Atheism on the rise - Demographics
July 19, 2014 at 9:04 am
(This post was last modified: July 19, 2014 at 9:07 am by Dystopia.)
As you've probably noticed the number of atheists has been growing. If we look at northern European States like Norway, Finland, Sweden and Denmark, or even Germany or the UK, we'll notice there has been not only an increase of people who identify themselves as atheists, but some of those countries already have a considerable number of atheist citizens. I believe even in the US there has been a slight increase over the years, but not yet significant, heck even in Brazil, a highly Christian country (they call themselves the most Christian country in the world) atheism is increasing
So, will atheism continue do increase? Why? What will the repercussions be in public life? Do you think any atheists will, in the future, persecute religious people when atheism becomes the predominant position? Will social prejudice or discrimination arise against theists/religious people?
Most new atheists are young people who dislike the dogma of religion (more or less my age group - 20's and 30's - But also younger people like generation Y), and not all young people became atheists, many of them, and I've observed this trend closely, are becoming agnostic non religious theists or some kind of deists with spiritual beliefs, not all are inclined to become atheists, so my bet is that theism will still prevail for a while
As for the causes - Higher more widespread critical thinking stimulant education (mainly in northern European countries but also in most first world countries), lack of empathy with dogmas and preference for free thinking, lots of information available and spread trough technology (I could say showing some theist friends a few web pages would make them become atheists in five minutes), the progress of science, secularism and separation of church and State, and many more...
How can we explain that many people have quit religion but are still some kind of theists/deists? Most of those people are practical atheists. I've noticed this in my close friends group, we are all in our 20's, most of them despise and criticize religion, but believing in god and spirits is still simply the standard for them, I have a female friend who claims to see and talk to spirits, but she hates religion and dogmas, it's a sort of spiritualism, more sophisticated and intellectual than religion, but still no evidence for it
So, will atheism continue do increase? Why? What will the repercussions be in public life? Do you think any atheists will, in the future, persecute religious people when atheism becomes the predominant position? Will social prejudice or discrimination arise against theists/religious people?
Most new atheists are young people who dislike the dogma of religion (more or less my age group - 20's and 30's - But also younger people like generation Y), and not all young people became atheists, many of them, and I've observed this trend closely, are becoming agnostic non religious theists or some kind of deists with spiritual beliefs, not all are inclined to become atheists, so my bet is that theism will still prevail for a while
As for the causes - Higher more widespread critical thinking stimulant education (mainly in northern European countries but also in most first world countries), lack of empathy with dogmas and preference for free thinking, lots of information available and spread trough technology (I could say showing some theist friends a few web pages would make them become atheists in five minutes), the progress of science, secularism and separation of church and State, and many more...
How can we explain that many people have quit religion but are still some kind of theists/deists? Most of those people are practical atheists. I've noticed this in my close friends group, we are all in our 20's, most of them despise and criticize religion, but believing in god and spirits is still simply the standard for them, I have a female friend who claims to see and talk to spirits, but she hates religion and dogmas, it's a sort of spiritualism, more sophisticated and intellectual than religion, but still no evidence for it
Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you
