A BBC article says that atheism, or maybe agnosticism, is on the rise in the US. Surprisingly they gave 9/11 as a reason people maybe more likely to be agnostic since they see terrible acts committed "for my God." They pointed at recent bestsellers as evidence of this growing atheism:
- God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything
- The God Delusion
I have the audio for this one but I haven’t listened to it yet … I’ve had it for months if that says anything.
- Letter to a Christian Nation
Note that there are three times more atheist in Europe that there are in the US. Also, Christians are still clearly a majority in the United States.
The so-called “New Atheists” certainly have been more vocal of late. Whether they 1) represent an increase in atheism, or 2) will presage an increase in atheism, I think are unanswered questions.
Ironically, just this weekend I launched a webpage that collects book reviews and responses to Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens and Sam Harris, the leading “New Atheists”:
http://www.christiancadre.org/newatheism.html