Atheism vs. Christianity

In terms of its geographic distribution, Christianity is a more global religion than most, if not all, religions. See: Global Christianity

In the Western World, since the early 1700s, there has been an ideological conflict between the atheist worldview and the Christian worldview.

The current atheist population mostly resides in East Asia (particularly China) and in secular Europe/Australia among whites.

In terms of its geographic distribution, Christianity is a more global religion than most, if not all, religions (See also: Global Christianity). The Bible has been translated into 518 languages and 2,798 languages have at least some portion of the Bible. In addition, the Christian community is far more evangelistic than the atheist community and Christian missionaries are throughout the world.

French Revolution and atheism

See also: History of atheism

On July 14, 1789, the Bastille was stormed by a mob and its prisoners freed, which is regarded as the start of the French Revolution.

The University of Cambridge reports the following historical relationship between atheism and the French Revolution:

“

Between 1700 and 1750 thousands of atheistic clandestine manuscripts circulated across Europe (although still only read by a very small minority)... The French Revolution (1789-94) would dramatically transform the power relationship between belief and unbelief in Europe: whereas before atheism had been 'high brow', discussed in the cafes and salons of Paris, henceforth it would set itself down among the people. A strident unbelief became a real political factor in public life, as the anticlerical 'dechristianisation' period following the revolution would demonstrate. The impact of the French Revolution in inspiring people to put the irreligious ideas of the Enlightenment into practice would extend beyond France to other European countries, and to the American colonies (although in the latter it would take a deistic rather than atheistic form).

”

The Reign of Terror of the French Revolution established established a state which was anti-Roman Catholicism/Christian in nature (anti-clerical deism and anti-religious atheism and played a significant role in the French Revolution), with the official ideology being the Cult of Reason; during this time thousands of believers were suppressed and executed by the guillotine.

The Russian revolution caused the most notable spread of atheism

Vladimir Lenin

see also: Atheism and communism and Militant atheism and Atheism and economics and Atheism and mass murder and Atheism and Karl Marx

According to the University of Cambridge, historically, the "most notable spread of atheism was achieved through the success of the 1917 Russian Revolution, which brought the Marxist-Leninists to power." Vitalij Lazarʹevič Ginzburg, a Soviet physicist, wrote that the "Bolshevik communists were not merely atheists but, according to Lenin's terminology, militant atheists." However, prior to this, the Reign of Terror of the French Revolution established an atheist state, with the official ideology being the Cult of Reason; during this time thousands of believers were suppressed and executed by the guillotine.

Oppression in atheistic communist regimes

See also: Atheism and mass murder and Atheism and communism

The atheism in communist regimes has been and continues to be militant atheism and various acts of repression including the razing of thousands of religious buildings and the killing, imprisoning, and oppression of religious leaders and believers.

It has been estimated that in less than the past 100 years, governments under the banner of communism have caused the death of somewhere between 40,472,000 to 259,432,000 human lives. Dr. R. J. Rummel, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Hawaii, is the scholar who first coined the term democide (death by government). Dr. R. J. Rummel's mid estimate regarding the loss of life due to communism is that communism caused the death of approximately 110,286,000 people between 1917 and 1987.

Global resurgence of religion

See also: Desecularization and Global atheism and Global atheism and Atheism and marriage and Atheist marriages

On December 23, 2012, Professor Eric Kaufmann who teaches at Birbeck College, University of London wrote:

“

I argue that 97% of the world's population growth is taking place in the developing world, where 95% of people are religious. On the other hand, the secular West and East Asia has very low fertility and a rapidly aging population... In the coming decades, the developed world's demand for workers to pay its pensions and work in its service sector will soar alongside the booming supply of young people in the third world. Ergo, we can expect significant immigration to the secular West which will import religious revival on the back of ethnic change. In addition, those with religious beliefs tend to have higher birth rates than the secular population, with fundamentalists having far larger families. The epicentre of these trends will be in immigration gateway cities like New York (a third white), Amsterdam (half Dutch), Los Angeles (28% white), and London, 45% white British.

”

Michael Blume, a researcher at the University of Jena in Germany, wrote "Most societies or communities that have espoused atheistic beliefs have not survived more than a century." Blume also indicated concerning concerning his research on this matter: "What I found was the complete lack of a single case of a secular population, community or movement that would just manage to retain replacement level."

