knows, maybe the Muslim God does exist.. right? your free to take the 'maybe' stance

 

it means I do not have sufficient evidence that God exists and neither do I have sufficient evidence that God does not exist, therefore I reserve my vote till such time until sufficient evidence is provided from either party that justifies their claim.

 

If you redefine atheism, sure, I guess.

 

that is what I said, your taking the "maybe" stance, as you have no clue if a God exists as there is no evidence to support it in your mind