I haven’t written about atheism in a while. A long while. I don’t know why. Maybe because I have nothing more to say about being an atheist. A decade (or so) ago, it seemed (to me, at least) that atheism was all the rage, notably among young people (high school, believe it or not) and it was looking, to me, that the next generation of non-believers was on the cusp. Then, like all fads, it was something that passed like a bowel movement. Honestly, the way things were going, I’m actually happy the trend died out. And not slowly and painfully, but quickly and extremely traumatically for some. But I do miss some of the real activism that occurred during those days.

And maybe that activism is still alive, just not with the same crowd I used to follow of Twitter (X). I know there are active atheist and skeptical organizations, but I think they’ve mostly become irrelavent, more of a jok in fact, as they became part of the woke society. Even though most atheists identify as liberal, they for the most part, aren’t part of the lunatic fringe. It may be also there are no leaders to identify with anymore. Dawkins, Harris, Dennet, (RIP Hitchens)? There was a time when they were almost household names. Now, if anything, they are historical representaves Dawkins is 85, Harris? Well, read up on his life since the 2010’s).

Reading so far, you’d believe atheism was on a downward spiral,but the truth is different. According to the latest Pew Poll on Atheism, In 2024, 5% of Americans identified as atheist. That’s up around 2% over a decade. It’ not overwhelming, but it’s interesting that non-belief is on even a tiny upswing. Agnostics are also up. In the same poll, 6% identified as agnostic, a ecade ago that number was 4. That means, overall some 11% of the U.S. population either don’t believe in god(s) or question any god(s) existence. So we haven’t exactly become irrelavent, just slowly, quietly growing among a population that is 62% Christian (at least identifies that way). There are still patheists though, that have to hide that fact from friends and family. That’s too bad because, as we see, those that profess their religion online do it proudly, with (nowadays) epithests included (more on that, another time).

I really wish no one had to hide their belief or non-belief, anywhere. Just as being a believer isn’t an indicator of being a rapist, murder or pedophile, neither is being atheist or agnostic (but in 2007, approximately 66% of all people in prison identified as Christian). The latest reliable figures, from 2023, place 1.254 million people behind bars in the U.S. 66% of that is how many? Yeah, quite a few “Christians” are in prison. Although the prison system doesn’t track religious or non-religious affliation for any prisoner, the estimate for atheists and agnostics in prison are about 1 of that 1.254 million total. Out of 340 million people, 37.4 million identify as atheist/agnostic and from that number, only about 12,500 are in prison today (very loose estimate). Compare that to Christianity and although I think religious or non-religious identity really doesn’t say anything about anyone’s criminal intent, it certainly is an interesting data point.

I am optimistic on the fitire of the growth of atheism in the U.S. I’m not concerned about the speed of growth, in fact, I would like to think there are actually more than have been polled in the recent past. We’re all aware how some people do not answer honestly with polls and why shuld religious belief be different.

If you run a website that is atheist or agnosticc (even skeptical) affliated, please let me know. I’d like to run a list of active organizations and individuals.