In 2008, Dr. Antulio J. Echevarria, in his monograph entitled Wars of Ideas and the War of Ideas, "offers a brief examination of four common types of wars of ideas..." While he believes that a sound understanding the wars of ideas can inform strategy, Echevarria "concludes that physical events, whether designed or incidental, are in some respects more important to the course and outcome of a war of ideas than the ideas themselves." Kaufmann argues that fertility rate differences over time will have a stronger effect on the atheism/agnosticism vs. Christianity ideological struggle than evangelism will in West and that immigration of religious immigrants will also have a strong effect.

21st century and the atheism vs. Christianity issue

See also: Desecularization and Global Christianity and Global atheism

Growth of evangelical Christianity in Europe

Global Christianity is growing rapidly in adherents and evangelical Christianity is seeing significant growth in secular Europe (see: Growth of evangelical Christianity in Europe).

For example, on July 12, 2012, the Christian Science Monitor reported:

“

French scholars say, evangelicalism is likely the fastest-growing religion in France – defying all stereotypes about Europe’s most secular nation... Daniel Liechti, vice-president of the French National Evangelical Council, found that since 1970, a new evangelical church has opened in France every 10 days. The number of churches increased from 769 to 2,068 last year.

”

In April of 2010, Kauffmann declared that "the rate of secularisation has flattened to zero in most of Protestant Europe and France."

Globalization, religious immigration and its effect on the Western World

Eric Kaufmann told a secular audience in Australia: "The trends that are happening worldwide inevitably in an age of globalization are going to affect us."

Kaufmann using a wealth of demographic studies argues the decline of atheism in terms of its percentage of global adherents is an established trend that will persist for the foreseeable future and the rate of decline will accelerate. In addition, Kaufmann argues that religious conservatism has a long term trend of rising and that their influence in the world will significantly increase. Kaufmann is author of the book Shall the Religious Inherit the Earth?. In the Western World due to immigration and the higher birth rates of religious people, Kaufman writes: "Committed religious populations are growing in the West, and will reverse the march of secularism before 2050."

Christianity is the world's largest religion and it has seen tremendous growth over its 2000 year history. Christianity has recently seen explosive growth outside the Western World. In 2000, there were twice as many non-Western Christians as Western Christians. In 2005, there were four times as many non-Western Christians as there were Western World Christians. There are now more non-Western missionaries than Western missionaries.

In 2012, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (GCTS) reported that every day there are 800 less atheists per day, 1,100 less non-religious (agnostic) people per day and 83,000 more people professing to be Christians per day.

Atheists as a percentage of the world's population have declined since 1970 and global atheism is expected to face long term decline.

On July 24, 2013, CNS News reported:

“

Atheism is in decline worldwide, with the number of atheists falling from 4.5% of the world’s population in 1970 to 2.0% in 2010 and projected to drop to 1.8% by 2020, according to a new report by the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Mass."

”

For more information, please see: Global atheism and Secular Europe

Biblical creationism vs. atheism

See also: Global creationism

Since World War II a majority of the most prominent and vocal defenders of the evolutionary position which employs methodological naturalism have been atheists. See also: Atheism and evolution

Johns Hopkins University Press reported in 2014: "Over the past forty years, creationism has spread swiftly among European Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Hindus, and Muslims, even as anti-creationists sought to smother its flames."

History of the growth of creationism and its effect on the atheism vs. Christianity issue

Dr. Johnson C. Philip & Dr. Saneesh Cherian wrote in their work Introduction To Integrated Christian Apologetics:

“

American evangelical Christians have began to notice in the fifties that compromise is a slow poison that ultimately destroys respect for truth. Some of them came together and started writing aggressively on themes defending the historical and scientific reliability of the Bible. This gave birth to the modern interest in Apologetics and Creationism. At the dawn of the twenty-first century the influence of this revival has spread all over the world, and today more than one hundred and fifty organizations function around the world, devoted solely to apologetics. Their influence has be so strong that a large number of Seminaries all around the world have begun assert the historical and scientific reliability of the Bible... ...with the birth of the modern creationism and apologetics, a revival set in motion among the evangelical Christians. This group became quite vocal and aggressive in the sixties, and by seventies they started exerting significant influence among theologians, thinkers, and the Bible teachers all over the world. Thousands of apologetic books, hundreds of magazines, and tens of thousands of articles have been produced defending the Bible since. In turn, this has started to diminish the influence of rationalists and radicals on Christians. From the middle of the nineteenth to the middle of the twentieth century the rationalists had their heyday, snatching away millions of young people from their Christian faith and commitment. The wounds of this loss can been seen in Christendom even today, but at the same time this loss has been greatly minimized now because of the work of Christian apologists. Today anyone desiring to know about the Bible, and its connection with science, evolution, history, archaeology, has read any number of books on this topic. Literally thousands of titles are available, and he can choose anywhere from the most simple books to the most technically advanced ones. Thus the modern apologetics movement has been able to arrest the way in which rationalists have been bleeding the Christian church.

