Atheism Grows

I read in the paper the other day that the number of people who identify as atheists has grown tremendously in the last few decades. The reason cited for this phenomenon was the growth of fundamentalism in the two largest religions, Christianity and Islam.
This is interesting, but not at all surprising. Atheism, always alluring, is especially attractive in comparison to fundamentalism. Extremes attract extremes. And the extreme of fundamentalism, contrary to its aim, is actually a damned good argument against belief! For, in my mind, fundamentalists are anti-intellectual and atheists are first and foremost thinking people. Perhaps that is the reason why I usually feel more comfortable with the latter than the former.
Back in the forties, when I took my first uncertain steps in the direction of Catholicism from a loose kind of agnosticism, my mind was suspicious...not at all eager to convert. The long years as a youth being dragged off to a Baptist church had left a bad taste, and I certainly was not going to abandon my intervening agnosticism for anything remotely similar. I remember distinctly, as though it was yesterday, the chaplain [This took place in a military hospital, where I was recovering from a wound.] took me by surprise when he told me that it took much more than just a declaration of willingness on my part to join the Church. Oh no. I would have to learn all the basic things about the religion, what it taught and why. I was pleased to find that there was a firm foundation of reasonability to Catholicism. Because my stay in the hospital was fairly long, I had the necessary time to take all the "lessons" it required. Good thing too, because I was a questioning, even somewhat argumentative "prospect" and the priest had a tough job on his hand with me.
In fact, that questioning attitude right at the beginning has stayed with me to this day, hence my Contrarianism...hence my continuously questioning loyalty as a Catholic. For me, this is a basic and "natural" stance; given my nature, I could scarcely maintain a hold on my faith otherwise. But it is precisely because of this ingrained history of questioning, that I am not in danger from the secular humanism so rampant in the world today.
Reading this article about the resurgence of atheism, reminded me of something I read in a book by Michael Novak, titled “Belief and Unbelief: A Philosophy of Self-knowledge.” I read this decades ago, but one thing has always stuck in my mind... that he confesses an attraction to atheism…“There are many things in the atheistic position that I envy, and struggle to make my own. But always there have been contrary experiences and reflections that made it impossible for me to become an atheist conscientiously.”
While re-reading this, my eyes also chanced upon his quote from Sartre, perhaps the world’s most famous atheist, in “The Words.”... “Atheism is a cruel and long-range affair…I think I’ve carried it through.” Though these two quotes may seem contradictory, I think that’s because we’re talking about Sartre, for whom nothing appeared to have been intellectually easy! I have always thought that the intellectual life as lived by Sartre was very trying and troubling.
As for my own intellectual life, I can honestly say my faith has not interferred. Indeed, it seems to me that my faith has always been a correlative, helpful in my rational life, not matter to what end I apply it. This is so true, that I imagine it would prove just as correlative for me if I were to get deeply involved in the study of physics, despite the impression that most physicists tend to be a-religious, if not downright agnostic.
So it is easy for me to see how the growth of fundamentalism in religion could, in fact, lead to growth of atheism. Even though institutional religion, with its tarnished history, could offer many other causes, the phenomenon of fundamentalism is quite clearly a prime inducement.
Those other causes provide a rich source for further blogging. So, for anyone reading this,...stay tuned!