Internet atheism has a small audience and an insignificant influence on the world

The new atheist Richard Dawkins was leading figure in the Elevatorgate controversy.

The Elevatorgate controversy created a deep division within the atheist movement and lead to the decline of the atheist movement and the subsequent decline of internet atheism.

For more information, please see: Atheist factions.

A large body of data indicates that in both reach and influence, internet atheism has become uninfluential. The are a variety of factors on why this has occurred which will be discussed below.

In terms of events which have made internet atheism inconsequential, both offline and online events played a part which will be covered below.

Christian organizations have been significantly more successful than atheist organizations as far as evangelizing via the internet (see: Internet evangelism: Christians vs. atheists).

In addition, data relating to the future of online atheism is provided.

Internet atheism has lost a substantial portion of its web traffic. Most atheist websites receive little traffic

See also: Internet atheism

The article Internet atheism: The thrill is gone! points out that internet atheism has been in a significant slump since 2011.

In the early part of the 21st century, atheists were very active on the internet. However, by 2008 there began a marked decline in internet atheism (see: Internet atheism web traffic volume).

Large list of atheist websites that have lost much of their web traffic with supporting data

• Large list of atheist websites that have lost web traffic - with supporting data

Google trends research suggesting that internet atheism preaches to the atheist choir and is not effective at atheist evangelism

See also: Internet evangelism: Christians vs. atheists and Atheism and groupthink and Atheist activist and Atheist apologetics and Christian apologetics

The abstract for the journal article Who is Not Afraid of Richard Dawkins? Using Google Trends to Assess the Reach of Influential Atheists across Canadian Secular Groups published in the journal Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses indicates:

“

Google Trends data on search volumes of high profile atheist public figures are used to assess their relative reach among different types of seculars in Canada. The user query data mined from Google Trends are complemented with an extensive set of information extracted from the Canadian General Social Surveys of 2005 to 2016. The analysis shows that the reach of high profile atheists is positively correlated with the presence of strictly-seculars, a proxy for the atheists. The investigation produces no statistically significant correlation between the presence of other types of seculars, namely the unchurched believers and the nominal affiliates, and the search volumes for high profile atheists. This exploratory finding suggests that the influential atheists likely “preach to the choir,” catering to like-minded individuals, at the exclusion of those with relatively close but differing views on religion and spirituality.

”

According to an international study done by William Bainbridge, atheism is frequent among people whose interpersonal social obligations are weak and is also linked to lower fertility rates in advanced industrial nations (See also: Atheism and fertility rates).

In 2017, the atheist PZ Myers, quoting fellow leftist Alex Nichols, wrote: "...the growing popularity of jibes associating outspoken atheists with fedoras, neckbeards, and virginity, led to an exodus of liberals and leftists from the “atheist” tent. Those who remained for the most part lacked in social skills and self-awareness, and the results were disastrous." See: Atheism and social skills

A 2016 Reddit post entitled Why is everyone mocking atheism all of a sudden? declared: "Now making fun of religion gets you labeled as a neckbeard or edgy, when like 2 years ago atheism was the main driving force of reddit?" See also: Atheism and social outcasts and Mocking of atheism

Atheist killer Devin Patrick Kelley

The atheist PZ Myers, quoting fellow leftist Alex Nichols, said that jibes associating outspoken atheists with neckbeards (among other things) caused many liberals/leftists to leave the atheist tent and those who remained for the most part lacked in social skills and self-awareness. See also: Atheism and social outcasts

Difficulty of distrusted internet atheists to be influential

See also: Atheism and morality and Atheism and necrobestiality and Atheism and cannibalism

Concerning distrust of atheists, sociological research indicates that atheists are widely distrusted in both religious cultures and nonreligious cultures. According to a study published in the International Journal for The Psychology of Religion: "anti-atheist prejudice is not confined either to dominantly religious countries or to religious individuals, but rather appears to be a robust judgment about atheists." The study found that many atheists do not trust other atheists as well.

The abstract of a 2014 peer-reviewed study entitled Everything Is Permitted? People Intuitively Judge Immorality as Representative of Atheists which was published in the journal Plos One reported:

“

American participants intuitively judged a wide variety of immoral acts (e.g., serial murder, consensual incest, necrobestiality, cannibalism) as representative of atheists, but not of eleven other religious, ethnic, and cultural groups. Even atheist participants judged immoral acts as more representative of atheists than of other groups. These findings demonstrate a prevalent intuition that belief in God serves a necessary function in inhibiting immoral conduct, and may help explain persistent negative perceptions of atheists.

”

The new atheist Sam Harris said concerning the label of atheist, "It's right next to child molester as a designation."(see also: Distrust of atheists)

The serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer engaged in cannibalism. He was an atheist while he committed these acts.

For more information, please see: Atheism and cannibalism

The atheist philosopher Peter Singer defends the practice of bestiality. See: Atheism and bestiality

The unattractiveness of atheism and the uninteresting nature of atheism makes it very difficult to persuade people to adopt an atheist worldview which has no evidence supporting it

See also: Unattractiveness of atheism and Rebuttals to atheist arguments

The American Christian Todd Strandberg said of atheism: "The ranks of atheists have always been small... The key problem with atheism is that it lacks a strong 'selling point'". See also: Atheism and apathy

Throughout mankind's history, most people have found atheism to be uninteresting and ungratifying (See: Atheism and inspiration).

John Updike

Atheist Francois Tremblay wrote: "One last problem that undermines any propagation of atheism is inspiration. Let's be honest here, "there is no god!" is not a very motivating call for most people."

The atheist blogger Martin Hughes wrote: "Atheism is boring."

Natasha Frost wrote in the online magazine Atlas Obscura about the Soviet Union, which had state atheism: "...atheism was taught in schools, alongside history and geography, but in a 1975 survey, many people still professed to find atheistic dogma boring."

The ex-atheist Alister McGrath has repeatedly pointed out the uninspiring nature of atheism. According to McGrath, atheism is "stale", "dull" and difficult to believe.

John Updike wrote: "Among the repulsions of atheism for me has been its drastic un-interestingness as an intellectual position. Where was the ingenuity, the ambiguity, the humanity...of saying that the universe just happened to happen and that when we're dead we're dead?".

The British columnist Giles Coren wrote in The Times:

“

But it’s not the nihilism, the soullessness, the lack of poetry, the moral and physical ugliness, the shallow iconoclasm or the vainglory of atheists that bother me most. It’s the boringness. Is there anything more boring in the world than an atheist?

”

Eric Kaufmann, an agnostic professor whose academic research specialty is how demographic changes affect religion/irreligion and politics, 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."

Furthermore, while atheism lacks any proof and evidence that it is true, Christianity offers a wealth of evidence confirming its veracity (see: Evidence for Christianity).

