Saturday, July 2, 2016

Gallup reports American belief in God rose recently. And 5 other reasons why New Atheism was merely a fad with minimal effects.

Recently,  I said the effects of New Atheism on the USA may be over by about 2021 which is about 5 years. It now appears as if it may only take about 3 years or even less.

I say this for 6 reasons.

1.  Correlation does not equal causation. I read that some irreligion trends were occurring even before the New Atheism appeared on the scene. So the effects of the New Atheism movement may have been minimal. In addition, read this article American faith: A work in progress which is skeptical that the New Atheism had much of an impact:

2.  New Atheism appears to be gobbled up by feminism/SJWism ("social justice warriorism")/political correctness within atheism as this story indicates: The Collapse of New Atheism.

Feminism has an element of trendiness too as this roller coaster Google trends graph helps show, but feminism did help to largely kill off New Atheism.  In addition, political pendulums do have a tendency to swing back and forth in the United States and there does appear to be a growing backlash against "political correctness" and right-wing candidates are gaining traction in many elections around the world.

On the other hand, different brands of atheism are often reactionary to various types of theism/politics so perhaps SJW has some legs for awhile. But given the roller coaster nature of feminism in society and the fickleness of the fairer sex, I have my doubts about feminism/SJW type atheism lasting.  I think it is largely a fad. 

3. Economic instability increases religiosity and the global/U.S. economy seems fragile right now.

4. Furthermore, there are some powerful global trends in terms of a global resurgence of religion and in an age of globalization, this could certainly have an effect on the United States,

5.  The New Atheism caused a surge of anti-atheism defenses of Christianity being published in print and on the internet.  Now it seems as if Answers In Genesis may see a big surge in publicity due to their Ark Encounter exhibit which is an impressive and fairly close replication of Noah's Ark (It does have a restaurant in it which I doubt Noah had). And I am not sure if the Amish who helped built the Ark Encounter used the mysterious wood of gopher wood! 

I liken the New Atheism inspired Christian anti-atheism works to be similar to the United States battle with Japan in WWII. They intellectually conquered a lot of islands on the way to "Japan"/atheism, but the "mainland" of ideological underpinnings of modern day atheism/agnosticism is Darwinism.

(Perhaps, it might be better said that Christians reconquered many islands on the way to "Japan/atheism" as the Christian vs. atheism battle is a battle that has been going on the West for about 400 years. Admittedly, new arguments do come forth.  Although the New Atheism brand of atheism was largely a marketing tactic as much of it was not new.)

Darwinism is intellectually bankrupt as these 15 questions for evolutionists help show.  Creationist have a lot of excellent content at this point. If they just amped up its distribution into the marketplace of ideas, I think this would have an effect.

Consider:

 Johns Hopkins University Press reported in 2014: "Over the past forty years, creationism has spread swiftly among European Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Hindus, and Muslims, even as anti-creationists sought to smother its flames."

 On February 24, 2015, the Science Nordic website declared:
Creationism, the belief that a god -- not evolution -- shaped life on Earth, is ... spreading in the very stronghold of evolution, Europe. That’s the conclusion of five years of research that’s been put into new book on creationism. The book details how creationism is on the march throughout most of Europe.
"Creationism is most dominant in Eastern Europe and Turkey, but even some schools in the Netherlands are teaching creationism," says one of the book’s authors Hans Henrik Hjermitslev, University College South Denmark. "Politicians in some German federal states are advocating that schools use creationist books alongside those about evolutionary theory in their lessons. This kind of struggle is going on on a small scale in many places."...

"Over the last ten years we’ve seen the emergence of big-city creationism. London is a good example," says Kjærgaar.

Here, noticeably more young people have been signed up to various local and religious groups.
"And this doesn't just apply to young Muslims as many people might think. Christian groups are also recruiting young people...

Creationism has particularly been on the rise in step with the internet, which according to Peter Kjærgaard has made it much easier for people to become activists..

