Is the future Atheist?

[Artois]

But I'll ask you to explain why "the masses" would act any differently in the future than they have in the past?

It's an interesting topic eh?

Anyway, why would the masses change the concensus view?

It's happened before, and if history teaches us anything, it could and probably will happen again.  An example would be the concensus & in particular the church's view that earth was the centre of the universe.  To think that the earth revolved around the sun was considered heresy.  The church was wrong.

The concensus view that you could not reach india except by sailing around africa was widely held as a truth, until Columbus accidently found america on his quest to prove this theory incorrect.

As regards religion, there have been many types of religion, and all supporters are always convinced theirs is the true one.  Pagan european masses were converted once before and I see no reason to believe that a similar thing could not happen again.

[Uzra]

Static numbers irrelevant.  It's rates of change that determine anything.  And atheism is the fastest growing religious-position.  This is common knowledge in my world but you can easily look up "fastest growing religion".

[Belthus]

People may be interested in the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life (http://pewforum.org/). Its study of the Millenial generation (http://pewforum.org/Age/Religion-Among-the-Millennials.aspx) in the US shows that it is less religious than previous generations. The graph also shows that the trend is a function of generation, not life stage. So each generation has developed views in early adulthood and been consistent later.

[Boingo]

Static numbers irrelevant.  It's rates of change that determine anything.  And atheism is the fastest growing religious-position.  This is common knowledge in my world but you can easily look up "fastest growing religion".

Rates of change are an interesting way to look at trends.  Of course, at one time disco was the fastest growing music trend.  How'd that work out in the long run?

[Ant-n-ero]

'Is the future Atheist?' ---- no the future's bright! the future's orange!  (sorry I had too :L)

and now i've forgotten my point I was going to make )':

[Artois]

'Is the future Atheist?' ---- no the future's bright! the future's orange!  (sorry I had too :L)

and now i've forgotten my point I was going to make )':

Sure, but is it a bright, orange 'atheist' future?

[falconbane]

how far into the future?  If it is within our life time, it may become an established religion (ironic, but there's no closer word to it). 
Also, what about the rise of the Agnostics? D:  Often times, Agnostics get grouped into the Atheist branch when they are significantly different.

Religions will probably survive in certain regions, but that's about it.  The oldest religion would probably be Animistic religions, Judo-Christianity-Islam-Buddhism-etc... cannot match them in that regards (in reply to the bad example of providing longevity). 

Historically, religion change occurs when societal changes (be it invasion, trade, exploration, advances in cultures, science etc...).  With the significant problems associate with mainstream religions, it is not irresponsible to say that they are in decline in market share (of the population, what else? xP).  Atheists might not become the majority in the future, but at least they will have a chance to have leading roles in humanity (how often do you see a "ruler" with no religion?  This includes prime ministers and presidents).

Btw, what about FSM! 

[Ant-n-ero]

the future isn't atheist no - this is because we have no clue what caused the universe to form -- it's just that half the people believe in 'science' and half believe in 'religion'
because no one knows how we are here - we have to 'make-stuff-up' to fit the rules -- this time is either religion or science - but individually we haven't got a cllue....

[falconbane]

because no one knows how we are here - we have to 'make-stuff-up' to fit the rules -- this time is either religion or science - but individually we haven't got a cllue....

That's where Agnostics comes in 

[SeddyRocky]

Seeing as Sweden is a prominent example in this debate (and no wonder, I believe we have the largest Atheist/Agnostic percentage in the world), I'd like to add my two cents.

Religion here is not a normal part of intergrated society. Since before 2000, all swedes were born into the Swedish State Church (Evangelic-Lutheran) but the church attending percentages are below double digits. I believe the cause for the large atheism pool in Sweden may lie in these points:

- We have mandatatory classes named simply "Religion" (same word in swedish too) were we are taught the different religions without emphasis on a single one, we learn to compare them (what similar origins do the main religions have?) and to overall, see things for several different perspectives (the swedish neutrality thing).
- We have not been in war for around 150 years. No war = not many dead = no need to pray for souls, find comfort in religion, needing to strenghten the internal patriotism (God bless america?).
- A very liberal state church. The swedish church has always been very liberal and open (A very, very good thing in my opinion) but this also means that religion is not tied to the state (even though formally so on paper) and not fundamentally and part of society. Unlike for example states like Pakistan, which are BASED on a religion, (even USA, although freedom of religion is in the bill o rights, is founded on, with and continuing to strive for, mainly christian ideals)...
- Modern, industrialist country with a very international point of view. More cultures/religions = less likely to pick one (not always true, but still.)

Anyway, I think that religion will always be around. And personally, I don't object to that. I only object to religons that in any way hinder people from finding happiness. (Aka, muslims killing homosexuals, christians shoving their religion down peoples throats, hindu condemning people to a horrible life...)

I also believe agnosticism (I count myself to belong to that group, or atheism... Have not made up my mind. But they are actually vastly different) will be one of the most prominent religious groups in the future.

[tyranim]

im not sure if this has been said yet, but i dont really want to sift through comments, so ill say it.
chances are, some guy is going to come out and say his religion he just started is the only correct religion and blah blah blah. anyway.... in the future, christianity will probably become the greek mythology of the future. and it will only be studied for entertainment, like what im doing right now

[SeddyRocky]

*edited out for.... Yeah it wasn't good *