advancedatheist

According to various surveys, the numbers of religious nonbelievers alive today fall into a ballpark of 800 million to 1 billion, or a percentage of the world's population in the teens. This demographic explosion of nonbelief has only happened in the last century, whereas before the 20th Century humanity was nearly 100% religious.

You can look at it in another apposite way: The number of nonbelievers alive today is comparable to the population of the world about 200 years ago, so that the demographic standards of the early 19th Century, the planet is full of "infidels." This trend throws considerable doubt on the claim that we have "god genes" which make us crazy under the influence of certain kinds of myths.

starling

Or perhaps we have simply found a new way to express the genetic traits that previously manifested themselves as religious faith. There's more than butter you can put on toast after all.

Red Expendable

Could you please give some sources for those statistics? - either book or link.

Thanks,
RedEx

Dark Knight Bob

Richard Dawkins proposed the theory that religion in itself is merely a bi-product of a genetic disposition to obeying your parents (they would know more about the world and how to survive in it so it would be a benefit to your survival to trust what they said without question)

Religion and the method it spreads by is memetic in that it is very good at taking advantage of this genetic trait and exploiting it to prevent other forms of authority from outgunning it. Such examples are "believe our religion not others" "kill people who do not think like you" "no matter what any evidence says our religion makes you happy"

This is why it can take a LOT of controlled thought to overpower it's effects and to see what it really is.

Damburger

I'd agree - 100 years ago, a prominent figure being accused of atheism was a scandal. Now most young people are openly comtemptuous of religion.

However, as reason becomes more widespread, religion becomes defensive and more aggressive - to the point where we see alledgedly modern nations engaging in virtual holy war.

I reckon all the atheists should move to the Moon or Mars, and leave the godbotherers to wipe each other out (which would become progressively more difficult as we invent most of their weapons).

Dark Knight Bob

The problem is science can be used for good or evil. They'd just come after "us" with holy spaceships blessed by god.

I can agree that fundamentalism can (and generally does by it's nature) become more aggresive towards people who don't "think" like them. However because this time around we don't have a monarchy to enforce it they're really just going to fall on deaf ears when compared to the option of living a free life where you're allowed to have your own opinion.

Assuming people like bush jr don't fuck with the constitution then america could pull itself out of the fundie ethos it has going about it.

Generally most people including theists don't regard education as a threat to anything (only the fundies see it as an opposition to their brainwashing) so as people become more intelligent then it's more likely people are going to just let go of religion.

cuziamthecaptain

http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html

I think if it was socially acceptable to be an atheist (believe you me, it isn't; have you ever heard of an atheist in any major political party?), there'd be alot more of em.

advancedatheist

Major Religions of the World Ranked by Number of Adherents
http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html

MsChutzpah

:notworthy :notworthy

You can add this to that: When the christians start preaching to me about Jesus and heaven and hell, etc.; I listen so intently ...looking them right in the eye, and then say "If you only knew the history of your own religion; if you really DID read your Bible and saw the filthy crap (incest, genocide, rape, degradation of women, contradictions aplenty) contained therein; if you'd only take the time to study OTHER religions and other myths; hell, if you'd just THINK about it all instead of blindly assume and swallow the dogma, you'd be an atheist. I guaran-damn-tee-ya. For that is precisely what happened to me."