A new poll, “The Global Index of Religiosity and Atheism,” shows that atheism is on the rise in America.
Since 2005, the number of Americans claiming to be atheists has risen from 1% to 5% of the U.S. population. The disturbing trend continues as the number of people claiming they are “religious” has also fallen over the same seven-year period from 73% to now just 60% of America.
It is interesting to note that in the worldwide survey, the country with the largest atheist population was China at 47% of that nation’s population.
One thing is clear; atheists have engaged in extensive PR campaigns across America in recent years. Most recently, the American Atheists, the group challenging the Ground Zero Cross, is putting up billboards around the country shaming people of faith. There most recent ad blitz includes statements such as, “Christianity: Sadistic God; useless Savior; 30,000+ Versions of ‘Truth’; Promotes Hate, Calls it ‘Love.’”
We have also seen a rise in the number of atheist challenges to our nation’s heritage, with groups like Freedom From Religion Foundation, Military Religious Freedom Foundation, and American Atheists attempting to remove every vestige of our religious heritage as a nation from public life.
Whether it is lawsuits against the Ground Zero Cross, the National Day of Prayer, our National Motto, or the Pledge of Allegiance their tactics cannot be taken lightly. Though they ultimately lose many of their legal challenges in court, they have found tremendous success by merely threatening lawsuits.
Just in the last few weeks, we have seen angry atheist groups attack the Ground Zero Cross, bully a town to censor a small cross from its logo, demand any mention of God be stricken from school, attack a state law that mentioned the words “Almighty God," and even try to prevent a church from providing a meal for the local high school football team just to name a few.
The problem arises not from atheists who wish to practice their religion of no faith, but angry atheists bent on hampering the faith of those of us who do believe and determined to eviscerate the tradition of faith from American life.
It is important that we continue to vigilantly defend our religious liberty and our heritage as a nation from these now constant attacks.
