Chasing the Wind

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Atheism in Decline Worldwide

God not so dead: Atheism in decline worldwide

Excepts:

Gurat, France – There seems to be a growing consensus around the globe that godlessness is in trouble.

“Atheism as a theoretical position is in decline worldwide,” Munich theologian Wolfhart Pannenberg told United Press International Tuesday.
[…]
Two developments are plaguing atheism these days. One is that it appears to be losing its scientific underpinnings. The other is the historical experience of hundreds of millions of people worldwide that atheists are in no position to claim the moral high ground.

Writes Turkish philosopher Harun Yahya, “Atheism, which people have tried to for hundreds of years as ‘the ways of reason and science,’ is proving to be mere irrationality and ignorance.”

Other information of note is former atheist Andrew Flew embracing “Intelligent Design” when it became apparent that a single cell could not possibly carry more data than the Encyclopedia Britannica, studies at Harvard and Duke that prayer has a major impact in recovery from illness, and a realization that atheism has “just as many frauds, psychopaths, and careerists as religion does.”

And finally, atheism is simply … uninteresting. Paganism seems to be on the rise, taking the place of atheism.

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Michael

Follower of Jesus, conservative, freedom-loving patriot.

5 responses to “Atheism in Decline Worldwide”

  1. vjack Avatar
    vjack

    I am not sure I buy the claim that atheism is in decline, and I certainly question the statement that it is losing its scientific basis. Religious belief has no scientific evidence to support it and a long and bloody history of violence, cruelty, and intolerance.

    http://www.atheistrevolution.blogspot.com/

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  2. A.M.M. Avatar
    A.M.M.

    However great you may think the history of violence religion has, it has a greater track record for peace and compassion. Like modern media, history writers like to talk about the worst points. Ever wonder why the chapters on various wars are so long?

    I’m not saying there’s a lack of violence in religion, but I am saying that the nuts get all the attention. For every suicidal fanatic there’s always at least a hundred peaceful followers, and that applies to more than just religion.

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  3. Michael Avatar
    Michael

    I’ll post my followup and rebuttal to vjack here.

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  4. Plum Avatar
    Plum

    The original post was being a little, shall we say, flexible with the facts. The much-lauded prayer study — which incidentally was carried out at Columbia, not Harvard or Duke — has been thoroughly debunked — in short, the study sampled far too few cases to be statistically meaningful and was run by a charlatan who now is serving jail time for fraud. Columbia University now has distanced itself from the study.

    As for the myth that the famous British atheist Antony Flew (not Andrew Flew) converted to “Intelligent Design” — again, utter balderdash. Bless his non-God fearing socks, Flew is a wee bit old to keep pace with the Internet, so it took him a while to cotton on to stories of his abandonment of atheism. Eventually, in 2004, he wrote this:

    As for the contention that there are as many rascally atheists as rabid Christians, two points must be made.

    First, how do you know?

    Second, so what? One might just as well say there are as many morally upright atheists as staunch Christians.

    Finally, paganism may well be very interesting (if a little cold, what with all that naked dancing on hills by the light of the moon) but it’s still delusional.

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  5. Michael Avatar
    Michael

    I don’t follow. I didn’t talk about any “prayer study.” The Columbia Study you reference discusses the effect of prayer on infertility, which has nothing to do with my post.

    I agree with your Antony Flew to a point – Flew says that recent developments in physics tend to support the viewpoint of religious philopshy, but he himself still view himself as an atheist.

    I suspect you cut-n-pasted some pre-defined viewpoint before reading what you were replying to.

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About Me

Michael, a sinner saved by grace, sharing what the good Lord has shared with me.

Solomon, in the book of Ecclesiastes, said, “I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.”

If you’re not living for the glory of God, then what you’re doing is meaningless, no matter what it is. Living for God gives life meaning, and enjoying a “chasing after the wind” is a gift from God. I’m doing what I can to enjoy this gift daily.

Got questions? I’m not surprised. If you have any questions about Chasing the Wind, you can email me at chasingthewind@outlook.com.

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