Although I grew up surrounded by Christians and continue to see Christianity as the most dominant religion where I live, it’s important to remember that there are numerous other religions/spiritualities/cults that have similar fanciful, unrealistic, unscientific underpinnings that are equally harmful to their adherents and to wider society.
Luckily, there are lots of adherents of all faiths who are moving away from their traditions towards a more modern, humanist, secular view of the world.
[Edit: Probably should add a disclaimer – I don’t think religious people are stupid and I (try to) not be openly hostile to them. I tend to think of it as religious people having a gigantic blindspot – often almost impossible to overcome due to being indoctrinated from an early age and much of their social circle/value coming from belonging to a certain religious group. I know I have similar blindspots that are potentially doing me more harm than good which I refuse to acknowledge – drinking booze which can cause cancer, eating unhealthy foods, even enjoying campfires which is a famous analogy by atheist Sam Harris points out is a huge blindspot for atheists.]
Comments 2
Y’know, I was all cheery at the thought, but then I read the author’s name at the bottom of the article about Muslims turning to atheism . . . Daniel Pipes, a man who is both a virulent anti-Muslim ideologue and someone with exactly zero respect for the truth. A major part of his life seems to revolve around getting scholars who critique Israel sacked from universities. It may be that there is a movement in the Muslim world towards secularism, but I’ll need a more reliable witness than Daniel bloody Pipes.
Thanks for the background – I didn’t realise that he was a vocal anti-Muslim idealogue.
I did a couple quick Google searches and found some other articles/info/anecdotes that also indicate that religion is declining in Muslim countries (though obviously with how strictly enforced religion is in many places and how interconnected it is with politics and general society, people are also less likely to admit to being non-religious/atheist) and also among Muslims in the western world:
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irreligion_in_the_Middle_East
* https://www.quora.com/Is-atheism-growing-in-the-Muslim-world
* https://www.theguardian.com/global/2015/may/17/losing-their-religion-british-ex-muslims-non-believers-hidden-crisis-faith
* https://newrepublic.com/article/121559/rise-arab-atheists
* https://www.amazon.ca/Atheist-Muslim-Journey-Religion-Reason/dp/1250094445
To be fair, there is also research showing that Islam is the fastest growing religion though a lot of that is attributable to believers having large families than for other reasons (eg. people choosing to join the religion):
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/04/06/why-muslims-are-the-worlds-fastest-growing-religious-group/