 Darwinism has public schools supporting it. On the other hand, homeschooling and the use of vouchers for private religious schools  is increasing and many people are becoming dissatisfied with the quality of public schools. Given aging populations in the West and accompanying tight government budgets, privatization  of  public schools (which is more economical) could gain further traction though increased use of homeschooling vouchers, etc.  Necessity is often the mother of invention so societies may become less reliant on the public school model of education.


6. The percentage of Americans who say they believe in God has recently seen an uptick according to a recent report by the Gallup organization, but perhaps this is a sampling error as Gallup says "the margin of sampling error is ±4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level."



Sunday, June 26, 2016

2016: Two signs it is looking like a BAD year for American atheism

In the last couple years, American atheism has been in the doldrums. The dust has settled from Richard Dawkins being routed by feminists and the death of the late Christopher Hitchens. Now a spirit of pessimism, apathy and defeatism weighs down the psyches of many American atheists.

Given the shrinking of global atheism in terms of its percentage of adherents, American atheism is running out of runway in terms of ever achieving cultural dominance. The flood of religious immigrants to Europe is a testimony the power of globalization.

On July 24, 2013, CNS News reported:
Atheism is in decline worldwide, with the number of atheists falling from 4.5% of the world’s population in 1970 to 2.0% in 2010 and projected to drop to 1.8% by 2020, according to a new report by the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Mass.

And it looks like 2016 will be a BAD year for American atheism. 

First sign: Google trends: Searches for the terms "atheism" and "atheist" in the last 12 months  

Please allow time for the Google trends graphs to download below. The graphs will download momentarily.
 
Second sign: The Atheist Delusion video will be released in 2016 and receive millions of views

Friday, May 13, 2016

Godless Denmark and depravity

Consider:

 In 2005 Denmark was ranked the third most atheistic country in the world and the website adherents.com reported that in 2005 43 - 80% of Danes were agnostics/atheists/non-believers in God

The 2003 book entitled Overcoming Violence Against Women and Girls: The International Campaign to Eradicate a Worldwide Problem written by authors Rahel Nardos; Mary K. Radpour; William S. Hatcher and Michael L. Penn, declared:
 The largest source of commercial child pornography is Denmark. Denmark became the world's leading producer of child pornography when, in 1969, it removed all restrictions on the production and sale of any type of pornographic material. "The result," notes Tim Tate, "was a short-lived explosion in adult pornography, and the birth of commercial child pornography. In his work, Tate links the global spread of child pornography to two men: Willy Strauss, founder of Bambina Sex, the world's first child-pornography magazine, founded in 1971; and Peter Theander, founder of Colour Climax Corporation and the producer of a short, professionally made pornographic film series entitled Lolita. Lolita depicts the sexual abuse of prepubescent boys and girls. Although Danish law at the time rendered the work of Strauss and Theander legal, by 1979 when Denmark finally banned the production and sale of child pornography it had already become such a financial success on the international market that it has proven to be nearly impossible to bring its spread under control. (source: Overcoming Violence Against Women and Girls: The International Campaign to Eradicate a Worldwide Problem written by authors Rahel Nardos; Mary K. Radpour; William S. Hatcher and Michael L. Penn, page 59, 2003.).

Suzanne Ost, in her 2009 book Child Pornography and Sexual Grooming: Legal and Societal Responses published by Cambridge University Press, wrote about the child pornography created by Denmark/Holland during this period:  
Taylor and Quayle note that the material produced during this period still constitutes the largest part of child pornography that is currently available, having been transferred into digital format and uploaded onto the interne (source: Child Pornography and Sexual Grooming: Legal and Societal Responses by Suzanne Ost, Cambridge University Press, page 29, 2009).
 In 2014, according to Danish journalist Margit Shabanzahen, a Danish man who ran a business catering to people who have sex with horses said that he had buses of people arriving at his business.

Secular Europe's weird bestiality renaissance


Vice News is an international news channel that produces daily documentaries.

