Is Atheism Dead?

[The Grand Nudger]

I think that the religious nuts have a more accurate explanation for the precipitous decline of their numbers than any notion that atheism is alive or on the rise. Dawkins et al aren't out there printing new atheists with their books. They alienated themselves from their children when they decided to go all in on the culture war with nosy perverts, white supremacists, and robber barons. At this rate, they're just limping along until the last one of them dies of old age.

The abrahamics have run their course - but there's no viable replacement this time like there was when our previous faith traditions imploded. You could even contend that they'd run their course two centuries ago, when even the believing world became deism-by-default. The next step on that trajectory is none-by-default. There's no movement, no building of inertia against them - it's a bunch of self inflicted wounds. It's always taken an immense effort to normalize and calcify the religious beliefs of a society, in present..but even more so over time - especially as you realize that the arc of belief for all of human history is change.

I think their best shot for a temporary reprieve was back in the 90's with the rise of the buddy christ ideology and an emphasis on youth services - but the aforementioned perverts tanked that right quick. The eventual consensus of religious belief (and there will be one) of gen z and millennials will reflect us, and there's little appetite in either demographic, even amongst the believers in that demographic, for the society or gods of our fathers. It's ironic, because it's never been truer that we live in a fallen world that needs a good steward. Never been truer that we inherit the deadly sins of our predecessors. Never been truer that we need a universal community of faith and commitment.