Believing in a life force or some sort of supernaturalism isn’t atheism either. It may not be traditional theism, but it’s not atheism.
Yes, but I think you vastly overestimate the number of people belonging to the Ev.Lut. Church who actually ever think about religious matters at all vs. those who were christened as babies and have since then been to church once when they were confirmed and then that other time when their cousin got married. Let’s face it, we have the word “tapakristitty” for a reason.
I agree. I think atheism and religion like so many other things represent the duality of human nature-- yin & yang. The exuberance of the one owes itself to the steady pushback of the other. Could there even be atheism without religion? Could a thing exist without its opposite?
Doesn’t apply to the great many self-ID skeptical humanists/agnostics/atheists I’ve met. Why would it apply if they were in the majority?
Hey, if there is a “God part of the brain,” it must be gene-coded and it must, therefore, be possible to . . . tweak it.
Is it animism?
Done. Next?
Certainly. That is, a post-religious society is conceivable. Strident atheists would be few if any because they would be beating the bones of the dead.
For the sake of humanity, I hope not!
If someone figures out how to “tweak” the God part of the brain, that opens a door to other things. Mengelian-type things. If the God part of the brain can somehow be deactivated, then somewhere down the line it will be possible to deactivate other aspects of human neuroanatomy other Josef Mengele-analogues may find offensive. Like homosexuality.
To decisively rid mankind of the religious impulse and the need to worship, you must annihilate mankind. Either that or use science to twist humanity into something non-human. Sub-human.
Very good, kanicbird. So… predictable!
True Blue Jack, the Boner of Salvation, and One True Og
Or into Gods! 
This thread, like many on this board, seems to be conflating ‘religion’ with ‘monotheism’, particularly one of the three great monotheist religions that originated in the Middle East.
Yes. I find it astonishing the question would even be raised.
Of course they can. In fact, one could argue that belief in a personalized god, or even adherence to any organized religion, must necessarily inhibit true spirituality.
I may be missing something here: Where do we look for societies that are majority atheist with relatively high birthrates? (The inverse case being, of course, rather easy to find.)
It seems as if the current trend is very much away from a majority atheist world.
While I can see this, particularly for a organized religion, how would spirituality effect atheism? I could see that spirituality would ‘derail’ a atheistic society, in that it involves a personal journey of growth and questioning what we have learned, and possibly individual enlightenment (such as the Buddha)
One can argue that a Buddhist society is atheistic, but is that the way we commonly think of what a atheistic society would be. And is that atheistic in the sense of the OP?
See Buddhism, and specifically Nagarjuna, where he demonstrates that “opposites” may not actually be so (and not, “they aren’t mutually exclusive after all,” but more like “only logic makes them seem to be opposed.”).
Three words: “ice pick religiotomy.”
What a wonderful world it would be!
Not for a while. Depends on if all the wishy-washy Christians/Muslims/Jews/etc. drop the charade, people abandon the New Age shit, and just openly admit they’re atheists/agnostics/deists.
Alright, but you get to explain it to my mother.