Checkers always did outsell chess. No one in the states, with rare excpetion wants to think for themeselves or rock the boat. They do not want to to disturb the parade of gizmos, gadgets and widgets put forth to the consumer society. They don't want to lose the 168+ channels of TV or the endless well of snacks and drinks.

In essence, the FEAR of losing all this is part of the view that atheism is untaural, because it allows people to THINK for themselves, and by doing this it has the potential to disrupt the consumeristic/don't think for yourself/pop-pulpit metality that pervades US culture.

Eric

I might agree with a slight variation of the original sentiment expressed by Andrew Brown— atheists will always be a minority when society is unstable or poor. I read somewhere (don't remember where, making it unverifiable, but I'll say it anyway) that atheism can become a majority position only when society is relatively well off, or at least, it is much more likely in those cases. In relatively well-off Europe, atheism is not necessarily a minority view, and at minimum, it's not such a small minority as in the US. In the violence-ridden nations of the Middle East, religion is far more common. Although the US is probably closer to Europe than the Middle East in terms of societal well-being, we have a much larger gap between the rich and the poor, with far more people in poverty. We have no universal health care, putting people at risk— if you're poor, you'll be unable to afford health care, or you will be ruined by one sickness, or you will have to forego preventitive care, leading to ill health.

So here's a question: It's been established that widespread religion in a society is correlated with greater violence. Is this because religion causes people to be violent, or because violence disrupts a stable society and leads people to turn to religion for the comfort that real life no longer provides?

Very nice article and arguments, I loved reading this stuff. Go humans! *waves flag*

but it's certainly not against any natural laws and I don't feel that as some religious people insist that I "know God exists but am just in denial". Quite the opposite, I've always felt that trying to believe in that stuff would be denying what I know, or strongly believe to be true.

'There have been small and big revolutions in(western) human thought right throughout history.In the fifteenth century Copernicus startled the world by removing the earth from the centre of the Universe, then Darwin showed that we humans were just another animal but of course not yet accepted by everyone.Not two hundred years ago we began to realise that slavery was not right,then a hundred years ago women's rights started to become the norm read on>>

Even though I am an atheist, I still felt compelled for conformity's sake to be married in the Catholic church (my Filipina wife being Catholic) and having our two children baptized in the church. For me, it was all for show to give the family what they expected. But I do draw the line at having my children go through communion and all that comes after that. My wife, thankfully, is rather lax in her Catholicism, and she knows that I am an atheist. I believe that I will be able to dodge the communion bullet for my kids.

I should add that even the struggle to get most people thinking skeptically cannot be won it certainly does not mean we should give up. Few battles worth fighting can ever be completely won.