Desecularization

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.

Desecularization is the process by which religion reasserts its societal influence though religious values, institutions, sectors of society and symbols in reaction to previous and/or co-occurring secularization processes. Desecularization can also occur through providential acts of God and in reaction to God granting Christian's prayers.

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."

The American sociologist and author Peter L. Berger introduced the concept of desecularization in 1999.

Many of the areas of the former areas of the Soviet Union, including Russia, experienced a rapid desecularization since the fall of the Soviet Union. Communist China is currently experiencing rapid desecularization due to the growth of Christianity in China. In the United States, the role of religion in society has recently increased notably as religious voices have increasingly been: influencing public policy decisions, engaging in debates on values and morality, and helping to set the public policy agenda.

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."

”

In April of 2010, the British academic and agnostic Eric Kauffmann declared that "the rate of secularisation has flattened to zero in most of Protestant Europe and France." Kaufmann also declared that secularism "appears exhausted and lacking in confidence". In April of 2012, French scholars reported that evangelical Christianity was likely the fastest growing religion in France.

One of the steepest declines of atheism that is expected to occur is in China which currently has the largest atheist population in the world. China is experiencing a rapid growth of theologically conservative Christianity which will have a significant effect on the global atheist population. It will also have an effect on the United Kingdom (UK) in the 21st century as Chinese immigrants are currently the largest group of immigrants arriving in the UK.

According to the British sociologist of religion James A. Beckford in the Department of Sociology at the University of Warwick, the term "postsecular" is currently proliferating amongst scholars in the humanities and social science fields. In terms of the English speaking world, Google trend data as of August 2013 indicates that the world's interest in the topics of atheism and evolution has declined since 2004 while interest in God has increased.

Causes of the global resurgence of religion and the failure of secularism

Citing the work of the French researcher Gilles Kepel who wrote the book The Revenge of God and the work of Harvard University political scientist Samuel Huntington, who authored the work The Clash of Civilizations, the Christian ministry Tomorrow's World declared:

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Growing numbers of people around the globe are becoming disenchanted with the effect of secularism on our modern world—the fragmentation of society, the weakening of social cohesion, the absence of noble ideals worth pursuing, the lack of solid values, the social acceptance of what was formerly considered perversion, the spread of crime and the lack of effective punishment, the emptiness of consumerism and materialism, the breakdown of the "welfare state," the failure of communism, the chaos in schools and the breakdown of families (Kepel, p. 5). Once-formidable ideologies have been found unsatisfactory and have even collapsed. Millions are abandoning the depressing philosophical wasteland of theories that consider human beings mere animals with no future beyond death, and no purpose in life other than to survive. In place of communism and consumerism, many are searching for "new sources of identity, new forms of stable community, and new sets of moral precepts to provide them with a sense of meaning and purpose… there is a quest for some higher explanations about man's purpose, about why we are here" (The Clash of Civilizations, p. 97).

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Future of desecularization via the continued global resurgence of religion

Eric Kaufmann, a professor at Birkbeck College, University of London, using a a wealth of demographic studies argues the decline of atheism in terms of its global adherents is an established trend that will persist for the foreseeable future and the rate of decline will accelerate.

Eric Kaufmann, a professor at Birkbeck, University of London, using a a wealth of demographic studies argues the decline of atheism in terms of itd global adherents is an established trend that will persist for the foreseeable future and the rate of decline will accelerate. In addition, Kaufmann argues that religious conservatism has a long term trend of rising and that their influence in the world will significantly increase. Kaufmann is author of the book Shall the Religious Inherit the Earth?. In the Western World due to immigration and the higher birth rates of religious people, Kaufman writes: "Committed religious populations are growing in the West, and will reverse the march of secularism before 2050."

Kaufmann told a secular audience in Australia: "The trends that are happening worldwide inevitably in an age of globalization are going to affect us." Furthermore, Kaufmann also argues that secularization may reverse itself significantly earlier than 2050 in the West due to religious immigration and a religious population which is increasingly resistant to secularization in Europe.

Growth of Christianity in secular geographic regions - Atheistic China and secular Europe

• Growth of Christianity in China

• Growth of evangelical Protestantism in Europe

Biblical creationism and desecularization

Global creationism is expanding rapidly.

In 2011, a supporter of the Question evolution! campaign wrote:

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Atheism is a religion. And atheists, time and time again, take away the religious liberty of Christians in order to promote their false religion. Evolution is the air supply of atheism. Directly confronting atheism can be useful. But, the best way for Christianity to prevail against secularism is through preventative medicine. Reaching young people with the gospel and discipling them is a first step. Yet to truly prevail against atheism, cutting off the air supply of atheism is crucial.... The direct approach of confronting atheism is important, but the indirect approach of preventing atheism through the cutting off of its air supply is also far more efficient. If Christendom is going to conquer atheist ideology, it makes perfect sense to do so in the quickest and most efficient manner possible. Let's cut atheism off at the knees and vigorously spread the Question evolution! campaign on the internet and in our local communities.

”

The atheist Michael Ruse, evolutionist science philosopher admitted, “Evolution is a religion. This was true of evolution in the beginning, and it is true of evolution still today.” See also: Evolution as a secular origins myth

Financial instability and desecularization

Evangelical Christianity has grown quickly in many countries that were experiencing economic and political instability (for example, in several areas of Latin America). Given the Eurozone Crisis and the high indebtedness of many Western countries, conservative Mary Eberstadt believes that a coming imploding welfare state could cause some Western societies to shift more to a focus of faith and family and spark a religious revival.

See also

• Atheism has a lower retention rate compared to other worldviews
• Atheism and deception
• Unattractiveness of atheism
• Decline of global atheism
• Christian apologetics (Evidence for Christianity)
• Evangelism
• Resources for leaving atheism and becoming a Christian

Recommended books

• Religion and the State in Russia and China: Suppression, Survival, and Revival by Christopher Marsh, 2011, ISBN 13: 9781441112477
• The Desecularization of the World: Resurgent Religion and World Politics by Peter L. Berger, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (143p), 1999, ISBN 978-0-8028-4691-4

External links

• Global resurgence of religion and the failure of the secularization theory model
• A number of academic journals now indicate that global atheism/agnosticism is shrinking in influence
• 4 reasons why atheism and agnosticism are weak, errant, secular religions