Religion’s days are numbered

May 6, 4:16 PMPhiladelphia Atheism ExaminerStaks Rosch

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The future of religion

Today more evidence has been released that once again shows that religion (particularly the Abrahamic religions) is losing ground and will be a thing of the past. The days of Churches on every street corner are numbered.

New research shows that roughly 30 to 40 percent of young people no longer attend church. That number used to be around 5 to 10 percent. According to Harvard University professor Robert Putnam, this trend started in the 1990s and continues today. Putnam does point out that this doesn’t necessarily mean that these young people are atheists, just that they no longer attend church. He speculated that the Religious Right has tainted most young people’s view of organized religion and that many now see organized religion as a “source of intolerance and rigidity and doctrinaire political views."

The fact is that if religion loses the youth of America, it will eventually be phased out. Within the last few years more and more atheist groups have started to organize and become outspoken. More authors like Dawkins, Harris, Hitchens, and Dennett have been speaking out about religion and more people have been coming out as non-believers. Just a few weeks ago, the popular Daily Show host Jon Stewart revealed that he doesn’t believe in God. His show attracts a large number of young people and most of them look up to him. Bill Maher has also recently joined the fight against religion after sitting on the sidelines for years.

While Putnam’s poll shows only 30 to 40 percent of young people have stopped going to church, he also has pointed out that this trend is continuing. I predict that within the next decade of so, that number will double. As rational thought and secular values start to compete with religious indoctrination, we will see more and more people young and old start to reject the ancient superstitions of the past in favor of the science and reason of the future.