From a Christian Nation to an Atheist Nation
If you listen closely to Conservative politicians and political pundits on matters of Religion in the United States, you would think that the foundation and future of Religion and Belief in God is on solid ground. They will drag out tired statements such as “We are a Christian Nation”, or “We were founded on Christian values and principles”. However, if you are paying attention to the actions of the Religious leaders and look at the trend of Religion and Belief in God in this country, it is not very hard to see where the country is headed in the next 100 years.
Let us first take on the statement “We are a Christian Nation”. While it is true that the majority of Americans identify themselves as Christian, this in no way justifies “We are a Christian Nation”. We are a secular nation with a secular government that does not interfere with the right for people to worship any God they choose, nor does it force people to worship a God. In fact, our constitution says that there should be no religious test when running for public office. The very fact that our constitution only mentions religion in an exclusionary way proves that we are not a Christian Nation or founded on Christian principles.
If we look at the actions of our Religious Leaders in the country it shows they are very nervous. Before examining why they are nervous, let’s look at how their uncertainty about the future of their followers is causing these actions. Over the last few years, we have seen a rise in a movement by the religious leaders to counterattack science. Religion sees science as the ultimate threat to their institution. You will not see religious leaders discouraging their congregations from going to see a doctor when they get sick or encourage them to set free a criminal when DNA evidence shows they did the crime. However, they continue to try and push schools into teaching Creationism or Intelligent Design in schools. For over 150 years, evolution has not only stood the test of time, but the more science we know, the more it confirms evolution is a fact. Evolution is a threat to religion, because it disproves 3 main stories of the Bible and Koran (Adam and Eve, Tower of Babel and Noah’s Flood). Global Warming denial is also a religious movement that is voiced by conservative politicians to continue to try to discredit science and make science questionable on events and history of our planet.
So why are religious leaders so nervous? Well to put it bluntly, they are losing business. The American Religious Identification Survey of 2008 has shown something is happening to religion and belief in God in the United States. It’s ending. It hasn’t ended completely, and it won’t for a while, but it will. A survey in 1990 showed that an estimated 90% of Americans identified with a religion of belief in God of some kind while just over 10% said they did not. That was over 20 years ago. A poll taken just 3 years ago, in 2008 showed that the number of people who identified with a religion or believed in God in America was 80%. That is a 10% decrease. If you look specifically at people who identify themselves as “Christian” it decreased from 86.2% in 1990 down to 76.7% in 2008. All other non-Christian religions stayed about the same, no increase or decrease. The number of people who identified themselves as Atheist, Agnostic or no belief in God was over 20%, a 10% increase. In fact, estimates are that just over 20 years ago, there were only about 15 million Americans who claimed to not believe in God. In 2011, the estimates are that over 45 million people in America do not believe in God. No wonder religious leaders are getting nervous. There is no reason to think this trend will stop, especially with science discovering so many things historically and about the nature of our universe at a rapid rate. Some estimates are predicting that as the older generation dies off, by the year 2050, there will be almost as many people who don’t believe in God, as those that do. By the year 2100, there will be more people in this country who do not believe in God than those who do. The country and the world is changing. It won’t be long before the churches, synagogues, mosques and other religious buildings will be empty and religion will have worn out its welcome. Until then, they will increasingly become more aggressive in recruiting new members. Fortunately for our society, fewer and fewer people are joining. We will be long gone before we see the United States of America, an Atheist country. But it’s coming.
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