In 2014, Vice News, reported:
Bestiality is having a weird renaissance in Europe. Perhaps ironically, it kicked off when activists succeeded in banning the practice in places like Germany and Norway. In the background, something else emerged simultaneously: an animal-sex-tourism industry, which has been blossoming in Denmark.
 Is it any wonder the European share of the world's population is going to shrink in the 21st century due to sub-replacement levels of births.  Instead of having sexual relations with each other, an embarrassing amount of irreligious Europeans are having sex with animals.

According to a 2010 Eurobarometer poll, 33% of Finnish citizens "believe there is a God". (In 2005, the figure was 41%)

A prominent Finnish news website reported in July of 2015:
Finland is indeed a last bastion of bestiality. Here a person can have sex with an animal as long as the animal is not harmed. The absence of legislation against bestiality makes the nation one of the last in the European Union not to institute a legal ban.
As the law currently stands in Finland, a person can engage in sexual intercourse with an animal as long as it cannot be proved that the animal has been treated too roughly or cruelly or that the act has caused unnecessary pain and suffering.

..Finland legalised bestiality in 1971, following in the footsteps of other European countries. It was thought that criminalising the act was not the right way to deal with people who are likely to suffer from mental illness or who are simply lonely.

In 2011, a Finnish news website reported
President Tarja Halonen has characterised loneliness as a real and serious problem faced by all age groups in Finland. Her comments came in a TV address opening the annual Collective Responsibility fundraising campaign.

She reminded her audience of their responsibility for relatives and others. Dialogue was the answer, she said. The President called for efforts to combat both loneliness and marginalisation during periods of economic hardship...

Change in society had been so rapid that support measures designed to help young people had not kept pace with modern society. Halonen demanded that all means be applied to promote the well being of youth and to protect them from marginalisation and other risk factors

Lonelinsss is a big problem in secular Europe.  A problem that could be solved via Christian fellowship. And the problem is going to get worse with Europe's aging population where many of the families don't keep in contact with their elderly relatives.

Most of the world's men turn to sweet ladies when they are lonely. Many godless Europeans have turned to animals in a most unbecoming manner!

Monday, April 18, 2016

By 2021 the effects of New Atheism movement may be largely over in the United States

Although the New Atheism movement  (which is a form of militant atheism) is a shadow of its former self, it did create some  increased public discussion about atheism in America.

The God Delusion is a 2006 best-selling book by the new atheist Richard Dawkins which advocates atheism/agnosticism and criticizes religion. Although its critics rightly pointed out the book was shallow intellectually and contained many factual errors, it did sell a lot of copies.

If you look at the data below,  which includes a Google trends USA graph for the word "atheist", a case can be made that the effects of New Atheism movement and the book The God Delusion may be largely over by 2021 in the United States.

Current low morale of the atheist movement 

 In the latter portion of the 20th century and continuing into the 21st century, due to various historical events/trends, the atheist movement has had lower confidence/morale (see: Low morale of the atheist movement).

Google trends graph:: Searches for the word "atheist" at Google USA



Global resurgence of religion. Lower confidence of secularists

On July 24, 2013, CNS News reported:
Atheism is in decline worldwide, with the number of atheists falling from 4.5% of the world’s population in 1970 to 2.0% in 2010 and projected to drop to 1.8% by 2020, according to a new report by the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Mass."[17]

The agnostic Eric Kaufmann is a professor of politics at Birkbeck, University of London and author. As noted above, his academic research specialty is how demographic changes affect religion/irreligion and politics.