Google times how much people time people spend on a web page and website. Irrelevant and uninteresting content often has difficulty ranking at Google.

A large percentage of atheist websites have lost a substantial portion of their web traffic (See: Large list of atheist websites that have lost a substanstial portion of their web traffic - with supporting data).

Atheist websites appear to receive significantly less traffic from women

See also: Atheist websites appear to receive significantly less traffic from women and Atheism and women

Women are less likely to be atheists according to surveys performed around the world and other data (See: Atheism and women).

Monica Shores Ms. Magazine article titled Will “New Atheism” Make Room For Women? was one of the first articles criticizing the New Atheism movement for being sexist. She also cited Conservapedia in her article and indicated: "The lack of lady presence is so visible that Conservapedia commented on it by noting that Dawkins’ website overwhelmingly attracts male visitors." According to the website tracking firm Alexa, women frequent the website of richarddawkins.net significantly less than men.

The website Freethought Blogs has significantly less women visiting their website than men according to the web traffic tracking company SimilarWeb.com.

RationalWiki's lack of appeal to a women audience

See also: RationalWiki's lack of appeal to a women audience

According to the leading web marketing website SimilarWeb.com, in January of 2023, RationalWiki's audience skewed heavily male.

In January of 2023, according to SimilarWeb.com, 67.54% of RationalWiki's web visitors were male. This represented a slight increase in its male viewership from May of 2022 according to SimilarWeb.com. In May of 2022, according to SimilarWeb.com, 66.36% of RationalWiki's web visitors were male (See: RationalWiki's lack of appeal to a women audience).

In 2022, RationalWiki contributors failed to launch a major initiative to recruit more women editors nor was there a major increase in RationalWiki content related to women's issues. Wikipedia has an article entitled Gender bias on Wikipedia. RationalWiki does not have an article entitled "Gender bias at RationalWiki".

Google trends graphs: Search of atheism/agnosticism related terms

See also: Google trends - Atheism and agnosticism terms and Google trends - Global searches for atheism and agnosticism terms

In 2021, worldwide Google searches for the search "atheist" decreased

See also: Google trends - Atheism and agnosticism terms

According to Google trends, 2021 saw a drop in the times the world did Google searches for the word "atheist". So far, it's a 17 year low for the times people Google the word "atheist" in a year. See also: Google trends - Atheism and agnosticism terms

2021 saw a drop in the times the world did Google searches for the word atheism according to Google trends.. So far, it's a 17 year low for the times people Google the word "atheist" in a year.

In January 2004, according to Google Trends, the Google search "atheist" had a score of 43 out of 100. On December 23, 2021, according to Google Trends, the Google search "atheist" had a score of 30 out of 100. The Google search "atheist" is probably the most popular atheism related Google search.

In January 2021, according to Google Trends, the Google search "atheist" had a score of 40 out of 100. On December 23, 2021, according to Google Trends, the Google search "atheist" had a score of 30 out of 100. So that is a 10 point drop in 2021. Pandemics and crises have a history of causing people to be more religious.

Contrastly, In January 2004, according to Google Trends, the Google search "Jesus" had a score of 57 out of 100. On December 23, 2021, according to Google Trends, the Google search "Jesus" had a score of 60 out of 100. The Google search Jesus is probably the most popular Christianity related Google search.

2020 Google trends graphs for the terms: Atheism, atheist, agnostic and agnosticism

According to Google Trends, worldwide the searches at Google for the terms atheist, atheism, agnostic and agnosticism were lower in January 2020 than in January 2004.

Google trends USA data from 2004 to January 2020

See also: Internet atheism and Google trends - Atheism and agnosticism terms

According to Google trends, in the United States, the Google searches for the term atheist, atheism, agnostic and agnosticism was lower in January 2020 than it was in January 2004.

Post sexual harassment allegations against Lawrence Krauss and David Silverman, searches for atheism related topics have dropped markedly

See also: Post sexual harassment allegations against Lawrence Krauss and David Silverman, searches for atheism related topics have dropped markedly

Post sexual harassment allegations against Lawrence Krauss and David Silverman, searches for atheism related topics have dropped markedly around in the world.

For more information, please see: Post sexual harassment allegations against Lawrence Krauss and David Silverman, searches for atheism related topics have dropped markedly and A shambolic atheist community faces some tough choices

Internet atheism and quarrelsome atheists

See also: Atheist factions and Internet atheism and Atheism and anger

PZ Myers

On July 24, 2020, the atheist PZ Myers wrote about atheist factions: "Deep rifts, ongoing fragmentation, and crumbling reputations seems to be the order of the day in atheism." See also: Atheist organizations and scandals and Atheist scandals

At the 2018 American Atheists convention, the ex-president of the American Atheist organization David Silverman declared:

“

It is a hard time to be an atheist activist. This has affected us. And it has affected our community... ...it has really affected us. We are suffering a level of defeatism that I have never seen before... And people are reacting to each other now. And so that is causing a division. Lots and lots of division in our movement. Hard, bad division... And that has resulted in a splintering and factioning of the movement that I have never seen before and none of us have. In other words, we're in a bad situation and it's getting worse.

”

The atheist James Croft wrote about American atheism:

“

...something has happened to organized secularism, such that its priorities and population have rapidly changed. Today, there is a deepening rift between two wings of the movement, and the changes in Skepticon demonstrate this perfectly. The new rift in the secular community, it seems to me, parallels one deepening in the culture at large: it is between those who are on board with contemporary social justice culture, and those who are not. In the community of skeptics, this rift is filled with lava: there is an incredibly intense animosity between those on different sides, and the divide seems impossible to cross.

”

An angry atheist speaking to a woman with a Bible in her hand.

The Christian philosopher James S. Spiegel says the path from Christianity to atheism among several of his friends involved moral slippage such as resentment or unforgiveness. See: Atheism and unforgiveness

Jacques Rousseau wrote in the Daily Maverick: "Elevatorgate..has resulted in three weeks of infighting in the secular community. Some might observe that we indulge in these squabbles fairly frequently."

An ex-atheist wrote: "As an Atheist for 40 years, I noticed that there is not just a wide variety of Atheist positions, but there exists an actual battle between certain Atheist factions." See also: Schools of atheist thought

In terms of politics and atheist infighting, there is friction between right-wing atheists (and right of center atheists) and secular leftist. See: Atheism and politics and Western atheism, schisms and political polarization

In 2017, atheist David Smalley has indicated that leftist/progressive atheists were "killing the atheist movement" through being contentious and divisive. Smalley indicated that the atheist movement was disintegrating.

