Atheism is unstoppable.

[EgoDeath]

Just out of curiosity, Steve, do you see the rest of the world becoming more like the U.S. over time, less like the U.S. over time, or remaining about the same as they are now?

I honestly don't know. I do know that religion is here to stay. I think countries will wax and wain in their religiosity. For example, I think there will be a Christian revival in Europe in the next 2 generations because I think that humans, by-in-large, need religion to answer questions they can't live without (I'm talking about society on a macro level). Eventually you get a generation that sees the nihilistic philosophy of their parents (however far that needs to go and whatever manifestations it has--I don't know) is untenable and go looking for answers. In my opinion, Christianity is the most coherent alternative if you want to reject atheism.

And while statements like "religion is here to stay" can sound very ominous and final, they're not.

Things change, people evolve, ideas grow and die. In medieval times, people probably said things like, "Torturing non-believers is here to stay," and while those things may still occur in some places of the world, societies by and large have let that kind of thinking die off. So while you may see religion as a "cornerstone" of what it means to be human, I see it as another useless tradition that will eventually die off. So we can agree to disagree and that's okay. And, that last part of your post is laughable.

In my opinion, Islam is the most coherent alternative if you want to reject atheism.

In my opinion, Taoism is the most coherent alternative if you want to reject atheism.

In my opinion, Judaism is the most coherent alternative if you want to reject atheism.

In my opinion, Buddhism is the most coherent alternative if you want to reject atheism.

So on

And so on.