Atheism is unstoppable.

[Dr H]

Yes, my eradication plan is ambitious, but the important part is that we get rid of as many as possible in the first week.

So we need enough nukes.

I'm pretty sure we have enough.

So it's just a question of who gets to set them off, and where.

[EgoDeath]

I completely disagree. But to each their own.

PRJA93

Disagree all you like.  If religion were going to fade away, it would have done so by now.  Religious people have a tendency not to trouble themselves with things like reason and evidence, so all the actual knowledge we can muster will never trump faith, not completely.

But I do agree with you as far as religion getting smaller and having less influence as time goes on.  I just don't see it ever being eradicated completely.

Boru

Yea. That's nonsense. People may have said, in the 80s, "If they were going to legalize gay marriage, they'd have done it by now!"

So yea that's silly.

You're writing as though all religion is a failed attempt to do what science does better. While I hope those parts of religion will go away, I think we have to recognize that the various religions provide other things which science by definition can't.

Religion evolves and adapts. Many types are fully compatible with science. 

And, sad but true, sometimes the countries where science is well developed use their knowledge to kill more effectively. The survivors in the attacked areas may well see the products of science as evil, and the protection of their god as comforting. That's not going to change any time soon.

You seem to be assuming that I'm saying either religion or science can fulfill human needs, and nothing else. Which is not at all what I'm saying.

Also, so what if religions are compatible with science? They're still useless, whether or not the proponents of that religion are aware of it. And my argument is that everyone will see the pointlessness of religion at some point.

People seeing products of science as "Evil" has to do with their perception of the world, not with science. 

What need, exactly, do you think religion fills that NOTHING ELSE in life can fill? That's the question.

[AFTT47]

PRJA93, I'm afraid you underestimate the human capacity for stupidity. I've been guilty of that myself but never again.

Exhibit A: The election of Donald Trump. I'm still trying to wrap my head around it. All the information at our fingertips accomplished nothing. This is a man who has been in the public eye since the 1980s. We have long known exactly what he is. But tens of millions of fucking idiots voted for him anyway. Information by itself isn't useful; you need to have a brain to process it.

There is no doubt that religion is on the decline and I'm sure it will continue. At some point though, it will bottom-out because of human stupidity. Hopefully, that bottoming-out will be at a level where religion no longer has a significant impact on society.

[SteveII]

Atheism is unstoppable.

For the first time in a few hundred thousand years, humans have instantaneous, complete access to mountains of information at the touch of our fingertips. We can fact-check any claim, question any belief and, potentially, smash any dogmatic system of beliefs with a few well-worded searches.

We now know the age of the Earth, the mechanics behind gravity and thermodynamics and a whole bunch of other phenomena that I personally won’t pretend to understand. We launch rockets into outer space in search for alien life and other inhabitable planets. We can share information across the world with a single click or tap, communicating across oceans and thousands and thousands of miles of land and mountains and valleys. We are in the future.

The power of human intelligence is astounding. This is evident in the way we shape reality around us, bending nature and space to work to our advantage. It’s doubtful we will ever master nature, as we all have an expiration date, but the way in which we can use nature to do things for us is absolutely fascinating. We are powerful, not because of atheism, nor because of any religion, for that matter. We are powerful because we are intelligent. We our powerful because we are driven and strive to understand the unknown. We ARE powerful.

We no longer have to accept concepts like “god” as self-evident, unquestionable facts of life. We don’t have to listen to the priests or chaplains anymore, because they provide us with no treasured knowledge or exclusive information. That time has passed. Why god? Why religion? It does nothing for us and answers no questions. We don’t know why we’re here, or if there even is a why. But we do have a good idea of how we got here, and that’s a start.

We don’t need to understand everything in the world, even though we want to. Our strive for the understanding of the unknown should not drive us to give inaccurate answers to questions we feel the need to ask. It’s okay to say we don’t know. People are beginning to understand this, and less people are turning to religion today than ever before. Even those that do turn to religion don’t believe in it as wholeheartedly, and for good reason.

Speaking of reason, we use it constantly. We use reason to understand the world around us and we take very little on faith, except when it comes to god and religion. But, there is no good reason to believe in god. There’s no reason that a supernatural deity needs to exist. It doesn’t make life any more beautiful or our place here on Earth any more special. We are simply here. There is no god. There is no afterlife. And that’s okay. Enjoy your life while you’re here, and enjoy the march of time as much as you can.

As time goes on, people get less religious and gain more knowledge. Soon enough, god and religion will be a non-issue. A thing of the past. Lumped in with the Greek gods as a fine addition to the subject of “religious mythology.” There’s no longer a need for any of this nonsense.

Atheism is unstoppable.

People are not getting the memo:

If current trends continue, by 2050 …

• Atheists, agnostics and other people who do not affiliate with any religion – though increasing in countries such as the United States and France – will make up a declining share of the world’s total population. http://www.pewforum.org/2015/04/02/relig...2010-2050/

[RoadRunner79]

Atheism is unstoppable.

For the first time in a few hundred thousand years, humans have instantaneous, complete access to mountains of information at the touch of our fingertips. We can fact-check any claim, question any belief and, potentially, smash any dogmatic system of beliefs with a few well-worded searches.

We now know the age of the Earth, the mechanics behind gravity and thermodynamics and a whole bunch of other phenomena that I personally won’t pretend to understand. We launch rockets into outer space in search for alien life and other inhabitable planets. We can share information across the world with a single click or tap, communicating across oceans and thousands and thousands of miles of land and mountains and valleys. We are in the future.