”

21st century Europe: Atheism vs. Christianity - Additional information

In 2014, the Pew Research Forum indicated that Europe will go from 11% of the world's population to 7% of the world's population by 2050.

Concerning the future of religion/secularism in Europe, Eric Kaufmann wrote:

“

We have performed these unprecedented analyses on several cases. Austria offers us a window into what the future holds. Its census question on religious affiliation permits us to perform cohort component projections, which show the secular population plateauing by 2050, or as early as 2021 if secularism fails to attract lapsed Christians and new Muslim immigrants at the same rate as it has in the past. (Goujon, Skirbekk et al. 2006). This task will arguably become far more difficult as the supply of nominal Christians dries up while more secularisation-resistant Muslims and committed rump Christians comprise an increasing share of the population.

”

In 2011, the Oxford University journal Sociology of Religion published an article by Eric Kaufmann, Anne Goujon and Vegard Skirbekk entitled The End of Secularization in Europe?: A Socio-Demographic Perspective which declared:

“

"Silent” demographic effects can be profound in the long term. For example, Rodney Stark shows how early Christians’ favorable fertility and mortality rates when compared with Hellenistic pagans may have helped fuel a 40 percent growth rate in the Christian population of the Roman Empire over several centuries. This helped give rise to a population increase from 40 converts in 30 AD to 6 million by the year 300 leading to a “tipping point” which helped Christianity become institutionalized within the Empire (Stark 1996).

”

For more information, please see: Desecularization of secular Europe in the 21st century and Global atheism

Sociologist Peter Berger on Pentecostalism and Europe

The American sociologist and author Peter L. Berger introduced the concept of desecularization in 1999. In contrast to many other forms of Christianity, charasmatic/Pentecostal Christianity is very evangelical. According to Berger, "One can say with some confidence that modern Pentecostalism must be the fastest growing religion in human history."

Berger recently said that he previously thought that pentecostalism did not have a significant future in Europe, but he recently saw signs that it could see significant growth in Europe. In addition, pentecostalism often grows fast in areas undergoing economic distress. Post 2007 there are concerns that Western economies which have high sovereign debt loads could see some significant economic turmoil in coming years - especially the European countries with aging populations that have been struggling in terms of economic growth.

21st century United States: Christianity vs. Atheism

Eric Kaufman wrote in his 2010 book Shall the Righteous Inherit the Earth? concerning America:

“

High evangelical fertility rates more than compensated for losses to liberal Protestant sects during the twentieth century. In recent decades, white secularism has surged, but Latino and Asian religious immigration has taken up the slack, keeping secularism at bay. Across denominations, the fertility advantage of religious fundamentalists of all colours is significant and growing. After 2020, their demographic weight will begin to tip the balance in the culture wars towards the conservative side, ramping up pressure on hot-button issues such as abortion. By the end of the century, three quarters of America may be pro-life. Their activism will leap over the borders of the 'Redeemer Nation' to evangelize the world. Already, the rise of the World Congress of Families has launched a global religious right, its arms stretching across the bloody lines of the War on Terror to embrace the entire Abrahamic family.

”

In addition, it is argued that growth of religious hispanics in the United States (many of whom are evangelical/Charasmatic/pentocostal Christianity or converting to this form of Christianity) will make it very difficult for atheism to prevail over Christianity in the United States in the future.

Also, in the United States and in the Western World a majority of atheists are white males (see: Western atheism and race and Atheism and women), and non-whites are expected to become a majority in the United States in the 21st century.

Growth of Christianity in atheistic China

In front of the Great Hall of the People in Tiananmen Square in Beijing.

See also: Growth of Christianity in China and Collapse of atheism in the former Soviet Union and Decline of the secular left

On November 1, 2014, an article in The Economist entitled Cracks in the atheist edifice declared:

“

Officials are untroubled by the clash between the city’s famously freewheeling capitalism and the Communist Party’s ideology, yet still see religion and its symbols as affronts to the party’s atheism... Yang Fenggang of Purdue University, in Indiana, says the Christian church in China has grown by an average of 10% a year since 1980. He reckons that on current trends there will be 250m Christians by around 2030, making China’s Christian population the largest in the world. Mr. Yang says this speed of growth is similar to that seen in fourth-century Rome just before the conversion of Constantine, which paved the way for Christianity to become the religion of his empire.

