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'".[5] (See also: Atheism and apathy)
Throughout mankind's history, most people have found atheism to be uninteresting and ungratifying (See: Atheism and inspiration).
Christians maintain that the benefits of Christianity totally outweigh the benefits of atheism.[6] For example, Bible believing Christians point out that the atheist population is more depressed (See also: Hopelessness of atheism and Atheism and meaninglessness).[6]
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).
In addition, the significant amount of unpleasant personalities within the atheist population and the resulting amount of atheist infighting has made atheist community unattractive to many people who are looking for a sense of community and/or a common cause (see: Atheist factions and Atheism and social skills).[7][8] Also, besides having a poor sense of community within atheism, atheists give less to others outside their community than religious groups (see: Atheism and uncharitableness).
The imbalance between men and women involved in the atheist community (men are significantly more likely to be atheists) and the impoliteness of many atheist men towards atheist women is also unattractive to many individuals (see: Atheism and women and Elevatorgate and Atheism and rape).
Another unappealing aspect of atheism is its bloody history which has surpassed all other worldviews in terms of loss of life (see: Atheism and mass murder).
Furthermore, the ultimate destination for unrepentant atheists is Hell (See: Atheism and Hell).
See also: Atheism statistics
The article Atheism statistics provides a large collection of statistics which help further demonstrate the unattractiveness of atheism as a worldview.
See also: Desecularization and Growth of global desecularization and Decline of global atheism
Currently, global atheism is shrinking and demographic research indicates that the shrinking of global atheism will continue and affect Western atheism (see: Decline of atheism and Growth of global desecularization).[9]
Global atheism has been on the decline since 2000.[10]
The British academic Eric Kaufmann told a secular audience in Australia: "The trends that are happening worldwide inevitably in an age of globalization are going to affect us."[11]
The 2004 to 2007 publicity campaign for atheism in the Western World, offering a militant form of atheism (called the New Atheism) was not sustainable.[12] The level of public interest in atheism is not coming back in the West and global atheism shrinking will make subsequent publicity attempts more likely to be unsuccessful.[12]
See also: Atheism and loneliness
Loneliness has been linked to many physical and mental health problems.[13]
Compared to deeply religious cultures where an extended family and a sense of community often exists, secular countries are often lonelier societies. In addition, numerous studies and other data indicate that atheists often have lower emotional intelligence and lower social skills (see: Atheism and emotional intelligence and Atheism and social skills).
For more information, please see:
See also: Atheism and alcoholism
Atheists and atheistic cultures often have significant problems with excess alcohol usage (For more information please see: Atheism and alcoholism).
Secular Europe:
According to the World Health Organization's (WHO) regional office in Europe, "The WHO European Region has the highest proportion in the world of total ill health and premature death due to alcohol.[14]
Australia:
An Australian National Council on Drugs (ANCD) report indicated that 20% of Australians drink at levels putting them at risk of lifetime harm.[15]
For more information, please see: Irreligious Australia and alcoholism
Asian countries:
See: Irreligious Asian countries and alcoholism
Godless communism and alcoholism:
See also: Atheism and drug addiction
Studies indicate that religious individuals are less likely to engage in illegal drug use than atheists/nonreligious.[16][17][18]
The Jewish comedian Henny Youngman joked about atheism, "I once wanted to become an atheist but I gave up . . . they have no holidays."[19] See also: Atheism quotes
See also: Atheism and Christmas
In December 2003, the University of Warwick reported:
“ | Dr. Stephen Joseph, from the University of Warwick, said: "Religious people seem to have a greater purpose in life, which is why they are happier. Looking at the research evidence, it seems that those who celebrate the Christian meaning of Christmas are on the whole likely to be happier.[20] | ” |
See also: Atheism and spirituality and Atheism and beliefs and Atheist worldview and Atheism and life after death
Janan Ganesh wrote in the Financial Times:
“ | What stands out even more is the constant groping for profundity by people who stop well short of any religion or organised belief system themselves. There has been a vein of lifestyle spiritualism in the west, and especially the US, for a long time now. Deepak Chopra, the Martin Luther of this stuff, is in his seventies, and Oprah Winfrey not far behind. But unless I am being singled out for special treatment, it appears to have become inescapable over the past decade in particular.
This is not the place, nor am I the writer, for a disquisition on the existence or otherwise of God. The question, rather, is why people who plainly do not have any such faith are so reluctant to own the fact. Why is the materialist view of things still so hard to embrace, even for those who share all or most of its tenets?[22] |
” |
Many atheists became upset with Oprah Winfrey when she declared that you can't be an atheist if you believe in the awe and wonder of the world.[21] See: Atheism and wonder
Categories: [Atheism] [Sociology]