The power of human intelligence is astounding. This is evident in the way we shape reality around us, bending nature and space to work to our advantage. It’s doubtful we will ever master nature, as we all have an expiration date, but the way in which we can use nature to do things for us is absolutely fascinating. We are powerful, not because of atheism, nor because of any religion, for that matter. We are powerful because we are intelligent. We our powerful because we are driven and strive to understand the unknown. We ARE powerful.

We no longer have to accept concepts like “god” as self-evident, unquestionable facts of life. We don’t have to listen to the priests or chaplains anymore, because they provide us with no treasured knowledge or exclusive information. That time has passed. Why god? Why religion? It does nothing for us and answers no questions. We don’t know why we’re here, or if there even is a why. But we do have a good idea of how we got here, and that’s a start.

We don’t need to understand everything in the world, even though we want to. Our strive for the understanding of the unknown should not drive us to give inaccurate answers to questions we feel the need to ask. It’s okay to say we don’t know. People are beginning to understand this, and less people are turning to religion today than ever before. Even those that do turn to religion don’t believe in it as wholeheartedly, and for good reason.

Speaking of reason, we use it constantly. We use reason to understand the world around us and we take very little on faith, except when it comes to god and religion. But, there is no good reason to believe in god. There’s no reason that a supernatural deity needs to exist. It doesn’t make life any more beautiful or our place here on Earth any more special. We are simply here. There is no god. There is no afterlife. And that’s okay. Enjoy your life while you’re here, and enjoy the march of time as much as you can.

As time goes on, people get less religious and gain more knowledge. Soon enough, god and religion will be a non-issue. A thing of the past. Lumped in with the Greek gods as a fine addition to the subject of “religious mythology.” There’s no longer a need for any of this nonsense.

Atheism is unstoppable.

People are not getting the memo:

If current trends continue, by 2050 …

• Atheists, agnostics and other people who do not affiliate with any religion – though increasing in countries such as the United States and France – will make up a declining share of the world’s total population. http://www.pewforum.org/2015/04/02/relig...2010-2050/

Not to mention I've also heard that numbers for strong orthodox Christians is increasing.   It's mostly the moderate / inactive  cultural Christians that are fading off, and no longer identifying with the faith.     I don't mind that trade off!

[EgoDeath]

People are not getting the memo:

Not to mention I've also heard that numbers for strong orthodox Christians is increasing.   It's mostly the moderate / inactive  cultural Christians that are fading off, and no longer identifying with the faith.     I don't mind that trade off!

While I think those are some interesting numbers to consider, I don't think it really paints an accurate picture. Statistics can be interesting to cite and contemplate but they also have to be considered with context. It's no surprise that religion may be on the rise, for example, in places like Africa or the Middle East (with Christianity and Islam being the main two religions in those areas). However, atheism is on a serious rise here in the States, and many of the developed countries of the world are also seeing an increasing number of atheists. It's no wonder that, in many countries which are considered the happiest places in the world (by a number of different factors), atheism is on the rise.

A lot of the time I don't even think it's more atheists = happier people, I simply think that once religion is a non-issue for some people, they can address other aspects of their lives without worrying about silly thoughts like, "Does this make me a bad Christian/Muslim/Jew/Buddhist/Taoist?"

Once religion isn't an issue, people simply live their lives, doing things they enjoy, spending time with people they love. Things a lot of aspects of religion tend to put a chokehold on.

Also, even if Christianity IS on the rise, how many of those people are practicing true Christianity and how many people are simply calling themselves Christians? Here in the US most "Christians" by todays standards would be seen as immoral delinquents dancing to "the devil's music" and showing too much skin.

[robvalue]

We’ve already reached the tipping point in England and much of Europe, where religion is drifting off into irrelevancy. In the absence of threats of violence and social outcasting, I see this as the future everywhere. Insular communities are now much harder to maintain, which is where religion thrives the most.

People will tend towards irreligion anyway, if not atheism. It appears that each new generation is less religious than the last.

[Fidel_Castronaut]

We’ve already reached the tipping point in England and much of Europe, where religion is drifting off into irrelevancy. In the absence of threats of violence and social outcasting, I see this as the future everywhere. Insular communities are now much harder to maintain, which is where religion thrives the most.

People will tend towards irreligion anyway, if not atheism. It appears that each new generation is less religious than the last.

Not all are fading, though. Whilst traditional Christian churches have shown massive declines in the 20th century, Islam shows a lot of growth in the last 20 years, which is a cause for concern.

[robvalue]

We’ve already reached the tipping point in England and much of Europe, where religion is drifting off into irrelevancy. In the absence of threats of violence and social outcasting, I see this as the future everywhere. Insular communities are now much harder to maintain, which is where religion thrives the most.

People will tend towards irreligion anyway, if not atheism. It appears that each new generation is less religious than the last.

Not all are fading, though. Whilst traditional Christian churches have shown massive declines in the 20th century, Islam shows a lot of growth in the last 20 years, which is a cause for concern.

Why do you think that is? I feel that Islam is less flexible that Christianity, so is resistant to dilution and probably retains better. But is the growth due to immigration? I find it hard to believe it is actually drawing a significant number of people in from the outside.

[Little Rik]

Anything that doesn t make sense and is unable to solve human problems is bound to fail.
That is pretty obvious.
So religions so capitalism and so atheism.
Since when atheism has been able to solve any problems?
The only ism that will succed will be universalism which rather than divide will unite.