There is no doubt that religion is dying out. One of the main reasons why religion still exists today, is due to religious parents indoctrinating their children from birth, however even this is changing. In the USA (one of the most religious countries in the world) “no – religion” is the fastest growing religious status.
15% of Americans are atheist but what is more encouraging is the fact that 55% of atheist are under 35 which means their children will be raised outside of religion thereby decreasing the future religious numbers. In addition more than 50% of Americans say religion plays no roll in their daily lives.
A similar pattern has been found in other countries such as Australia, Canada and Mexico. According to statistics in Canada, the number of ”no - religion" has increased by about 60% between 1985 and 2004. In Australia, census data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics give "no religion" the largest gains in absolute numbers over the 15 years between 1991 and 2006, from18% to 21%. In Mexico, the number of atheists grows annually by 5.2%, while the number of Catholics grows by only 1.7%.
A recent study done by the American Physical Society predicts that religion will be near extinction in nine different Western nations in the next century. While the idea of the decline of religion has been a part of modern culture for years, this study’s results give quantitative data that backs up what people have been predicting.
The nations in question are Australia, Austria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Ireland, New Zealand, Switzerland and the Netherlands. While there are many other nations worldwide that have been experiencing declines in religious participation and affiliation, these nine countries are some of the few that take census data pertaining to religious affiliation. Some have been compiling this information for more than 100 years.
Of the top ten best countries to live in, five of them are also in the top ten of most “no – religion” countries, which leads one to think that the less religious the country, the better it is for its citizens.
There is also a direct link between social standing and religion with the more under-developed and less educated countries leading the way in religious belief, whereas first world countries are leaning more towards “no – religion” and atheism. Is this because the more we are able to care for ourselves the less we are in need of a supernatural crutch?
Finally, evolution is fast becoming the only accepted theory of our existence with more and more clergymen agreeing with evolution(even the previous Pope accepted the theory of evolution).
Young earth creationists are slowly being resorted to a few crackpots and religious fundamentalists and nobody with a modicum of intelligence really believes the earth is less than 10000 years old. Anti-religious sentiment has been around for centuries but with the advent of the internet, people are starting to find out the truth for themselves, and it is therefore no coincidence that atheism has dramatically grown, worldwide, over the past 20 years.
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