Whither religion?

[mahnmut]

We've often heard of the Evangelical segment of the electorate. Or the Mormon segment. Or the Jewish segment. But little is being told of the second-largest segment in America, and arguably the fastest-growing: atheists, or more broadly, non-believers. And they're rising worldwide. And surprisingly or not, being an open atheist may no longer be a

Comments

[dexeron]

Regarding your question regarding whether religion is truly declining or simply transforming, certainly there are lots of folks who are reacting to the slowly evolving nature of modern mainstream belief (which is really becoming more and more a "god of the gaps" sort of religion, where so much is explained by science, and god occupies the ever-shrinking spaces outside of that.) I think it goes two ways: some are offended when their religion "admits" to not being in touch with the facts of the modern world, and they break off to found their own more "fundamentalist" churches. Others, however, especially those who have grown up in a church (and are not recent converts) might simply accept this slow evolution, and think of themselves as less "religious" (and report themselves as such in surveys;) for them, church is more of a spiritual thing, a social support, an organization that they feel helps them participate in a moral life. They are still believers, but they may be reporting themselves as "less religious" (especially if they are comparing themselves the aforementioned fundamentalists.)

I would argue that atheism's growing representation on surveys like this both is, and is not, indicative of the growth of non-belief. I'll say that, yes, atheism is on the rise, but I think much of that growth can be attributed to folks who already did not believe, but who attend church anyway for reasons of tradition, social expectation, family obligation, etc. In the past, such folks merely disbelieved in silence. Now, there are (in some places) fewer social consequences to "coming out" of the atheist closet. I think we're also seeing that reflected in these surveys. So the number is increasing, but not as much as it seems. What instead is being revealed is that there always have been far more atheists than anyone was willing to admit.

(Side point, perhaps only tangentially related. Fred Clark, an evangelical Christian blogger - but of the "progressive" variety - often touches on some of the issues where a changing society is reacted to by religious leaders. Although his blog approaches these questions from the point of view of a believer, his political alignment with the left side of the aisle allows him to look at some of the phenomenon of modern organized belief not as an outsider looking to demolish, but as a fringe insider looking to reform. It allows even an atheist like myself to get a good appreciation for some of the sociology and anthropology going on that has shaped our modern belief structures - or that at least maybe explain some of how believers act. For anyone interested in some well written, thoughtful analysis of the intersection of religion and culture, his blog is well worth the subscription. (His years-long page-by-page dissection of the "Left Behind" series of books is also not to be missed.) The blog can be found at http://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/

[airiefairie]

Bookmarking that blog.

[anfalicious]

I think you're right; heaps of people have always been atheist/agnostic, but now it's socially acceptable to say so. Kinda like how I don't think there's more gays than there was 50 years ago, just a lot more honest people.