Is There a Worldwide Backlash Against Religion? Don't Bet on It

Computer programmer Brad Parfield sits at his computer feverishly typing responses to comments on a recent poll by the Harris-Decima survey. It asks the question 'Do you believe in God?' More than a quarter of the one thousand respondents surveyed (28%) said they did not believe while the majority (72%) said they do believe. Parfield's typed responses are almost all identical. They consist of precise quotes taken from the Bible right down to the numbered passage. "I feel bad for people who can't accept God into their lives," he says. "He has the power to save."

Parfield is a part of the population that has taken old-time religion into the 21st century. His is almost a revival of the dutiful exuberance reminiscent of the early 20th century. Yet, at the same time, an equally passionate non-religious movement has risen across the country and the religious are finding it harder and harder to justify age-old traditional conventions of faith.

This summer, supporters of 'creationism' across the nation, are eyeing a new strategy that some say undermines the scientific argument of Darwinian Theory. It injects the phrase "strengths and weaknesses" into the study of evolution. Critics of the strategy say it is just a way for opponents of evolution to hear and discuss religious objections under the guise of scientific debate. The phrase was tacked onto the curriculum standards in Texas to satisfy creationists when the State Board of Education mandated the teaching of evolution in the late 1980s.

In July 2001, a poll taken by ABC News indicated eighty-three percent of Americans identify themselves as Christians. Most of the rest, thirteen percent, have no religion. But since the rise of the Christian right in the United States and, perhaps more significantly, since the world saw how religious fanaticism brutally wiped out three thousand people on September 11 that same year, some atheists have said their profile has increased.

Although atheism is still a minority belief around the world, some say it is experiencing a growth surge. "Over the last 20 years," says Alan Wolfe of Boston College, "the number of people willing to tell people in surveys that they don't believe in God have pretty much doubled." A large atheist convention held in Virginia in late September of 2007 quickly sold out and had a waiting list of 600 people. At that convention, men, women and children eagerly proclaimed their belief God does not exist. Elsewhere, atheist summer camps for children have sprouted up.

"A lot of respectable people are coming out and saying they are very happy to dispel the myths of the Bible," said Margaret Downey of Atheist Alliance International. For many people debating a switch from religion to non-religion, it’s not so much a rejection of traditional values rather than a realization that you can’t close your mind to other possibilities—and that includes there being no God at all.

Today, evidence of alternative, non-religious belief systems is everywhere. Nowhere is it more prevalent than in today's pop culture. Without question, the biggest blockbuster novel of the 21st century so far was a simple chase story about the intimate relationships of Jesus called the DaVinci Code. Soon after, other books denying God's existence emerged, most of which topped bestseller lists and created celebrity atheist authors like Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins.

Fiction that would've been aggressively targeted by special interest groups in print just a few years ago is exploding on the web with nary an eyebrow raised. One of the most popular is Darrin Wilson’s webseries, wraithsandworlds. It gleefully twists stately religious conventions and now boasts a worldwide cult following. Among the heady themes present in the story is the suggestion all religions are facades to hide the fact a handful of female priests control the direction of humankind in secret.

All of these developments have eased the climate for non-religious beliefs to such an extent, even politicians feel it is safe to come out of the non-believer's closet: Congress has its first self-proclaimed atheist, Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif.

But while the stigma associated with atheism may be diminishing, the majority of Americans still say they would not vote for an atheist for president. Curiously, apart from a belief in Godlessness, many non-religious and atheists share one very strong and common belief: that there are many more of them than any poll would indicate. Writes one blogger in response to a September 2007 ABC news story titled The Rise of Atheism, "I think a lot of people would be surprised to know that there are many, many people in this country who are pretty sceptical that a God exists. They just don't tell anyone. It's unpopular and against the grain. And they don't want to be labelled as an atheist, which conjures up negative images. They are the silent majority of non-believers."

Despite the growing momentum of the non-religious movement, religious views are in no danger petering out. They may just be in for a rough ride in the coming years as more people are latching onto the simple idea that perhaps it is we the people who are in charge of our own destinies. But then again if Malcolm Gladwell’s bestseller ‘The Tipping Point’ is to be believed, religion’s heyday may be just that.