more atheists today

I am at the wise age of 15 right now....meaning that I amnot very wise...but...
Has anyone elsenoticed that today there are more atheists than ever? you never hear about famous atheists from a long time ago, and the few that are known are...few

Just a thought...opinions? reasons why this is true or not true?(to avoid confusion I r teh atheist too)

 

in these modern times there are definitely more people who are not religious. many of therm do not identify as "Atheist" or "Agnostic" either, they're just not into the whole scene. religious identity is becoming a less important detail, not often included in a news profile of a famous person.

 

Atheist means the one who understood life more deeply, adn questioned more, not stoping on simple explanations taht bible gives. Open ur self, discover more. The ones who understood life, tehy understood the issue of God.

 

Atheism seemed to have declined to where it was even declared 'statistically irrelavent'. Meaning not enough Atheists existed to even make a useful survey out of.

Having said that you are indeed seeing what 'appears to be' a sudden spike in popularity.
But its 'Virtual'.
Its 'Dane Cook' popularity on the Internet.
The favourite fad of the last two seasons among 17 year old white males in suburbia - the online 'Atheist character'.

The 'rough idea' here is that they are under some belief there are 'fundies' that are established online.
The 'Fundie' is an imaginary character (see: Stephen Colbert) who is very judgemental but also stupid and easily 'blown away' if you challenge him.
So,
The teen 'internet atheist character' is made.
The 'atheist' revels in the idea of 'totally fucking with the fundies' and imagines himself 'high fiving' other teens who are like "Wahahaha.. I totally told this guy god sucks and he was like 'you will burn in helll!' and I was like 'who cares'.

Alot of this is egged on by TV culture too. Our teen watches the 'Daily Show' or popular 'shock comics' as they easily knock down and drag those big pompous religious types.
So our teen is encouraged and wants to try it himself as his 'online character'.

But yeah, there are very few atheists left and same goes for 'fundies'.
In real life.

 

Ooh, don't think Christian Fundamentalism is on a decline. Survey after survey shows moderate religion is on a decline in the US but is being replace by conservative fundamentalists of varying sects and sorts. The replacement is not 1 to 1, but it's still rather scarey.

 

You got to keep in mind that the term 'Fundamentalism' is changed now thanks to the internet culture and your latest trends in antichristian criticism.
For example:
Some are inventing divisions like 'Literalist' (not used in Christian Circles really) and then supposing there is some 'opposing' Christian force who are supposed to be liberal scholars, higher critics and 'allegorists'.
[the latter being along the lines of those seen picked as 'christian scholars' whenever you watch a secular 'documentary' on History or Discovery programmes or Time and Newsweek articles]

Anyways, I digress a bit...

The point is that 'according to popular media' almost everyone is a 'fundamentalist' now.
Evangelicals (again not 'really' a denomination or block) are now 'Fundamentalist'.

Quite honestly, the concept of 'fundamentalism' in just the common sense is not bad anyways.
It would actually be good if Christians spent more time focusing on the fundamentals.
The 'basics' if you will.
But,
The latest greatest and most understood meaning of 'Fundamentalist' among Christians was a sort of second revival it went through in around the 1980s.
Before that 'fundies' were in a heyday more back in the 20s-30s era.

Let me just sorta explain how it works with Christians:
Unfortunately all these sorta 'movements' work on a sort of 'pendulum' principle.
So for example when pre-WW2 germany saw a rise in 'Higher Criticism' and what we now know as 'liberal theology' etc.
Ok,
Then you see a sort of 'counter movement' and the inevitable horrific 'church splits'.
A 'back to fundamentals' group for example.
Ok.
Then that group splits off, splits off.. in a sense 'straining out' extremes of each end.
When this sort of cultural phenom happened in the 80s you eventually split off so far you end up with bizarre 'denomination' to the extreme of Fred Phelps.

Anyways, antichristians are really just trying to exploit a weakness by carefully 'moving the gauge' of 'Fundamentalism'.
The idea kinda works like this:
Since the one thing 99% of Christians do NOT want to be mistaken for is a 'fundamentalist' (keep in mind fundies terrorised other christians farrrrrrr worse than anyone else)
So,
Now start moving the needle over further and 'chase christians to the left' so to speak.
So bad has it gotten that I have been seeing 'would be creationists' walking away from it for fear of being counted as 'fundamentalist'.
Not because its real, but because they saw a Jon Stewart or a popular pundit suggest they would be.

But anyways, actual 'fundamentalist' (as we would know it) peaked about 1985 or so.
You dont see too many of them organised anymore.
Still a few made it back into the regular denominations but they dont have much influence.

I rarely meet any atheists anymore.
they seemed to have their last 'peak' about the same time as the fundamentalists and now most of them I knew back in college are at least Deists now.
Possibly they do play their ole college 'atheist' character online though.

 

Beaver

Rubbish. Athiest means ONLY, that one does not accept a prepacked theological explanations of reality.
Occam does not accept such either, but 'not believing a thing'
does not provide any answers.
NOT believing a thing, does not mean you know any more than you started with.

Occam

 

Ikdenkhetniet

LOL,, you should leave your house.

Your elaborate web of words ends up meaning nothing.
TOTAL INDIFFERENCE.
Is now the word.
People just dont care anymore.
Asking them if they are christian is like asking them if they believe in
Zues and mount olympus. The two are just as relevant to them.

Religions in general [there are thousands] are slowly losing ground.
[in numbers]
In a few centuries they will be gone.

Occam

 

religion will never fade away as long as people of similar minds come together. Current churches and forms of religion will pass but the psycho-social function of religion, and consequently religion, imho will remain. People are always confusing churches with religion. For the most part, by the time a church is built, the original religous impetus has been lost. Science is a religion.

