Jobar

Good topic, but let's move it to GRD.

Hopeful Monsters

Godless Wonder has the most likely answer and markfiend has the flawless solution.

I would add to the Godless Wonder education approach - build a whole new body of insight and knowledge as to why there are such commonly shared beliefs and throw that understanding at the kids and warn them about the mental pitfalls and loops they can could get stuck in ("It's called religion guys - watch out. For Big Bang's sake - THINK instead.").

BTW - Great Topic kaidi06

asef

1) The creation of a world-wide, non-censorable, intelligible, navigable, instantaneous communication system with limitless bandwith on which all thought/knowledge/learning is available and to which all people always have full access to.

and

2)The existence of logic.

Jayjay

I've seen this quote attributed both to Mark Twain and Jonathan Swift, and sometimes even Voltaire (though I'm pretty sure that's wrong). Can anyone here can confirm which one is the real source?

callmejay

Maybe the best we can hope for is that a really benign, liberal Christianity innoculates people from fundamentalist Christianity, sort of like a weakened-virus vaccine. It might even innoculate them from ALL of the more harmful religions, both old and new.

andy_d

Do religions ever just die, though? IMO, they tend to mutate into something new, just like the societies that spawn them.

Jayjay

Well, you don't see Baal worshippers around anymore for instance. Some religions are/were intimately tied to particular societies, and when those died, the religions died with them. It's not a coincidence that the largest religions are more or less culture-neutral and easily malleable to almost any society.

lpetrich

Here is a possible way: the supporters of another dogmatic religion crush it.

As an example of this happening on a smaller scale, Xtianity went into a serious decline in the Middle East after the rise of Islam. Muslim leaders would impose an "infidel tax" on anyone who would not convert, and would treat stubborn non-Muslims as "dhimmis" or second-class citizens.

Biff the unclean

Oh I dunno. Look at all of the Atheists here. True we have all assumed false names but we are still here. Not that long ago we would be rounded up and dumped in a hole. Now we are at the top of science and learning. Christianity has become something of a joke in Europe. You never see a movie where the hero is a Christian. Give it time, give it time...but don't give your right name just yet

Godless Wonder

Tear yet another page from the Christian book: Be fruitful and multiply. Simply outbreed everyone else. Have tons and tons of little atheist kids, who in turn, have tons more, etc. Not very environmentally sound though. Or likely.