A Christian Eye on Politics
Secularism and Atheism? Don't Worry - They Are Dying Out!
Within Seventy-Five Years Belief in an Omnipotent God Will Predominate!
M any evangelical Christians are concerned at the growth of God-denying atheism and secularism in our modern age, but there is actually very good news: Atheism and secularism are on course to die out! No, these are not just 'words of encouragement to the pious,' this is actually going to happen.
Despite the triumphalism of atheist propagandists like Richard Dawkins, secularism and atheism are set to virtually disappear within 50-75 years as solid Theism makes a comeback.
But how can we make such a bold statement? Are we not continually being told that 'faith religions' are merely a relic of an ancient age, that we now live in the age of 'science,' belief in any divine being no longer having any real place? Yes, we are indeed being informed that this is so but birth and population demographics teach otherwise. Indeed, the truth is that leftist liberalism, and its almost invariably accompanying atheism, are headed down the chute at a rate of knots!
The great twentieth century secular religions, such as Communism, Darwinism and Liberalism are dying. One has virtually already gone, the other two lose substantial ground every year and should trouble no one within much fewer than a hundred years. Darwinism is already replaced with Neo-Darwinism which was a retreat in an attempt to hold a stronger position, but further bits are getting chipped off all the time. But don't tell Mr Dawkins, nor the BBC science department, who carry on as usual in blissful ignorance.
The cat has been truly put among the pigeons by a number of books of the last few years, including an Eric Kaufmann book of 2010; this book has started to become increasingly influential and even started to give secularists nightmares! The book is called, 'Shall the Religious Inherit the Earth?,' (look out for a review on the UK Apologetics website very soon).
Kaufmann is no believer but is in no doubt that secularism and atheism are - in effect - already dead because of simple demographics. In short: atheists, liberals and secularists are not reproducing their worldviews quickly enough. How come? The culprits are things like birth control, abortion (both strongly supported by liberals) as well as simple demographics.
The above will still seem an incredible claim to many, but here are just a few facts which may help one start to digest this assertion:
Those who either actively support atheism, or loosely live in support of practical atheism (that is, they live in their lives in an assumption of there being no God, even if never studying the matter in any great detail), do not reproduce; that is, they have an incredibly low birth rate. These people, it must be remembered, tend to firmly support both birth control and abortion. The result is that the modern liberal does not reproduce. Such people, of course, are the direct product of modernism, but modernism is now rapidly dying, being replaced by postmodernism. Modernism based everything on science, although it was usually a flawed form of science better described as 'scientism.' This scientism left no space or place for any belief in God, it was literalistic, or mechanistic. Postmodernism, however, is extremely open to various interpretations and has a firm place for religious belief. At present, a form of modernism still exists alongside an emerging postmodernism but it (the former) is in its death throes.
Let us clarify even further: Those who have a strong belief in Theism produce large families. No one denies this, it has long been known. Whereas the modern liberal has abortion available, those with a strong religious persuasion operate their own ban on abortion and quite a few of this group also reject birth control. The modern typical social liberal has an incredibly tiny birth rate. So, to consider Christianity, both Catholic (all Catholic, not just the Roman version), and fundamentalist and evangelical Christianity tend to produce large families. Moreover, Christians tend - on the whole - to pass their belief onto their children rather successfully. We must admit that this also applies to such groups as the Mormons who have a very high birth rate. It also applies to a new orthodox Judaism which is beginning to surge ahead. We must concede that these groups are indeed Theists and Theism obviously soundly rejects atheism and secularism. These are rapidly growing groups, but there are others. Of course, we start off here from a point in which there are MILLIONS - let us repeat - MILLIONS of Theists in the world, most supporting the God of the Bible. There are not millions of atheists, even if we accept a looser definition of atheism.
Evangelical and charismatic Christianity is now surging ahead by leaps and bounds in such places as south America, Asia and Africa. It has recently also been estimated that one third of Americans over the age of 21, support conservative Christianity and soundly agree with all of its main principles, even if not all of these are active church-attenders. Despite an apparently advancing secularism, their numbers are not diminishing due to simple demographics. Secularism might have appeared pervasive but it has never affected solid religious belief, only taking out liberal and wishy-washy belief. Yes, churches have declined but only liberals seem to have been affected. Meanwhile, evangelicals keep having children, secularists do not!
In The Guardian, back in 2010, in reviewing Eric Kaufmann's book, 'Shall the Religious Inherit the Earth?' Kenan Malik wrote,
'For Kaufmann, Europe appears doomed because fundamentalists of every kind are multiplying far more than their liberal cousins while secularists are failing even to replace their numbers...' (source:http://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/may/02/religious-inherit-earth-eric-kaufmann).
In an interview with Mercatornet internet magazine, Eric Kaufmann himself stated the following,
'By 2050 we should expect to see the end of secularisation in northwestern Europe and a slow, gradual rebound of Christianity (and other faiths).... Christian immigration and fertility has arrested secularism in major cities like London, where Christian attendance is almost the same today as in 1989. This is an illustration of how demography affects secularism, but part of what we are seeing is an exhaustion effect whereby secularism has creamed off those most partial to leaving while the remnant remains increasingly resistant to its charms...' (See more at: http://www.mercatornet.com/articles/view/shall_the_religious_inherit_the_earth/#sthash.nqnB0dNu.dpuf).
It is not all good news for conservative Christians. Other religiously conservative groups are also growing, including Islamics, yet writer Kaufmann does not believe that Islam will prove to be the threat in Europe that some are fearing. Truth is: when moslems move to Europe they start to have fewer children.
Overall, however, the news is good for conservative Christianity but, as the changes gather momentum, liberal Christianity is set to die out; the trend is firmly in favour of solid Theism. It is true that social and intellectual liberalism holds the centre court in many western institutions as things presently stand, but conservatism seems to be making a comeback almost everywhere. Eventually even the liberal universities will be forced to change direction as Theism becomes the dominant view.
Again, this is not idle speculation. The next hundred years will see Theism triumph. The challenge is for us evangelical Christians to make ourselves ready because it is clear that there will be other Theistic alternatives available for those who accept the teaching of One All-Powerful God.
Look out for the UK Apologetics review of Eric Kaufmann's book to come up very shortly.
The Christian Hawk. September 12th, 2014.