Is Atheism on the rise?

[Incognito]

I think with the creation of Internet and Social Media and YouTube, Atheism as been rapidly growing. At my school, almost over half of the kids in my classes are Atheists or have no religious affiliation

What do you guys think?

[account_inactive]

Yeah, it's definitely on the rise.

[brewer]

Of course it is. I prefer reason to communication. In the end does it matter?

Does that mean we're a bad moon?

"Hope you got your things together. Hope you are quite prepared to die."

[robvalue]

Yup For sure.

Remember that whether someone is an atheist or not is a description, and doesn't depend on how they describe themselves. So there are very likely large numbers of atheists who are unwilling or unable to "come out" about it, all over the world. Especially in highly oppressive religous countries.

I certainly agree the internet has been a death blow. Insular, ignorant environments are harder to maintain. And it's becoming more apparent that atheists are ordinary people and not the ridiculous strawmen they are often presented as in religous propaganda.

[Minimalist]

Young people are rejecting religion.  I'm not sure how many of them give it a further thought.

It's hardly necessary to life.

[robvalue]

Yeah. With the world getting smaller, the bigotry is more and more unappealing too I think.

Religion is divisive. Even if nothing else, the popular religions have an in group that expect to be rewarded and an out group which will not. And they generally consider the out group to be deserving of this, just for being the out group.

[The Valkyrie]

Yes, and it's about time.

Unfortunately many of the religious conservatives know it, too, and they're getting louder and more obnoxious about it.

[robvalue]

They're also getting more desparate and more obviously wrong.

[Cyberman]

Shortly after Sam and I got together, there was a trivial inciting incident which I won't get into here, but basically having me enter her life meant that she had an open door to leave the family home and strike out with me. Her brothers and sisters realised that if she could leave, so could they. In their parents' view, I was the one who broke up the family; when all I did was show Sam the world outside.

The internet and youtube are doing the same thing - popular youtubers and prominent atheists are showing that there's another way, a better way, than the pulpit-pounders are selling. People can now see that they don't have to be alone or that they're not bound for hell simply for not believing. They can question this stuff without the answer having to be "God" (actually, the only question to which "God" is the answer is "what do morons think is the answer to every question?")

The internet really is the place where religions come to die.

[Mister Agenda]

In the USA, Canada, and Europe, yes. In Africa and South America? Not so much, and those are the continents where the most population growth is happening. Globally, the number or atheists is not rising as fast as the number of theists. Fortunately, religion is (mostly) not genetically inherited; I have some hope that Europe and the USA and Canada will have some influence in that regard; along with internet growth in those regions.