 

Just so Im clear.

I reported that outside the 'internet' and in the 'real world' I am meeting people and rarely meet atheists.
You then suggest I should 'leave my house' and find out my 'elaborate web of words' will mean something.
You then agree that I would not meet many atheists anymore.

(not going to burn you for the mixup because Im thinking you probably just 'smoked' )

 

Not 'smoked' at all my friend. Dont try that stupid line on me.
the 'religious' always try the 'drugged person' line.
It's an old tactic my friend.
You can say 'your all smoked' yet the religious diminish

You try to twist the words. but words mean nothing in RL
WHERE areligious peoples grow in number. Every day.

Occam

PS..YOU...burn me?

LOL.. you havnt the smarts to even try.

 

such a simple question and it turned into people fighting

just because someone is stoned or not doesn;t ruin their point...

no, lets examine the htree parts of the word A-the-ist
a=without
the>theism=higher power(able to warp logic is the bst example i can provide)
ist=one who is a member of

without belief.

what does that mean?(I am not trying to pikc a fight)


mati, good point but I disagree. religion started as a way to explaine things that were (at the time) unexplainable. It was later developed into a source of power, but lets not go there. As things become explained religions die.

Everyone knows that when one thing becomes explained, hundreds more things come up that need explaining. religion exists (psycologolically) to please those who need explanation.

The exception to the above is people who are/were brought up in a religious household. children will believe nonsence if it is told to them by someone who is older (a parent) and will believe it as they get older if it keeps getting drilled into them. it is all psycological.

when you meet people do you ask them if they are atheist? sounds like you are making stuff up to me....

 

I mix in philosophical circles.
Atheism was alot more common to run into fifteen years ago and now you are more likely to find them 'agnostic' or probably even 'deists'.
I can think of a few former atheists who are now full-on theists.

Now to take it back to the original points - on the internet, in cyberspace, I would have the impression there was a revival of atheism.

 

I agree fully. Atheism is actually on the decline. I hear more and more people saying they are "against religion" and "for spirituality" --- the New Age vegan/microbiotic types are none other than theists.

Further, I'd say many of the moral presumptions of the neo-liberal establishment and its faithful are none other than unquestioned and unattributed Christian dogmas. The same people who say they are "against religion" or who snub Christianity as a thing for the Republicans are actually much more moralistic and dogmatic now than ever...

It's funny to see how "The Left", which after the collapse of the USSR means everything you want it to mean, is none other than a Christianity without it's symbolic apparatus and icons. I actually would much rather talk to full-blown Christians because they at least make the effort to read a book not on the New York Times best-seller list, and they have a clue as to whence their ideas originate.

Who cares about some survey? I step out of my door and I also see atheism on the decline and Christian ideas, although not necessarily Christian rituals, on the rise.

 

Very well written.
I dont usually go about 'high-fiving' posts but you said that better than I could have.

Interestingly to that:
After several decades of declining membership,(esp youth numbers) my 'mainstream' denom is suddenly seeing a return of younger members.
There has been a 'buzz' about this same thing coming from alot of the Pastors around the city.
Im not sure what to make of it yet and most of this new type of attendee is not registering church memberships (yet).
By youth Im talking the sorta 35 and under.

Yeesh, our Christmas Eve services were absolutely busting out the doors!
Will be seeing if this trend turns into anything.

 

Well, the media always provides an illusion of intimacy and reality. It is a carefully cultivated craft.

Sure, if I'd go by the net or Hollywood, I'd believe everyone is fucking each other's brains out and then shooting them. Yet, all that is statistically less true today than in the recent past.

 

This person is simply a windup merchant or entirely unexceptional
what you are saying here is entirely without foundation and hardly merits a response - wheres your proofs?

 

Real world experience is the foundation and I am your proof.

If you like e-articles then here are some:
http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/05/breaking2453432.91875.html
and (this is actually quite good)
http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/hutchison/050204
and
http://www.americanthinker.com/2005/03/atheism_in_decline.html
and in russia atheism down by 50%:
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/55537.aspx?option=print

Seriously though, I have to spend alot of time dealing with atheists, agnostics and theists.
Fifteen years ago it almost seemed like Atheism was enjoying a sort of 'last hurrah'.
Now I could count the atheists on one hand.
Its becoming so rare in real life that I am sure I forgot more of the arguments than I remember and that throws me off when I log-on to the net and see what appears to be online atheist characters everywhere hurling out arguments I havent heard since 1985!

 

Guys, I have a problem...I am a typical christian but I don't believe that all the shit that are said to be done by Jesus are really done in the past!I don't know who is the true god and nobody does!How can they believe in someone who they don't really know if he exists!Here, in Greece the worst thing is that they teach us at school our Religion!Am I an atheist, a strong personality or a girl with common sense to say those things?

 

common sence points away from religion. Religion is a means of explanation and all that is needed is an open mind and a hint of logic to see that there are definitly more plausable answers. Just because we can;t explaine everything doesn't mean that we have to, or that we ever will...so why make something up? no one ever responded to my last post.

sure they do, they were brought up with christianity therefore they are correct....see the closed mindedness? the bible teaches people to be closed minded. The whole religion is based on the thought that thinking is bad.

God said don;t eat the fruit, they ate the fruit which caused them to think, god got mad.

Deutoronomy 13:6-11 says if someone offers to bring you to their church of a different religion then you have to throw rocks at them until they die.

there are many more!

This element of closed mindedness prooves that religion is no more than a source of power to those who are higher up. they use the power obtained by 'being able to explaine"(this is all subconscious). some believe it, some beleive it because they subconsciously need the power, some don;t.