Atheism continues to decline

[koshergrl]

"Christianity is hard to control in China, and getting harder all the time. It is spreading rapidly, and infiltrating the party’s own ranks. The line is blurring between house churches and official ones, and Christians are starting to emerge from hiding to play a more active part in society. The Communist Party has to find a new way to deal with all this. There is even talk that the party, the world’s largest explicitly atheist organisation, might follow its sister parties in Vietnam and Cuba and allow members to embrace a dogma other than—even higher than—that of Marx."

"t is hard even to guess at the number of Christians in China. Official surveys seek to play down the figures, ignoring the large number who worship in house churches. By contrast, overseas Christian groups often inflate them. There were perhaps 3m Catholics and 1m Protestants when the party came to power in 1949. Officials now say there are between 23m and 40m, all told. In 2010 the Pew Research Centre, an American polling organisation, estimated there were 58m Protestants and 9m Catholics. Many experts, foreign and Chinese, now accept that there are probably more Christians than there are members of the 87m-strong Communist Party. Most are evangelical Protestants."

Religion in China Cracks in the atheist edifice The Economist

 

[Hollie]

You Wouldn't Believe How Fast Americans Are Losing Their Religion -- But the Fundamentalists Have a Plan
As their power declines in America, fundamentalists are moving to developing countries not as far along the secularization curve. And they're causing massive damage.

You Wouldn t Believe How Fast Americans Are Losing Their Religion -- But the Fundamentalists Have a Plan Alternet

Sometime last year, the US quietly passed a milestone demographers had long been predicting: for the first time in its history, this country is no longer majority Protestant. Fewer than 50 percent of Americans now identify as Protestant Christians of any denomination.

 

[guno]

You Wouldn't Believe How Fast Americans Are Losing Their Religion -- But the Fundamentalists Have a Plan
As their power declines in America, fundamentalists are moving to developing countries not as far along the secularization curve. And they're causing massive damage.

You Wouldn t Believe How Fast Americans Are Losing Their Religion -- But the Fundamentalists Have a Plan Alternet

Sometime last year, the US quietly passed a milestone demographers had long been predicting: for the first time in its history, this country is no longer majority Protestant. Fewer than 50 percent of Americans now identify as Protestant Christians of any denomination.

Religion takes a back seat in Western Europe
By Noelle Knox, USA TODAY
DUBLIN, Ireland — "I don't go to church, and I don't know one person who does," says Brian Kenny, 39, who is studying psychotherapy and counseling at Dublin Business School. "Fifteen years ago, I didn't know one person who didn't."

USATODAY.com - Religion takes a back seat in Western Europe

 

[koshergrl]

Who gives a shit about western europe?

Things are going so well there, too.

 

[konradv]

Who gives a shit about western europe? Things are going so well there, too.

You said atheists are in decline. Is that how your statistics are gathered, ignoring areas that don't fit you bias? Atheism may be declining, but what's increasing is agnosticism, NOT theism.

 

[koshergrl]

I think I sourced that.