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Permalink Reply by Madhukar Kulkarni on March 19, 2013 at 6:58am

The growth of the 'nones' in US may appear to be slow initially but it will gather momentum some time in future as the fact that religion is very unreal will be appreciated by more and more people in. Atheism has survived for millenniums and with the growth of knowledge and human ability to think and improved communications, religions is going to be pushed back from its present position. I am very hopeful in this regard and time and again I have said that religions will cease to exist in next 200 years.

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Permalink Reply by Humble Pie on March 23, 2013 at 8:28am

Religion is pernicious and addictive.  I think the best we might hope for is that it becomes in 200 years like smoking is today.  Widely condemned as a bad habit and forced to be hidden from public view, but still very much alive.

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Permalink Reply by Steph S. on March 19, 2013 at 5:14pm

Religion needs to decay. That is good news to me.

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Permalink Reply by Tom Sarbeck on March 19, 2013 at 11:16pm

Yeah, and it's happening "on our watch".

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Permalink Reply by Sentient Biped on March 20, 2013 at 8:00am

I'm glad religion is declining.  It's also interesting to look at the liberal/conservative divide on theism.  I wonder, if being liberal increases tendency to be nonreligious, or being nonreligious increases tendency to be liberal.  Or they both stem from underlying causes.

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Permalink Reply by Mathew T. on March 20, 2013 at 11:48am

Good question. I personally tend to believe that losing ones faith results in Liberalism, but I have no evidence to support this other than my own experiences and the anecdotal evidence of observing the transformation of my friends. My own timeline was such that once I stopped believing in God, I asked myself what else I believed might be bullshit?

I think the new swath of atheists in North America (Canada is changing a great deal as well, of course) owes monumental gratitude to the amount of readily available information on the internet. You can learn about almost anything that mankind has ever known, and get dozens of qualified opinions on any one topic in mere hours, sometimes minutes. I'm truly grateful to live in the time that I do.

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Permalink Reply by Humble Pie on March 23, 2013 at 8:29am

My case was more or less the opposite.  I was raised by (relatively) liberal parents, within an evangelical community.  It gave me the ability to learn and question, which was what brought me out of theism.

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Permalink Reply by Mathew T. on March 24, 2013 at 11:32am

That's actually really cool to hear, and in light of your story, makes me wonder to what extent geography has to play in it? For example, could it be said that living in Texas, you're more likely to be a non-believer first, then a liberal second, while in Oregon you may just be more likely to be a liberal first, and non-believer second? 

I wish I could believe some sort of study had already been done on that... :S

Really interesting thought, though.

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Permalink Reply by Rebekah on March 20, 2013 at 11:18pm

I will be excited to see change here in the south, I feel so cut off from educated intellectuals who can have a conversation about belief vs theory without raining hellfire down on me. I for one always wondered how "Christian liberals" could be pro-choice. Seemed like a contradiction. But once there was no God in my life, I definitely think there should be less unwanted children. I feel I'm more libertarian than conversative, but I don't think a nonreligious person could even attempt to run for office. I have wondered what the religions will look like in 500-1000 years when Christ hasn't returned yet. The biggest convincing argument against Christianity for me was the awe inspiring number of followers in modern day cults. Even Christians think of Jehovah's witnesses and Mormons as cults, because proof of their beginning is so obvious, but even modern day Christianity is just 2000 years removed from the same type of beginning.

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Permalink Reply by Todd McCarty on March 23, 2013 at 9:46am

I remember growing up 30+ years ago with my Mom being a fully involved Christian, and a Member of the John Birch society. Russia, Communists, government conspiracy for a one world order, and other crazy stuff. Dad kept on telling her it was the religious fanatics we needed to worry about rather than what she was worrying about. I think 911 did wake up a lot of people. 911 gave us Seth Andrews with The Thinking Atheist podcast. That gets me wondering. Does the John Birch society still exist?

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Permalink Reply by Tom Sarbeck on March 24, 2013 at 2:23am

I heard on the news a few months ago that the Birchers sponsored a recent conservative conference, maybe CPAC.

Bioscientists find all kinds of life forms under rocks.

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Permalink Reply by Loren Miller on March 24, 2013 at 7:18am

There was a CNN report some time back which stated that one of the immediate products of the 9/11 attacks was increased scrutiny of religion.  Along with that, I think, is also the current growth of atheism and agnosticism as a direct outcome of that scrutiny.

As for the John Birch Society, it's still around as well.  I can't help but notice that one hardly ever hears from it, though, and my resulting take is that they are largely impotent on the current national or world stage.

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