The website Atheism and the City wrote about the 2018 cancellation of the first major atheist conference to be held in New York City:

“

But none of this is going to happen now because the event has just been canceled. The reasons why are complicated, but it started out difficult enough. The atheist community has splintered into a million shards in recent years. There are the atheist feminists and the atheist anti-feminists, the social justice warrior atheists and the anti-social justice warrior atheists. The pro-PC atheists and the anti-PC atheists. There are pro-Trump atheists and anti pro-Trump atheists. Atheists are split over gamergate, elevatorgate, whether we should organize, or whether we should even call ourselves atheists at all. The divisions go on and on.

”

In 2010, the Christian apologetics website True Free Thinker wrote: "Scienceblogger Chad Orzel described the commentators on PZ Myers ' Scienceblogs.com site Pharyngula, and other Scienceblogs.com commentators, as "screechy monkeys."

Richard Dawkins' battle with online fans

See also: Richard Dawkins' battle with online fans

In February 2010, the news organization The Telegraph reported Richard Dawkins was "embroiled in a bitter online battle over plans to rid his popular internet forum for atheists of foul language, insults and 'frivolous gossip'." Given that atheists often have poor social skills and are often contentious, it is not surprising the online dispute was bitter (See: Atheism and social skills and Atheist factions). In addition, Richard Dawkins has a reputation for being abrasive.

Effectiveness of Christian internet evangelism

See also: Internet evangelism

The Christian internet evangelism organization Global Media Outreach indicated that as of September 2019 over 1,900,000,000 "gospel visits" have occured via their websites. Global Media Outreach works with many Christians around the world (see: Global Christianity).

The Christian internet evangelism] organization Network211 indicates that as of September 2019, over 37,000,000 web visits have occured on their websites. Network211 works with many Christians/churches throughout the world.

Franklin Graham is the president and CEO of Samaritan's Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

In 2022, the Billy Graham Evangelism Association announced:

“

Launched in 2012, Search for Jesus impacts website users with the truth of the Gospel and relies on a network of over 1,400 trained volunteers who interact with users and answer live questions. With a mission to reach those hurting and in need, Search for Jesus utilizes the accessibility of the internet to reach places otherwise closed to the Gospel. Using these digital tools, more than 300 million people have indicated a decision for Christ and received follow-up through the internet ministry. To date, the PeaceWithGod.net websites have welcomed over 100 million online users. With messages in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Arabic, American Sign Language, and Russian, Search for Jesus has been able to expand globally and cross language and accessibility barriers. “This is significant because we’re following Billy Graham’s legacy of spreading the Gospel across the globe using every opportunity we have. The average person spends nearly seven hours a day on the internet, so we want to meet these people where they are,” said Mark Appleton, director of internet evangelism for BGEA, in a press release. “Search for Jesus has given us the chance to spread the Gospel like never before.”

”

The Christian Post states:

“

Online evangelism is producing real disciples for Christ, according to a recent study. Over half of those who made a decision for Jesus over the Internet have subsequently shared their faith with others, Global Media Outreach's study reveals. Additionally, 34 percent read their Bibles daily and nearly half pray for at least 10 minutes a day... The study, called the Christian Growth Index, measured the responses of more than 100,000 people from around the world... Fifty-one percent of those surveyed said they shared their faith three times or more and 37 percent said they shared their faith at least once or twice. Global Media Outreach is a global ministry that presents the Gospel online through websites such as WhoisJesus-Really.com and GrowinginChrist.com. There are more than 5,500 trained online missionaries worldwide who respond to questions asked by seekers through emails.

”

There are other significant Christian internet evangelism efforts as well. For example, the Billy Graham Association is also active in internet evangelism.

Christian organizations have been significantly more successful than atheist organizations as far as evangelizing via the internet

Christian organizations have been significantly more successful than atheist organizations as far as evangelizing via the internet (see: Internet evangelism: Christians vs. atheists).

Global atheism is shrinking as a percentage of the world's population

See also: Global atheism statistics

Pew Research indicates: "By 2055 to 2060, just 9% of all babies will be born to religiously unaffiliated women, while more than seven-in-ten will be born to either Muslims (36%) or Christians (35%)."

"I argue that 97% of the world's population growth is taking place in the developing world, where 95% of people are religious."- Eric Kaufmann

On December 23, 2012, Professor Eric Kaufmann who teaches at Birbeck College, University of London and whose academic research specialty is how demographic changes affect religion/irreligion and politics, wrote:

“

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.

”

The website Science 2.0 declared on July 14, 2015:

“

Atheism as a belief system has peaked and its share of humanity is shrinking, demographic studies indicate. Win/Gallup’s 2012 global poll on religion and atheism put atheists at 13%, while its 2015 poll saw that category fall to 11%. Other figures suggest the changes have deep, broad roots. First, a community’s possession of atheistic world-views—for whatever reason—correlates with low or negative birth rates. The most significant examples are East Asian and European countries, which are at “below replacement” rates of birth, shrinking at speed. Second, “forced” atheism has been disappearing steadily over the past 40 years and we see a corresponding surge of people towards spiritual clusters. In percentage terms, 1970 may be considered the high point for global atheism and agnosticism. As communism weakened, and eventually collapsed in 1989, there was a significant resurgence of religious belief (see chart below). The same thing is now happening in China. 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. See: Global atheism ]] Below are some global atheism statistics from research organizations and scholars. See also: Atheism statistics Third, the surge of popularity for a novel type of “evangelical atheism” which began about a decade ago appears to be losing some of its steam. The movement’s celebrity leaders have fallen out of the bestseller lists, and are often now criticized by their former cheerleaders in newspaper columns. After a high-publicity start in 2013, Sunday Assemblies have plummeted out of the limelight and growth has been glacial. And the near future? The latest global data also shows that young people, classified as those under 34, tend to be measurably more religious (66%) than older ones (60%). “With the trend of an increasingly religious youth globally, we can assume that the number of people who consider themselves religious will only continue to increase,” said Jean-Marc Leger, President of WIN/Gallup International Association. ..the view that atheism will sweep the globe to produce a non-believing utopia is extremely unlikely. The shrinking of the skeptical share of humanity is inevitable, as Welsh geneticist Steve Jones has stated. ..the data suggests that the global proportion of atheists will fall, while the number of pro-spiritual, pro-science middle group will grow.

”

In 2012, the W. Edwards Deming Institute published a report by the World Future Society which indicated:

“

In 2100, however, the world will likely be only 9% unaffiliated — more religious than in 2012. The peak of the unaffiliated was in 1970 at around 20%, largely due to the influence of European communism. Since communism’s collapse, religion has been experiencing resurgence that will likely continue beyond 2100. All the world’s religions are poised to have enormous numeric growth (with the exceptions of tribal religions and Chinese folk religion), as well as geographic spread with the continuation of migration trends. Adherents of the world’s religions—perhaps particularly Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists—will continue to settle in the formerly Christian and ever-expanding cities of Europe and North America, causing increases of religious pluralism in these areas. Christians and Muslims together will encompass two-thirds of the global population—more than 7 billion individuals. In 2100, the majority of the world’s 11.6 billion residents will be adherents of religious traditions.

