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"Atheists, agnostics and those who do not affiliate with religion will make up a smaller percentage of the world's total population by 2050 — even though the group is growing in the U.S. and Europe. The decline is primarily because those who are unaffiliated religiously have low fertility rates, with women bearing an average of 1.7 children in their lifetime."
- Pew Study Predicts Islam's Growth Spurt Will Make It The World's Dominant Religion by Century's End : Goats and Soda : NPR
That doesn't really make sense. Belief in a deity isn't completely dependent on the beliefs of one's parents---otherwise I'd still be a Christian. Your parents can be Muslim or Christian or any other religion and you may still turn out to be an atheist, and vice versa
That doesn't really make sense. Belief in a deity isn't completely dependent on the beliefs of one's parents---otherwise I'd still be a Christian. Your parents can be Muslim or Christian or any other religion and you may still turn out to be an atheist, and vice versa
No kidding. If atheists were produced only by atheist parents, there'd be a lot fewer of us.
It's because non-religious people see child rearing in more rational and pragmatic terms. Religious people simply see it as a 'wonderful gift from God'. Non religious people are also probably more likely to perceive that there isn't necessarily anything meaningful (or even desirable) about existence, although outright anti-natalism seems to be rare.
I don't see the trend ever being reversed, but hopefully the religious people who raise the next generation of children will be more liberal and will permit their children to think critically about religion.
Step up what, overpopulate the world even more? Or is it bring a child into the world anyway even when one would rather not for the sake of increasing numbers?
There is no guarantee the child will grow up atheist or agnostic anyway.
I don't and won't put anyone through this. It's the main reason why I never wanted children...
I think we are stepping it up just fine ... stepping up the education of others about the fallacies and dangers of theism. These projections are linear and do not take into account that atheism is growing differently than theism ... theism depends largely on compromising the minds of infants, atheism depends on not doing that. It's my belief that a tipping point will soon be reached (if it hasn't already) by which increasing numbers of unbelievers cause the stranglehold of theistic ideation in society to collapse.
First, atheism isn't projected to decline in absolute terms, just as a percentage of overall population.
Secondly, the report assumes that religion is like race, genetically passed on by birth. In fact, religious affiliation is mutable and people change affiliations when they are able.
A lot of atheists don't abandon religious institutions just because they don't believe. Many still attend church. They still donate to their churches or other religious institutions. Tolerance of non-belief may increase but it doesn't necessarily equate to atheism becoming a large movement with resources to rival Christianity or Islam.
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