Atheism is becoming more popular

"Atheists put their faith in backlash of politics" by Julia Duin ("Washington Times," December 24, 2007)

Washington, USA - Not since the April 8, 1966, famous "Is God dead?" cover of Time magazine has atheism been the topic du jour. "Atheism has come into vogue in cycles pretty reliably for the past 300 years," said Nick Gillespie, editor of Reason, a libertarian magazine. "These days, at least you won't get burned at the stake, and you might get a New York Times' best-seller." A flood of post-September 11 books on the topic have done quite well. Among them are "Breaking the Spell" by Daniel Dennett, Michael Shermer's "Why Darwin Matters," Michel Onfray's "Atheist Manifesto," Sam Harris' "The End of Faith," Ibn Warraq's "Leaving Islam," biologist Richard Dawkins' "The God Delusion," and journalist and critic Christopher Hitchens' "God is Not Great."

Reasons for the surge range from a backlash against radical Islam to a general unhappiness with the Bush administration. "The rise of militant Islam revived questions as to where does faith lead people?" Mr. Gillespie said. "It all proceeds from September 11, which in many profound ways was a religious act." Plus, he added, the current administration has given religion-friendly policies a bad name. "To the extent that this administration has been seen as a complete failure," he said, "on the right, you'll see a reach for a new kind of conservatism. It will have more in common with atheism that says religion should not be part of politics." According to the American Religious Identification Survey, conducted by the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, the share of American adults who do not subscribe to any religion increased from 8 percent in 1990 to more than 14 percent — about 30 million people — in 2001. "Forty-three percent of Americans don't attend church," said Paul Kurtz, founder and chairman of the Amherst, N.Y.-based Center for Inquiry. "A lot of people realize they don't believe in religion, and they don't want the state to meddle in private belief. They're looking to literature, ethics or philosophy to get guidance." His group has established 11 "inquiry centers" — the skeptic's answer to a church building — including one on Pennsylvania Avenue. Nine more for what he called "the unchurched, the untempled, the unmosqued" are planned in the next two years. The circulation of "Free Inquiry," the group's magazine, has grown 30 percent in the past two years to reach 35,000. "We're peeling back the burqa on unbelief," said Nathan Bupp, Inquiry spokesman. Other cultural indicators include a March revelation by Rep. Pete Stark, an 18-term California Democrat, that he is an atheist. He is the first known congressman to do so.

The Skeptics Society will observe tomorrow as Newtonmass, the 365th birthday of Isaac Newton. Fred Edwords, a spokesman for the American Humanist Association, says nonbelievers are pouring out of the closet. "Conferences and events put on by various humanist and free-thought organizations have been bursting at the seams with attendance," he said. "We had 1,000 people at a gathering put on earlier this year by our Harvard chapter. Usually we get a few hundred." The Harvard gathering, which featured novelist Salman Rushdie, ironically ended up in the campus chapel.