”

The atheist movement is dying or dead

See also: Decline of the atheist movement

See also: Decline of the atheist movement and Morale of the atheist movement and Desecularization and Atheist movement

In 2011, atheist Jacques Berlinerblau declared: "The Golden Age of Secularism has passed."

Numerous atheists have declared that the "atheist movement is dead" or that it is dying. See: Decline of the atheist movement

Before the atheist movement died/declined, various atheists attempted to change the public's perception concerning atheism and atheists, but they were largely unsuccessful (see: Attempts to positively rebrand atheism).

At the 2018 American Atheists convention, the ex-president of the American Atheists organization David Silverman declared regarding the atheist movement being in a demoralized state:

“

It is a hard time to be an atheist activist. This has affected us. And it has affected our community... ...it has really affected us. We are suffering a level of defeatism that I have never seen before... We feel the loss. And we feel like we have lost. We feel like we lost the election... We see this cascade of attack coming down at us over and over from all different directions and we feel like it's over. I have heard so many times it makes me sick. It makes me sad. It feels like we lost. The apathy that follows. It doesn't matter. We can't win anyways. It's useless to fight. This apathy is infecting us. It's hurting us. And people are reacting to each other now. And so that is causing a division. Lots and lots of division in our movement. Hard, bad division... And that has resulted in a splintering and factioning of the movement that I have never seen before and none of us have. In other words, we're in a bad situation and it's getting worse.

”

In 2017, atheist David Smalley has indicated that leftist/progressive atheists were "killing the atheist movement" through being contentious and divisive (see also: Atheist factions). Former new atheist PZ Myers, who subscribes to progressive politics, says he is no longer a member of the atheist movement.

The atheist movement saw a number of setbacks during the latter portion of the 20th century and beyond in terms of historical events/trends (See: Causes of desecularization). As a result, it has lost a considerable amount of confidence (see also: Decline of the atheist movement and Atheists and the endurance of religion).

Atheist feminism related online schism

See also: Atheist factions and Atheists and antisocial behavior

Rebecca Watson

Elevatorgate is a term commonly used to describe a 2011 controversy involving New Atheist Richard Dawkins' comments made to atheist Rebecca Watson which are perceived to have been inappropriate by a sizable portion of the atheist community and to the public at large. Watson is a feminist.

The forerunner of the feminist Atheism plus movement was the online Elevatorgate controversy involving new atheist Richard Dawkins and feminist Rebecca Watson.

The Guardian wrote about Atheism plus and the reaction of many atheists on the internet:

“

In the passionate world of American atheism, the venom usually directed at believers has now been turned against the wrong kind of atheists... It took 700 years from Constantine renaming Byzantium in his own honour to papal legates circulating letters of anathema that split the Roman and Orthodox churches. Atheism, in its public, online life, has started exchanging internet anathemas – perhaps we should call them inathemas – in little more than a decade.

”

Post Elevatorgate and Atheism plus, the conflict between atheist feminism and anti-feminism atheists continues. Two of the most anti-feminism atheists are YouTube atheists Thunderf00t and TheAmazingAtheist.

Atheist organizations and their difficulty in fundraising

See also: Atheist organizations and fundraising

Hemant Mehta

The American atheist activist and author Hemant Mehta wrote: "The idea that atheists ought to create a liberal version of the Federalist Society is almost comical because: We don’t have the money...".

In 2017, the atheist activist Lee Moore declared about American atheist organizations:

“

If you look at the major atheist groups right now, like the national groups, the ones that are doing the real activist work... They are not bringing in the kind of donations they used to. Most of them are starved for cash. They're downsizing left and right. Because people aren't just giving like they used to. And I talked to a lot of the major donors out there and they said, "Well, we're kind of tired of seeing the atheist community just fight amongst itself and not really get anything done. We'd rather not give money if we don't think it's going to go somewhere."

”

The 2017 IRS tax exempt form of the American Atheists organization shows that in 2016 the contributions and grants to the American Atheists organization was $1,160,208 and in 2017 contributions and grants to the American Atheists organization dropped to $408,922 (see: 2017 contributions and grants to American Atheists).

See also:

• Atheist factions

• Atheism and social skills

• Atheists and conflict resolution

• Atheist fundraising vs. religious fundraising

Atheist organizations and financial scandals

See also: Atheism organizations and financial scandals

The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science had a scandal related to an embezzlement allegation. See: Atheist organizations and scandals

Atheism and its retention rate in individuals

See also: Atheism and its retention rate in individuals

In 2012, a Georgetown University study was published indicating that about 30 percent of those who grow up in an atheist household in the United States remain atheists as adults.

In 2012, a Georgetown University study was published indicating that in the United States only about 30 percent of those who grow up in an atheist household remain atheists as adults. According to Dr. Mark Gray, "of those raised as atheists, 30% are now affiliated with a Protestant denomination, 10% are Catholic, 2% are Jewish, 1% are Mormon, and 1% are Pagan." See also: Atheism and children and Desecularization and aging populations

Theodore Beale wrote about the Pew Research Forum's examination data involving individuals raised as atheists:

“

...the example of various former atheists such as C.S. Lewis and Anthony Flew indicates that atheism is nothing more than a transitive state for many individuals... The retention rate is even worse for the full blown atheist population. 60% of those raised atheist abandon atheism; 0.5% of the population was raised atheist and 0.3% of it left atheism. And while 1.4% of the population became atheist, the fact that nearly all of the nation is not atheist means that the non-atheist population has a retention rate of 98.6%, which is nearly 2.5 times better than the atheist retention rate of 40%. Therefore, the perceived rapid growth of atheism is nothing more than an artifact of the atheist population's statistical insignificance. Even the dying Episcopalian church has a better retention rate than atheism...

”

In 2012, a study by the General Social Survey of the social science research organization NORC at the University of Chicago found that belief in God rises with age, even in atheistic nations (For more information, please see: Atheism and immaturity).

Theodore Beale declared: "...the age at which most people become atheists indicates that it is almost never an intellectual decision, but an emotional one. (This is why most self-identified atheists are angry, bitter, and immature. The anger, bitterness, and immaturity are usually the cause of the atheism, they are not, as many Christians erroneously suppose, the effects.)

The Christian apologist Ken Ammi concurs in his essay The Argument for Atheism from Immaturity and writes: "It is widely known that some atheists rejected God in their childhood, based on child like reasons, have not matured beyond these childish notions and thus, maintain childish-emotional reactions toward the idea of God."