”

New Atheism: Militant atheist backlash to the resurgence of religion in the world

See also: New Atheism

Christopher Hitchens

The term New Atheism which first appeared in the November 2006 edition of Wired magazine, is frequently applied to a series of six best-selling books by five authors that appeared in the period between 2004–2008. These authors include Sam Harris, Daniel Dennett, Richard Dawkins, Victor J. Stenger and Christopher Hitchens. The four most prominent writers of the New Atheist movement are Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, the late Christopher Hitchens and Daniel Dennett.

An irony of the New Atheist movement is that New Atheism is a militant form of atheism and Richard Dawkins has flip-flopped concerning whether he is an atheist or an agnostic (see: Richard Dawkins and agnosticism).

New Atheism was a fad and is now is a small fraction of its former self. It imploded in July of 2011, when the abrasive Richard Dawkins divided Western atheism due to Dawkins offending atheist women (particularly feminist atheist women) and liberal atheists as a whole in his Elevatorgate scandal. See also: Atheist movement and Atheist factions

An unintended effect of the New Atheism

An April 17, 2011 atheist essay entitled Are atheists strengthening religion? declared:

“

The Christian backlash and response to new atheism is/was considerable, and neither can the consequences, changes, and foci which marked their response be ignored. In the end, have we simply made the aforementioned goal more difficult to accomplish?

”

The New Atheism caused a number of Christian apologists to focus their apologetic efforts on atheism and it also spawned a resurgence of interest in Christian apologetics. For example, the Christian apologetics organization Ratio Christi was formed in the wake of the New Atheism.

Christian apologetics clubs on college campuses

Ratio Christi is a global movement that equips university students and faculty to give historical, philosophical, and scientific reasons for following Jesus Christ.

The Christian apologetics organization Stand to Reason wrote:

“

Ratio Christi, a fairly new apologetics organization that is seeking to change the intellectual atmosphere at universities by bringing Christianity into public, academic discussion. Their goal is to start on-campus apologetics clubs at 500 universities in the next five years. This is where you come in--because it’s also Ratio Christi’s goal to connect each of these clubs with a person who has been trained in apologetics (but who probably has a different day job) to act as chapter director. Ratio Christi helps each chapter organize one or two campus-wide events a year by connecting them with speakers and debaters like William Lane Craig and Gary Habermas, helping them find the funding, etc. But after the event has come and gone, the lay apologist is still there to lead discussions and interact with the Christians, skeptics, atheists, and seekers who may never have realized that Christianity has a weighty intellectual tradition behind it.

”

Atheism vs. Christian revival

See also: Atheism vs. Christian revival, Christian apologetics and creationism

Reverend Dwight Longenecker wrote: "In the late eighteenth century atheism, rationalism and Freemasonry seemed to have taken over Europe. By the mid to late nineteenth century religious revival had swept through Europe and Christianity was surging forward."

In the United States, there were a series of Christian revivals/awakenings between 1730 and the 1970s (see: First Great Awakening and Second Great Awakening and Third Great Awakening and Fourth Great Awakening and Jesus Movement).

Christian websites with a large focus on the topic of atheism

See also: Internet atheism

Four of the more notable Christian apologetics which have a large focus on the topic of atheism are: True Free Thinker, the Creation Ministries International resources on atheism, the Fixed Point Foundation website, and Atheism Analyzed.

Online videos concerning atheism and related topics

• Atheism videos

Atheism and debate

Richard Dawkins

See also: Atheism and debate

Unlike Christianity, which is supported by a large body of sound evidence, atheism has no proof and evidence supporting its ideology (see: Attempts to dilute the definition of atheism).

See also:

• Arguments for the existence of God

• Christian apologetics resources

• Rebuttals to atheist arguments

• Atheism and deception

In relation to atheism debates, although atheists commonly claim there are reasonable arguments for atheism, the quality of atheist debate has been quite poor from the proponents of atheism.

Prominent atheists and evolutionists have established a reputation of dodging debates (see: Atheism and cowardice). For example, in 2012 both the weak atheist/agnostic Richard Dawkins and the British Humanist Society dodged debates with Dr. William Lane Craig. Richard Dawkins has established a reputation of avoiding his strongest debate opponents.

The cowardice associated with atheism has become so obvious that it is making newspaper headlines. On May 14, 2011, the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph published a news story entitled Richard Dawkins accused of cowardice for refusing to debate existence of God. In The Daily Telegraph article Dr. Daniel Came, a member of the Faculty of Philosophy at Oxford University was quoted as writing to Richard Dawkins concerning his refusal to debate Dr. William Lane Craig, "The absence of a debate with the foremost apologist for Christian theism is a glaring omission on your CV and is of course apt to be interpreted as cowardice on your part."

