While the value of religion may be diminishing all over the west, there appears to also be a consistent trend of diminishing public interest in atheist groups and events.
This diminishing interest was particularly noticeable in Australia when Global Atheist Convention event “Reason to Hope,” scheduled to take place February 9-11, 2018, was cancelled due to lack of interest and poor ticket sales. Despite having big name atheist speakers, like Richard Dawkins, Salman Rushdie and Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the event was still not able to attract an audience. (Note, Ali had pulled out of the event before cancellation).
In a 2015 presentation, outspoken atheist commentator Hemant Mehta mentioned statistics about how people are in fact leaving religion in the United States, yet they are not latching onto atheism. He also noted that many people who have dropped religion continue going to church because, in his opinion, they still want the social environment that the church offers. He then continued on with what he thinks atheist groups can do to offer a similar environment as what the church offers. Indeed, it does appear that atheist groups continue to run into the same challenge of uniting people and providing a warm welcoming environment similar to the church. How many atheists can relate to this article? “I’m an atheist who goes to church – here’s why you should too.”
When analyzing atheist groups across the United States, there does not appear to be much notable activity. Many groups have websites that have not been updated for years, or are even non-existant (as in, someone stopped paying the hosting fee and now a generic hosting page shows up). There are many groups operating through the meeting platform Meetup.com, but it is difficult to tell how active they are since the groups are often set on a “private” setting and a person must join the group to see what they are doing. I do not consider “private” groups to be a sign of a growing community. From what I have seen from groups that are public online, many participants appear to be over the age of 40, and do not have a much of a young support base.
There are a number of national atheist groups that have propped up in the United States during the last few decades, but it appears that they are gradually forming into one big organization, another sign of a lack of public interest. Recently the organization United Coalition of Reason announced it would be partnering with Secular Coalition for America (SCA), and now all emails are being sent to SCA’s board. If there was a growing public interest in atheism, I would think that atheist organizations would be able to maintain their own support base rather than rely on each other for support. Not to mention many atheist organizations often piggy back off of each other by supporting the same events (as seen in the graphic above) and re-tweeting each other, which makes them appear as though they are one conglomerate organization.
On a final note, more secular countries like Sweden and England should be a sign for the future of atheism in the United States. American atheists will often praise Sweden for being a country that has a large non-religious community; however, during the four years I have lived in Sweden, I have not heard of one atheist group. Atheism is not “a thing” in Sweden, and I think this is ultimately what atheism is going to become in the United States. In fact, Swedes have so much tolerance for religion that to this day public services, such as school graduations, continue to be held in churches in Sweden. Swedes simply do not take as much offense to religion as American atheists do. While there are a number of atheist groups in the United Kingdom, it also does not appear that atheism is “a thing” there either.
Am I sad about this diminishing public interest in atheist groups and events? No. I think many atheist organizations have transformed into left-leaning political powerhouses in order to maintain relevance in the public eye, and have strayed from their mission statements of representing the general atheist community. They have shown time and time again that they will represent “liberal” atheists while kicking “conservative” atheists to the curb. Quite frankly, I could care less if they faded away into the oblivion during the next few decades.
Lauren Ell is an American blogger born and raised in Southern California and is currently based in Sweden. She discusses Epilepsy, Politics and Fun. Professionally Ell is an Online Marketing Consultant and Virtual Assistant. She is also founder and president of Republican Atheists and GunSafetySociety.org. Connect with Lauren on Facebook and Twitter.