 Kaufmann wrote in 2010:
Worldwide, the march of religion can probably only be reversed by a renewed, self-aware secularism. Today, it appears exhausted and lacking in confidence... Secularism's greatest triumphs owe less to science than to popular social movements like nationalism, socialism and 1960s anarchist-liberalism. Ironically, secularism's demographic deficit means that it will probably only succeed in the twenty-first century if it can create a secular form of 'religious' enthusiasm." [18]

In 2012, Eric Kaufmann indicated:
I argue that 97% of the world's population growth is taking place in the developing world, where 95% of people are religious. On the other hand, the secular West and East Asia has very low fertility and a rapidly aging population... In the coming decades, the developed world's demand for workers to pay its pensions and work in its service sector will soar alongside the booming supply of young people in the third world. Ergo, we can expect significant immigration to the secular West which will import religious revival on the back of ethnic change. In addition, those with religious beliefs tend to have higher birth rates than the secular population, with fundamentalists having far larger families. The epicentre of these trends will be in immigration gateway cities like New York (a third white), Amsterdam (half Dutch), Los Angeles (28% white), and London, 45% white British. [19]

Kaufmann told a secular audience in Australia: "The trends that are happening worldwide inevitably in an age of globalization are going to affect us."[20]

 

Austria: Leading indicator of European desecularization

Concerning the future of religion/secularism in Europe, Eric Kaufmann also wrote:
We have performed these unprecedented analyses on several cases. Austria offers us a window into what the future holds. Its census question on religious affiliation permits us to perform cohort component projections, which show the secular population plateauing by 2050, or as early as 2021 if secularism fails to attract lapsed Christians and new Muslim immigrants at the same rate as it has in the past. (Goujon, Skirbekk et al. 2006). This task will arguably become far more difficult as the supply of nominal Christians dries up while more secularisation-resistant Muslims and committed rump Christians comprise an increasing share of the population.[22]

See also: Investor's Business Daily on the flood of Muslim immigrants to Europe

Friday, February 5, 2016

Jesus vs. atheism. Jesus wins hands down!


How does atheism stack up against the power of Jesus? Jesus: The King of King and the Lord of Lords!

Google trends: Searches for the terms Jesus, God, atheism and atheist 
 
Please note:  In the above graph, notice how the terms Jesus and God soar exceedingly far above the lowly terms atheism and atheist in terms of Google search volume Jesus  is still loved and respected by many. Atheism is still very much unloved and disrespected.  Is it any wonder that many atheists prefer to be labeled as humanists, rationalists, freethinkers, brights, etc. Anything but atheist!  Also, many people name their child Christian.  Many hispanic parents name their sons Jesus.  But who names their child "Atheist'?  Nobody!


Google trends: The keyword "atheism"



Google trends: The keyword "atheist"




Google trends: Various prominent atheism related terms




Google trends: Searches for the term Freethinker


Proof and evidence that Christianity is true

See: Proof and evidence that Christianity is true

Proof and evidence that atheism is true? 

See: Proof and evidence that atheism is true?

Thursday, February 4, 2016

2015 was a terrible year for internet atheism

The article Internet atheism: The thrill is gone! published in 2012 showed a steep decline of internet atheism.


Was 2015 a TERRIBLE year for internet atheism also?  If you are a militant, internet atheist, should you be depressed?

Given the sparsity of atheist churches and atheist conferences/mettings compared to Christtendom, the internet is the place where atheists continue to gather.

So how is internet atheism/agnosticism doing?

The numbers are in and 2015 was a TERRIBLE year for internet atheism and agnosticism.

Consider:

1.  Alexa ranking of Freethoughtblogs.com














2.   Alexa ranking for Richarddawkins.net














3. Alexa ranking of Rationalwiki.org













4. Alexa ranking of Infidels.org

Global rank 221,198 Downgrade in ranking 31,858








 
 5.  Alexa ranking of Atheist Empire website

Global Rank  

 2,662,600 Downgrade in ranking 673,000








 
6. Alexa ranking of Atheist Revolution website

Global Rank

  Global rank icon 765,137 Downgrade in ranking 109,400











7. Google trends: The keyword "atheism"


8. Google trends: The keyword "atheist"





9. Google trends: Various prominent atheism related terms




10. Google trends: Searches for the term Freethinker



Welcome to the 21st century atheists.   A century of desecularization!  For more information, please read the article Desecularization


Proof and evidence that Christianity is true


See: Proof and evidence that Christianity is true


 

Additional information 

Internet atheism