The Rise And Fall Of Atheism

Author: Walter Nuñez

Back in the days when atheism became more pronounced as a worldview through the prominent preaching and influence of Friedrich Nietzsche, Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, Bertrand Russell, Mao Zedong, Joseph Stalin and others of their kind and caliber,  atheists were wont to say that there shall come a time in the very near future that religion, in general, and the belief of God, in particular, shall become obsolete or be doomed to extinction, as it was of the mythological religions of old like Egyptian, Norse, Romans, Greeks  Mythologies.

That bold pronouncement was made in the 20th century, especially when atheism was at its heyday or at its peak. But, at the close of the 20th century and the  dawning of the new millennium, there was no way to indicate as yet that such foreboding has come to fulfillment.

But, quite, on the contrary, religion has become vibrant and dominant and influential as ever, far from being a thing of the past and irrelevant as predicted. While, the ocean of believers over three – fourth of the world’s population, roughly around five billion people, has led their lives under the moral guidance of religion, and their faith and belief in God become more renewed each day.

In 1990 to 1993 atheists all over the world numbered on average around 239 million. In 1994, it slid to around 230 million. But, between 1998 and 1999, it went to an all time high ever to around 1.8 billion. In 2000, it sharply declined in a nose dive at around 200 million, and kept still at that numbers from 2001 to 2004. In 2005, it further precipitated at around 148 million. It rose at around 151 million in 2006, and barely went down  at around 150 million in2007 and 2008. In 2009, it rebounded to around 153 million, and stay around at that figures until to date. (Encyclopedia Britannica: Mega Census of Adherents of World Religions from 1990 to 2010)

On the main, the steep declined of the numbers of atheists around the world was mainly attributed to the downfall of communism in Communist Republic of East Germany, Union Soviet Socialist of Russia, and the Communist Republic of China late in the 20th century. Because communism embodies atheistic beliefs, as is evident by proclaiming atheism as its  official religion, so its downfall may have become the deathbed of atheism. In part, this was equally brought about by the advancement of knowledge in philosophy and science, especially in the area of scientific cosmology where atheistic underpinnings like the steady state theory which states that the universe is eternal: no beginning and end, are now greatly abandoned by authorities in the scientific community. As it is now, the widely accepted view by the scientific authorities, insofar as the origin of the universe is concerned, is the big bang theory: which states that the universe has a definite beginning in the past. The view that the universe has a beginning of its existence somehow tends to lean on the side of the theistic belief of creation. It seems atheism now is orphaned by the very foundation it stood and thrived in the field of philosophy and science.

Similarly, it is consoling to note that a book entitled The Twilight of Atheism by Alison Mcgrath was written to that effect…to herald about the imminent downfall of atheism in the 21st century.

Meanwhile, looking at the numbers of atheists above, it is very apparent that atheism is on the sideline, with only 2.3 percent of the current world’s population, rather than in the center stage as should have been the case as confidently foreseen by their leaders. It seems their own prediction about the demise of religion in the 21st century has backfired and got the better of them. Instead, it is now the predator that becomes the prey, and well nigh becoming threaten to extinction. Figures don’t lie!  The rise and fall of atheism!