Why does religion continue to grow?

[Dystopia]

And that is my point. Contrary to popular belief (here anyway) it is not. Like I mentioned above. 52% of people with a higher education degree are religious.

And a decade ago, it was higher.  A decade before that, it was higher still.  It's DOWN to 52%.  In another decade it will be below 50%.  In a country where more than 70% of people claim to be religious, having those with a higher education only be barely above 50% is significant.  Of course, you refuse to acknowledge that.

Excellent point. America is more religious than the rest of the western/westernised world, so it is perfectly natural that, even among highly educated people religiosity still holds some solid ground. The numbers will continue to drop.

Personally, I don't see atheism becoming the norm in the next 50 years - Non-religious is on its way to become normalized - It already is in some social circles; most of my friends are spiritual but not religions and they dislike organized religion. Some kind of belief system will continue to exist and theism will never go away, but it will eventually become less influential. Considering there's movements in Greece preaching about polytheism and the former Greek gods I think it's safe to assume no religion will ever completely disappear, but it will become less important, and stop impacting public sphere.

I live in a secular country where most people are Catholic (80%) - Only 20% go to church regularly - There are some benefits afforded to the Catholic church but honestly the funds used are so little that I'm not concerned and I'm satisfied with secular laws - Being an atheist is ok, unless you are around older, super conservative, old school religious people, but sometimes I feel like a unique specimen - Most of my friends think being an atheist means not accepting organized religion, but they're surprised when I say I don't believe in anything supernatural. This is troublesome when I have a friend that claims to have a relationship and spiritual contact with spirits and has panic attacks when someone says she's lying. Not believing in anything at all is still highly unpopular.

SteveII, your arguments have been refuted over and over and over again, and because you argued that what the majority believes is relevant to determine what's true and false, I'm guessing you will be ok that when Islam's demographics surpass Christianity's then Islam will become right - Will you convert to Islam afterwards? Whoever told you atheists are superior and more intelligent was wrong - Being an atheist doesn't make you smart, a good scholar, a good critical thinker - It just means you are most likely right about one thing (the existence of deities). I hold many unpopular opinions as an atheist, some I have never revealed to anyone b sides my girlfriend, so I don't and can't relate myself with the majority of atheists in many ways. I just happen to not believe, but what I think about topics, morality, politics and society doesn't depend on the fact I lack belief in deities.