A notable example of a person raised in an atheistic household who later became a Christian is William J. Murray. Mr. Murray is the son of the late atheist Madalyn Murray O'Hair who founded the organization American Atheists. In 1982, William J. Murray founded the Religious Freedom Coalition.

See also:

• Desecularization and social conformity

• Ex-atheists

• Atheists doubting the validity of atheism

Growth of Christianity in China

Yang Fenggang of Purdue University expects China to have largest Christian population in the world by 2030.

See also: Growth of Christianity in China and Growth of evangelical Christianity in irreligious regions and Atheism and communism

Historically, atheism has generally been an integral part of communist ideology (see: Atheism and communism).

In atheistic, Communist China, Christianity is experiencing explosive growth.

On November 1, 2014, an article in The Economist entitled Cracks in the atheist edifice declared:

“

Officials are untroubled by the clash between the city’s famously freewheeling capitalism and the Communist Party’s ideology, yet still see religion and its symbols as affronts to the party’s atheism... Yang Fenggang of Purdue University, in Indiana, says the Christian church in China has grown by an average of 10% a year since 1980. He reckons that on current trends there will be 250m Christians by around 2030, making China’s Christian population the largest in the world. Mr. Yang says this speed of growth is similar to that seen in fourth-century Rome just before the conversion of Constantine, which paved the way for Christianity to become the religion of his empire.

”

To see the magnitude of the explosive growth of Christianity in China, look at this graph about the growth of Christianity in China in a DW news story about Chinese Christianity (DW is a mainstream news outlet in Germany).

Collapse of atheism in the former Soviet Union

A Soviet propaganda poster disseminated in the Bezbozhnik (Atheist) magazine depicting Jesus being dumped from a wheelbarrow by an industrial worker as well as a smashed church bell; the text advocates Industrialisation Day as an alternative replacement to the Christian Transfiguration Day. see: Militant atheism

See also: Collapse of atheism in the former Soviet Union

According to the University of Cambridge, historically, the "most notable spread of atheism was achieved through the success of the 1917 Russian Revolution, which brought the Marxist-Leninists to power."

On July 3, 2005, the New York Times reported concerning many countries in the former Soviet Union: "A return to religion in Romania and the region's other formerly Communist countries has in many places outrun the speed at which the church can screen and train clergy..."

In 2003, the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard published a paper by Assaf Moghadam entitled A Global Resurgence of Religion? which declared:

“

As the indications leave little doubt, Russia is showing clear signs of a religious resurgence. In fact, all seven criteria by which change in religious behavior and values are measured here confirmed that Russia is experiencing what could be called a religious revival. Since 1970, the nonreligious/atheist population has been on steady decline, from 52% in 1970 to 33% in 2000. Further, the percentage of this population is projected to decrease even further, possibly reaching the 20% mark in 2025. Between 1990 and 1997, belief in God has risen from 35% to a whopping 60%, while belief in the importance of God has climbed to 43% in 1997, up from 25% in 1990. More people have been raised religious in Russia in 1997 (20%) than at the beginning of the decade (18%), and 8.39% more Russians believed religion to be important toward the end of the 1990s, when compared to 1990. “Comfort in Religion” has also sharply increased within this time period, from less than 27% to over 46%. Finally, more and more Russians attend church services more regularly in 1997 than they did in 1990. In the three Eastern European countries that were included in the WVS survey on belief in God, a drastic rise could be witnessed of respondents who answered this question in the affirmative. In Hungary, the percentage of believers in God jumped from 44% to 58% from 1981 to 1990, even prior to the collapse of the former Soviet Union. In Belarus, the number of people who believe in God nearly doubled over the course of the 1990s, from 36% to 68%, while in Latvia this figure almost quadrupled, from 18% to 67% in the same time period. Similar trends held true when it came to the importance of God, where there was a sharp rise in all three countries.

”

Growth of evangelicalism in Russia

According to the Christian Broadcasting Network:

“

The Orthodox Church's biggest competitors are the evangelical, charismatic congregations, which are experiencing tremendous growth. "So many Russians are leaving the Orthodox Church and joining the charismatic churches and they don't like it," Ryakhovski said. Ryakhovski gave CBN News a document produced by a leading Russian research group and backed by the Orthodox Church. The paper was titled, "Ways to weaken the potential of neo-Pentecostal sects and to help their victims.".... Once a persecuted minority, evangelical Christians in Russia and the surrounding countries that once made up the former Soviet Union, are now exerting more influence in society by displaying what it means to be a true follower of Jesus Christ. "People are looking for meaning, they are looking for authentic lifestyles, authentic relationships," Sipko told CBN News. "And so in the midst of all the economic and social changes, we have the opportunity to demonstrate what a personal relationship with Jesus is like."

”

Internet outreach and the Matthew effect: Atheist websites vs. religious websites

Saint Matthew

See also: Internet outreach and the Matthew effect: Atheist websites vs. religious websites

Study.com defines the Matthew effect thusly: "The Matthew Effect is a term that describes the concept in society of accumulated advantage. It argues that people who start from a place of advantage, like intelligence, fame, wealth, or skill, will have the opportunity to accrue more of that advantage compared to others. The Matthew Effect is often thought of by the phrase, "the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer."" The Matthew effect's etymology can be traced to Gospel of Matthew which declares: "For to every one who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away." (Matthew 25:29, RSV).

Because the religious population is larger than the atheist/agnostic populations and raises more money for web marketing budgets than the atheist/agnostic populations, they greatly outperform atheist websites in terms of web traffic. In addition, Google tends to rank large websites with a lot of traffic higher at Google for various search terms - especially high volume searches. So large Christian websites with a lot of web traffic have a big competitive advantage over atheist websites. Furthermore, religious groups often have more evangelistic zeal and also have more international cooperation in terms of web outreach efforts.

As time has progressed the gap between the effectiveness of religious websites vs. atheist websites in terms of reaching larger audiences has widened and will most likely widen further. For example, Christian websites are greatly outperforming atheist websites in terms of their respective web outreaches (see: Internet evangelism: Christians vs. atheists).

For more information, please see: Internet outreach and the Matthew effect: Atheist websites vs. religious websites.

Various Christian websites with a lot of web traffic

Biblegateway.com and Google referral traffic

During the coronavirus pandemic, the multilingual website Biblegateway.com experienced an increase in Google referral traffic from the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic to July 30, 2022 according to the data from the leading web marketing company SEMRush.com.

Large multilingual websites with a lot of traffic from around the world such as Biblegateway.com have a large amount of relevant inbound links from around the world.

