The most important reason anyone is an atheist

[Fidel_Castronaut]

Nobody has to believe claims which are based on faith.

I was born an atheist. No faith required, just a lack of belief owing to lack of evidence.

The fact that there are an increasing number of atheists in (say) most of western and Northern Europe, with a trend being demonstrable throughout the west per se, surely highlights the failures of the religious messages in trying to convert and indoctrinate people and nothing else.

Christianity and faith in general is growing throughout the world in general though Christianity is on the wane in Europe. A lot of that may have something to do with state run churches.

Also to do with increased educational attainment among girls, and the liberation and attainment of greater sexual equality among women. Also to do with greater technological and scientific awareness amongst the general population. Also to do with the general acceptance of Protestant Christian secularism and the virtues of 17th century Westphalian attutides towards statecraft.

Also to do with the cohort effect and the fact that generational declines in beliefs are evident in large swathes of the demographics that have been analysed. Also to do with the various abuse scandals that have been rife in several churches and their institutions (most evident in the RCC). Also to do with general apathy towards most religious beliefs, and the fact that most people in the UK (for example) would identify as a nominal 'Christian' whilst holding no firm beliefs in the truth of any of the messages.

I mean, 'atheism'/non-religious is the biggest growing demographic of religious adherence in the UK census from '01 to '11 up from 14% to over 20%. The recent 2010 National Attitudes Survey puts the figure at more like 50% owing, in part, to the 'official' nature of the national government census. I mean, your own church, the COE, and the episcopalian churches of Scotland and Wales, have seen some of the biggest declines. Methodism is predicted to be extinct in its current form in England and Wales within the next 20 years. The only Christian churches growing in England and Wales are the black churches brought over by afro-Carribean migrants in the 50s and 60s to inner-city areas.

It's not a mystery that the places where religion grows/thrives the most also happen to have large swathes of poor uneducated people that have close to zero social mobility. Go figure, I guess. This is particularly true of Islam and Christianity in the central and Eastern areas of Africa, and in South and Central America.

EDIT: BSAS Survey: http://ir2.flife.de/data/natcen-social-r...=&lang=ENG
2011 Census data on religion: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/census/201...igion.html Compare 2001 census for greatest results (no longer avaliable online from ONS, but WIKI gives a good outline, and I have all the stats and tables on my PC for confirmation if needed).