Hate crimes in the United States against atheists/agnostics are very low in number

See also: Persecution of atheists

According to a 2007 Pew Forum survey, about 4% of Americans are atheists/agnostics. A 2008 Gallup poll showed that 6% of the U.S. population believed that no god or universal spirit exists.

According to 2013 FBI statistics, 6/10 of a percent of hate crimes were against atheists/agnostics.

See also: Christian patience, forgiveness and long-suffering towards atheists

Claims of being an oppressed minority by American atheists are often not taken seriously

In the United States, a significant amount of atheists are white males and the American atheist community has been criticized for its lack of racial diversity and lower amount of females in its population (Western atheism and race and Atheism and women). As a result, claims of being an oppressed minority by atheists are often not taken seriously even by fellow atheists (See: Atheist whining).

In addition, given the favorable treatment militant atheists often receive in the media and the atheistic indoctrination that occurs in public schools/universities, the notion of atheists as an oppressed minority is often rejected by Americans.

At the same time, as in many theistic societies, atheists are the least trusted group in America and many Americans have a low opinion of atheism/atheists (see: Views on atheists and Atheism and social outcasts).

God and the church triumphs over atheism

Stain glass depiction of the Apostle John

Ultimately, God and church triumphs over atheism.

The Apostle John wrote in the Book of Revelation:

“

He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. I, Jesus, have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. - Revelation 22: 11-17 (King James Bible)

”

Resources for leaving atheism and becoming a Christian

• Resources for leaving atheism and becoming a Christian

• Some good news

Recommended reading

General Works Relating to Atheism and/or Defense of Theism:

• Top 15 Evidences for God and Creation by Jason Browning
• Alister McGrath, (2004), The Twilight of Atheism: The Rise and Fall of Disbelief in the Modern World ISBN 0-385-50061-0
• Ravi Zacharias, (1994, 2004), A Shattered Visage: The Real Face of Atheism ISBN 0801065119
• Ravi Zacharias, (1994, 1996), Can Man Live Without God? ISBN 0849939437
• Josh McDowell and Don Stewart, (1982) Understanding Secular Religions, Here's Life Publishers, San Bernardino, California, ISBN 0-86605-093-0

Book on the New Atheism:

• Vox Day, (2008),The Irrational Atheist, BenBella Books, Inc. ISBN 1933771364 (free pdf of the abbreviated version of his book: The Irrational atheist)
• R. Albert Mohler Jr., (2008), Atheism Remix: A Christian Confronts the New Atheists, Crossway, ISBN 9781433504976

Atheism and history:

• Dimitry Pospielovsky, (December, 1987), A History of Marxist-Leninist Atheism and Soviet Antireligious Policies, Palgrave Macmillan, ISBN 0312381328
• Dimitry Pospielovsky, (November, 1987), Soviet Antireligious Campaigns and Persecutions (History of Soviet Atheism in Theory and Practice and the Believers, Vol 2), Palgrave Macmillan, ISBN 0312009054
• Dimitry Pospielovsky, (August, 1988), Soviet Studies on the Church and the Believer's Response to Atheism: A History of Soviet Atheism in Theory and Practice and the Believers, Vol 3, Palgrave Macmillan, hardcover: ISBN 0312012918, paperback edition: ISBN 0312012926

Books on the causes of atheism:

• Books on the causes of atheism

See also

• Atheism statistics

• Atheism website resources

• Atheism vs. Islam

Essays:

• Atheism and its margin of ideological defeat

• 10 reasons why American atheism will see a significant decline

External links

See also: Atheism website resources

• From Atheism to Christianity: a Personal Journey by Philip Vander Elst

• 10 reasons why Christianity is true and atheism is false - Dr. Gary Habermas

• Christian Arguments Against Atheism

• Proofs for the Existence of God - Even Atheists Presuppose God's Existence

• Atheist vs. Christian debate - Morality: Natural or Supernatural?

• Christian Morality Versus Atheist Morality

• Atheism vs. Christianity, A Response to Unanswered Questions by Bob and Gretchen Passantino

General articles on atheism:

• Atheism by Creation Ministries International
• Atheism, agnosticism and humanism: godless religions by Creation Ministries International
• True Free Thinker - atheism section
• Atheism by Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry
• 4 reasons why atheism and agnosticism are weak, errant, secular religions

Miscellaneous articles:

• What is practical atheism?