Christianity.com and Google referral traffic

During the coronavirus pandemic, the website Christianity.com had an increase in Google referral traffic from the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic to July 30, 2022 according to the data from the leading web marketing company SEMRush.com.

The amount of Google referral traffic to Christianity.com has gone significanly since February 2016 according to the leading web marketing website SEMRush and the website's Google referral traffic increased during the pandemic. SEMRush says the website is getting about 6,250,000 monthly referral visits from Google in July 2022.

Got Questions Ministries and Google referral traffic

See also: Got Questions Ministries

According to Got Questions Ministries, within one month of their launch, GotQuestions.org was receiving over 30 questions a day. The volunteer staff grew from 5 writers, to 10, to 20, to 50, and ultimately to its current staff of over 275 writers (In 2013, Got Questions Ministries reported having over 275 writers). Gotquestions.org relies on three things: 1) SEO 2) Content marketing 3) Volunteer recruitment/management." See: S. Michael Houdmann - 10-Year Anniversary Presentation and Got Questions? Interview with Got Questions founder, Shea Michael Houdmann (October 2022 interview) and Apply to serve with GotQuestions.org

In December of 2020, the Christian internet ministry Got Questions Ministries saw a very large increase in its Google referral traffic according to the leading web marketing website SEMRush.

According to the article 1,000+ Winners and Losers of the December 2020 Google Core Algorithm Update the website Gotquestions.org saw the 7th biggest increase in Google referral traffic as far as the 50 domains that saw the greatest percent gain in Google visibility.

Google uses over 200 factors to evaluate the quality and the relevance of a website to various topics.

Large multilingual websites with a lot of Google referral traffic from around the world such as Gotquestions.org have a large amount of relevant inbound links from around the world.

Internet atheism and the coronavirus pandemic

Electron microscope scan of a coronavirus, so-called due to the crown-like filaments on the surface.

See: Atheism and the coronavirus pandemic

See also: Internet atheism and the coronavirus pandemic

Many atheist websites did very poorly during the coronavirus pandemic and lost a large amount of their traffic since the early part of 2020 (See: Internet atheism and the coronavirus pandemic).

On the other hand, there were major Christian websites that saw their web traffic substantially grow during the coronavirus pandemic (See: Christian websites and the coronavirus pandemic).

Historically, religiosity increases during pandemics. Pew Research found people's religious faith grew during the pandemic - especially in the United States. Nearly three-in-ten U.S. adults say the outbreak has boosted their faith; about four-in-ten say it has tightened family bonds.

In addition, many atheist organizations have significant difficulty in getting their fellow atheist to financially support them (see: Atheist organizations and fundraising), so their web marketing budgets could have been low during the pandemic. In addition, many atheist organizations have poor fiscal management so they may not have had reserves built up before the pandemic (see: Atheist organizations and financial mismanagement). For example, the website RationalWiki lost an enormous amount of web traffic during the coronavirus pandemic (See: RationalWiki and web traffic). On May 29, 2022, one of the founders of the RationalWiki website indicated "Currently the donations we get are sparse... We have not done a donation drive in a long time and have not been self-supporting for over a year....". Rationalwiki has not complied with non-profit reporting requirements for 7 consecutive years.

The atheist websites might never gain that traffic back again as the number of atheists in the world is expected to drop before mid-2022 according to the scholars at the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Currently, the global atheist population is losing market share in terms of the world's population (see: Global atheism statistics).

For more information, please see: Internet atheism and the coronavirus pandemic

Postsecular society spreading in the world

See also: Postsecularism and Desecularization

The skeptic Michael Shermer wrote: "At the beginning of the twentieth century social scientists predicted that belief in God would decrease by the end of the century because of the secularization of society. In fact… the opposite has occurred… Never in history have so many, and such a high percentage of the population believed in God. Not only is God not dead, as Nietzsche proclaimed, but he has never been more alive." See also: Secularization thesis and Desecularization

Postsecularism refers to a number of theories concerning the persistence and resurgence of religion in the present.

On March 19, 2019, the Brookings Institute declared: "a highly educated, post-secular society is here, and it will likely spread globally."

On August 8, 2018, Michael Clune wrote in The Atlantic: "There’s been a lot of talk in literary and philosophical circles of a new “post-secular” age."

The theologian and Harvard University academic Harvey Cox asserted that grassroots movements such as fundamentalism and the Charismatic movement/pentecostalism are significant religious forces that are resistant to secularization forces. In her book The Battle for God, Karen Armstrong wrote: "One of the most startling developments of the late 20th century has been the emergence within every major religious tradition of a militant piety known as 'fundamentalism'… this religious resurgence has taken many observers by surprise." Today, even the highly secularized public and political sphere of France is showing a new and more open attitude towards religion.

In November 2017, the Catholic News Agency reported Vatican Secretary for Relations with the States Archbishop Paul Gallagher indicating that religion is no longer a forbidden subject in European politics.

According to Gallagher: "Many diplomatic services throughout Europe and elsewhere are now running courses, literally accelerated courses to make up time on religion,” he said, explaining that political leaders are beginning to recognize that “the world is a very religious place."

In 2016, the website Modern Diplomacy indicated:

“

...there are signs that the anti-religion virulence is in abeyance in Europe and one who detects those signs is none other than the present day European philosopher Jürgen Habermas... Jürgen Habermas must have surely read Held’s influential essay. Habermas is very much involved in the debate on the EU identity and has even signed manifestos on the same with Umberto Eco, the late Derrida and other influential philosophers. In 2005 Habermas delivered a lecture on the occasion of the Holberg prize which then became an article in 2006. See “Religion in the public sphere” by J. Habermas, in European Journal of Philosophy 14: 1-25. The core of that essay is that “secular citizens in Europe must learn to live, the sooner the better, in a post-secular society and in so doing they will be following the example of religious citizens, who have already come to terms with the ethical expectations of democratic citizenship. So far secular citizens have not been expected to make a similar effort.” Habermas addresses the debate in terms of John Rawls’s concept of “public use of reason.” At the beginning of the article Habermas introduces two closely linked ideas: on the one hand the increasing isolation of Europe from the rest of the world in terms of its religious configurations, and on the other hand the notion of “multiple modernities.” He challenges the notion that Europe is the lead society in the modernizing process and invites his fellow secular Europeans to what he calls “a self reflective transcending of the secularist self-understanding of Modernity,” an attitude that goes beyond mere tolerance in as much as it necessarily engenders feelings of respect for the world view of the religious person, so that their pronouncements don’t automatically engender derision and contempt, a la Voltaire.

