A quote from the link:
"There have long been predictions that religion would fade from relevancy as the world modernizes, but all the recent surveys are finding that it’s happening startlingly fast. France will have a majority secular population soon. So will the Netherlands and New Zealand. The United Kingdom and Australia will soon lose Christian majorities. Religion is rapidly becoming less important than it’s ever been, even to people who live in countries where faith has affected everything from rulers to borders to architecture."
I love this bit:
"But it’s not easy to unite people around not believing in something. “Organizing atheists is like herding cats,” says Stephanie Guttormson, the operations director of the Richard Dawkins Foundation, which is merging with the Center for Inquiry. “But lots of cats have found their way into the 'meowry.'” "
Yes!!!!!’ So there is hope for the world!!!! Loved this post.
A well-written article, however, it seems that this article along with many others of its type seems to be under the assumption that "no religion" = "atheist/agnostic". As someone who studies the non-religious, I can say that this is absolutely untrue. Only about a third of the "Nones" identify as atheist or agnostic the rest fall somewhere along the line of believing in a Higher Power, being Spiritual but Not Religious, or having a belief in God but not belonging to an organized church. And it is the growth of these Non-religious Believers that are responsible for most of the growth of the "Nones" (especially in the US) as people move away from the corrupt institutions of religion but maintain their belief in a deity. Now, yes, there has been an increase in atheists/agnostics but it is more that our visibility has exponentially increased more than our numbers in terms of our influence in political and social matters.
I just hope the secular will rally behind science and reason, and not start a new religion.
Interesting post on growth of Non-believers and growth od believers in Africa and former Communist countries. I also thought mention of Atheist leaders being misogynist may lead the majority of Atheists to be male. Good article with demographics.
yes I thought the male comment was interesting too, but I think women will catch up..
@ripcurldane - women will catch up?! I don't think the problem is with women per se, the article was saying that the misogynistic views espoused by some of the more high profile atheists was turning women off atheism.