”

American atheism will peak by 2050

See also: American atheism

On July 24, 2019, due to religious immigration to the United States and the higher fertility rate of religious people, Eric Kaufmann wrote in an article entitled Why Is Secularization Likely to Stall in America by 2050? A Response to Laurie DeRose: "Overall, the picture suggests that the U.S. will continue to secularize in the coming decades. However, a combination of religious immigration, immigrant religious retention, slowing religious decline due to a rising prevalence of believers among the affiliated, and higher native religious birth rates will result in a plateauing of secularizing trends by mid-century."

Darel E. Paul wrote at the First Things website:

“

Even without demographic models, survey data since the 1970s show that the percentage of Americans with a “strong” religious affiliation has not declined at all; it is the “weak” that have turned into “nones.” Moreover, immigration brings primarily religious people from the Global South into the Global North. In his earlier book, Kaufmann predicted that America’s secular high-water mark will occur around 2030; in Western Europe, no later than 2070. In Kaufmann’s view, religious identity will largely overpower ethnic identity a century hence, “with seculars and moderates of all backgrounds lining up against the fundamentalist sects.”

”

Pew Research survey data indicates that the percentage of atheists in the United States has remained at 4% from 2015 to July 2019.

In June 2016, American Interest reported: "First of all, religious belief is still very powerful and widespread, and there is nothing inevitable about its decline. In fact, the proportion of people who say they believe in God actually ticked modestly upward, from 86 percent to 89 percent, since Gallup last asked the question in 2014.

Eric Kaufmann, Vegard Skirbekk and Anne Goujon religion/irreligion demographic projections

Current religious demography scholarship suggest that the relatively low fertility of secular Americans and the religiosity of the immigrant inflow provide a countervailing force that will cause the secularization process within the total population to plateau before 2043. This represents an important theoretical point in that demography permits society to become more religious even as individuals tend to become less religious over time.

In their 2010 journal article entitled, Secularism, Fundamentalism or Catholicism? The Religious Composition of the United States to 2043 published in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Eric Kaufmann, Vegard Skirbekk and Anne Goujon wrote:

“

We find considerable stability of religious groups over time, but there are some important shifts. Hispanic Catholics experience the strongest growth rates to 2043. Immigration, high fertility, and a young age structure will enable this group to expand from 10 to 18 percent of the American population between 2003 and 2043, despite a net loss of communicants to secularism and Protestantism. This will power the growth of Catholics as a whole, who will surpass Protestants by mid century within the nation’s youngest age groups. This represents a historic moment for a country settled by anti-Catholic Puritans, whose Revolution was motivated in part by a desire to spread dissenting Protestantism and whose populationon the eve of revolution was 98 percent Protestant (Huntington 2004; Kaufmann 2004). Another important development concerns the growth of the Muslim population and decline of the Jews. High Muslim fertility and a young Muslim age structure contrasts with low Jewish childbearing levels and a mature Jewish age structure. Barring an unforeseen shift in the religious composition and size of the immigrant flow, Muslims will surpass Jews in the population by 2023 and in the electorate by 2028. This could have profound effects on the course of American foreign policy. Within the non-Hispanic white population, we expect to see continued Liberal Protestant decline due to low fertility and a net loss in exchanges with other groups. White Catholics will also lose due to a net outflow of converts. Fundamentalist and Moderate Protestant denominations will hold their own within the white population, but will decline overall as the white share of the population falls. The finding that Protestant fundamentalism may decline in relative terms over the medium term contrasts with a prevailing view that envisions the continued growth of “strong religion” (Stark and Iannaccone 1994a). This is the result of an older age structure, which increases loss through mortality, and immigration, which reduces the size of all predominantly white denominations — all of which are poorly represented in the immigration flow. Fundamentalists’ relatively high fertility and net surplus from the religious marketplace is not sufficient to counteract the effects of immigration. Obviously, this could change if significant immigration begins to arrive from more Pentecostalist source countries such as Guatemala or parts of sub-Saharan Africa. Our work also sheds light on the religious restructuring paradigm, though we do not find a clear victor between secularism and fundamentalism. The secular population will grow substantially in the decades ahead because it has a young age structure and more people leave religion than enter it. The sharpest gains for secularism will be within the white population, where seculars will surpass fundamentalists by 2030. On the other hand, there are important demographic limits to secularism, demonstrating the power of religious demography. The relatively low fertility of secular Americans and the religiosity of the immigrant inflow provide a countervailing force that will cause the secularization process within the total population to plateau before 2043. This represents an important theoretical point in that demography permits society to become more religious even as individuals tend to become less religious over time.

”

The effects of the higher fertility rate of the religious over generations

Steve Turley

Steve Turley wrote:

“

According to a recent a demographic study by University of London Professor Eric Kaufmann, there is a significant demographic deficit between secularists and conservative religionists. For example, in the U.S., while self-identified secular women averaged only 1.5 children per couple in 2002, conservative evangelical women averaged 2 to 3 children per couple, which amounts to a 28 percent fertility advantage. Now Kaufmann notices that this demographic deficit has dramatic effects over time. In a population evenly divided, these numbers indicate that conservative evangelicals would increase from 50 to 62.5 percent of the population in a single generation. In two generations, their number would increase to 73.5 percent, and over the course of 200 years, they would represent 99.4 percent. Kaufmann noticed further that the more religiously conservative, the more children. For example, the Amish double in population every twenty years, and are projected to number over a million in the U.S. and Canada in just a few decades. We're seeing a similar trend among Mormons, who have averaged a 40 percent growth per decade, which means that by the end of the century, there will be as many as 300 million Mormons in the world, or six percent of the world's population. And note: Mormons vote overwhelmingly Republican. Now in stark contrast to all of this, Kaufmann's data projects that secularists consistently exemplify a low fertility rate of around 1.5 percent per couple, which is significantly below the replacement level of 2.1 percent. And so he sees a steady decline of secular populations after 2030 or 2050 to potentially no more than a mere 14 to 15 percent of the American population. He notices that similar projections apply to Europe as well.

”

Amish youth groups from Davies County, IN, and Lancaster County, PA, visit Behalt as part of their preparing to make the decision of whether or not to join the Amish community on a long term basis (namely, their adulthood).

The Amish are the fastest growing religion in the United States, doubling every 20 years. The Amish population is growing so fast that each year some families move out to acquire more farmland. They are highly successful financially and morally. By 2050 the Amish are expected to attain 1 million in total population in the United States, and by 2222 the Amish could be the majority in the U.S. By doubling its population every 20 years, the Amish population would increase by 1024 times in 200 years. The largest Amish communities are in Pennsylvania, where the Amish population exceeded 84,000 as of 2021 and is growing at more than 3% annual rate.

In 2012, Kaufmann wrote:

“

In the United States, they manage 1.5, considerably lower than the national 2.1. This disadvantage is not enough to prevent religious decline in much of Europe and America today, but secularism must run to stand still. Since the history of religious decline in Europe suggests that secularization rates tend to drop over time, this portends the end of secularization. Projections I recently published with Skirbekk and Goujon in the journal Sociology of Religion show secularism losing momentum and beginning to decline in both Europe and America by 2050, largely because of low fertility and religious immigration.

”

Regarding the Western World as a whole and the growth of the religious population in the West, Kaufmann wrote:

“

...this paper claims that the developing world will not only never catch up, but that, ironically, it is the West which will increasingly come to resemble the developing world. Committed religious populations are growing in the West, and will reverse the march of secularism before 2050. The logic which is driving this apparently anti-modern development is demography, a shadowy historical force whose power multiplies exponentially with the modernisation process. Demography is about raw numbers, and, in an age of low mortality, its chief components are fertility and migration.

”

Austria's census data permits demographers to perform analysis which indicates the secular population plateauing in Europe by 2050, or as early as 2021.

Austria's census data permits demographers to perform analysis which indicates the secular population plateauing in Europe by 2050, or as early as 2021.

Christians will win the culture war in the United States

Eric Kaufmann wrote about irreligion/irreligion and the culture war in America:

“

High evangelical fertility rates more than compensated for losses to liberal Protestant sects during the twentieth century. In recent decades, white secularism has surged, but Latino and Asian religious immigration has taken up the slack, keeping secularism at bay. Across denominations, the fertility advantage of religious fundamentalists of all colours is significant and growing. After 2020, their demographic weight will begin to tip the balance in the culture wars towards the conservative side, ramping up pressure on hot-button issues such as abortion. By the end of the century, three quarters of America may be pro-life. Their activism will leap over the borders of the 'Redeemer Nation' to evangelize the world. Already, the rise of the World Congress of Families has launched a global religious right, its arms stretching across the bloody lines of the War on Terror to embrace the entire Abrahamic family.

”

Kaufmann, who is an agnostic, wrote about the higher fertility rate of the religious right, "Furthermore, the demography of the nation suggests that God may ultimately be on the side of the Religious Right."

By the end of the century, three quarters of America may be pro-life. Their activism will leap over the borders of the 'Redeemer Nation' to evangelize the world. Already, the rise of the World Congress of Families has launched a global religious right, its arms stretching across the bloody lines of the War on Terror to embrace the entire Abrahamic family.

Future of Christianity

See also: Future of Christianity

The prominent historian Sir Diarmaid MacCulloch, professor of the History of the Church at Oxford University, indicates that he believes Christianity faces a "bright future" worldwide (See also: Global Christianity).

According to MacCulloch, "Christianity, the world's largest religion, is rapidly expanding – by all indications, its future is very bright."

The prominent historian Sir Diarmaid MacCulloch, professor of the History of the Church at Oxford University, indicates that he believes Christianity faces a "bright future" worldwide (See also: Global Christianity).

According to MacCulloch, "Christianity, the world's largest religion, is rapidly expanding – by all indications, its future is very bright."

In 2012, the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (GCTS) reported that every day there are 83,000 more people professing to be Christians per day, 800 less atheists per day, 1,100 less non-religious (agnostic) people per day.

Phillip Jenkins published the book The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity.

Chuck Colson, citing the work of Jenkins, writes:

“

As Penn State professor Philip Jenkins writes in The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity, predictions like Huntingtons betray an ignorance of the explosive growth of Christianity outside of the West. For instance, in 1900, there were approximately 10 million Christians in Africa. By 2000, there were 360 million. By 2025, conservative estimates see that number rising to 633 million. Those same estimates put the number of Christians in Latin America in 2025 at 640 million and in Asia at 460 million. According to Jenkins, the percentage of the worlds population that is, at least by name, Christian will be roughly the same in 2050 as it was in 1900. By the middle of this century, there will be three billion Christians in the world -- one and a half times the number of Muslims. In fact, by 2050 there will be nearly as many Pentecostal Christians in the world as there are Muslims today.

”

Protestant missionaries and economic/societal development statistics

See also: Protestant cultural legacies

John Wesley

The article "The Surprising Discovery About Those Colonialist, Proselytizing Missionaries" published in Christianity Today notes:

“

In his fifth year of graduate school, Woodberry created a statistical model that could test the connection between missionary work and the health of nations. He and a few research assistants spent two years coding data and refining their methods. They hoped to compute the lasting effect of missionaries, on average, worldwide... One morning, in a windowless, dusty computer lab lit by fluorescent bulbs, Woodberry ran the first big test. After he finished prepping the statistical program on his computer, he clicked "Enter" and then leaned forward to read the results. "I was shocked," says Woodberry. "It was like an atomic bomb. The impact of missions on global democracy was huge. I kept adding variables to the model—factors that people had been studying and writing about for the past 40 years—and they all got wiped out. It was amazing. I knew, then, I was on to something really important." Woodberry already had historical proof that missionaries had educated women and the poor, promoted widespread printing, led nationalist movements that empowered ordinary citizens, and fueled other key elements of democracy. Now the statistics were backing it up: Missionaries weren't just part of the picture. They were central to it... Areas where Protestant missionaries had a significant presence in the past are on average more economically developed today, with comparatively better health, lower infant mortality, lower corruption, greater literacy, higher educational attainment (especially for women), and more robust membership in nongovernmental associations. In short: Want a blossoming democracy today? The solution is simple—if you have a time machine: Send a 19th-century missionary." ...at a conference presentation in 2002, Woodberry got a break. In the room sat Charles Harper Jr., then a vice president at the John Templeton Foundation, which was actively funding research on religion and social change. (Its grant recipients have included Christianity Today.) Three years later, Woodberry received half a million dollars from the foundation's Spiritual Capital Project, hired almost 50 research assistants, and set up a huge database project at the University of Texas, where he had taken a position in the sociology department. The team spent years amassing more statistical data and doing more historical analyses, further confirming his theory. ...Woodberry's historical and statistical work has finally captured glowing attention. A summation of his 14 years of research—published in 2012 in the American Political Science Review, the discipline's top journal—has won four major awards, including the prestigious Luebbert Article Award for best article in comparative politics. Its startling title: "The Missionary Roots of Liberal Democracy." ...over a dozen studies have confirmed Woodberry's findings. The growing body of research is beginning to change the way scholars, aid workers, and economists think about democracy and development.

”

The Harvard University historian Niall Ferguson declared: "Through a mixture of hard work and thrift the Protestant societies of the North and West Atlantic achieved the most rapid economic growth in history."

Christianity and its margin of victory over atheism

• Christianity and its margin of victory over atheism

See also

Humor:

• July 2, 2011: The day the atheism movement died on the information superhighway

External links

• The Strange Online Legacy of New Atheism, Theos Thinktank