The Internet Significantly Contributes to the Rise of Secularism

I hope we both come out of it having learned something new. Let's have some fun! I will argue that the internet significantly contributes to the rise of secularism. It is a fact that countries like the United States are becoming less religious. The following visual from the Pew Research Center shows the decline of religion among adults and the rise of the "Nones," those who do not affiliate themselves with a religion [1]. As we see, the number of adults who are religiously unaffiliated has increased almost 7% between 2007 and 2014, from 16.1% to 22.8%, respectfully. This next visual shows that the people who were already unaffiliated are becoming even more secular, shown by the increase in people saying that religion is not important to their lives and a decrease in the number of people who believe in God or a universal spirit. People are also attending religious services less as well as praying less [1]. It is imperative to note that the terms secularism and atheism are not equivalent, contrary to popular belief. The "Nones" include atheists, but the majority of them are people who simply don't associate with any particular religion. While atheism is the lack of a belief in God or gods, secularism is the practice of separating oneself from organized religion. The "Nones" may be secular, but that does not mean none of them believe in some sort of deity. In fact, two-thirds of the religiously unaffiliated adults say they do believe in God [1]. We have settled that America is becoming less religious. Now, the question is not whether secularism is on the rise but what is the cause of its rise? While there are most likely several reasons with varying degrees of influence, I believe that the internet is making significant contributions to this change. The following image shows that as internet use began to increase around 1990, there was a noticeable spike in the number of people losing interest in religion [2]. Of course this a correlation and does not imply direct causation. I will now provide reasons why the internet does significantly contribute to the rise of secularism. The spread of the internet has given people all over the world the ability to expose themselves to knowledge. They are able to ask questions which they may have previously been too scared to put forth to their friends or family for fear of rejection. They can find answers from places they may have never knew existed. In some areas around the world, asking questions and criticizing religion is extremely dangerous. For example, in several countries where Islam is the dominant religion, blasphemy and apostasy are considered crimes punishable by death [3]. Unfortunately, many Muslims in these countries support these harsh punishments [4]. While the United States is nowhere near as oppressive, many people still find it difficult to openly identify as a nonbeliever, given that 70% of Americans are of Christian faith [5]. Thanks to the internet, people who have been unable to question their religious beliefs due to these types of fears can do so in the privacy of their homes. Upon doing this, people may find that the beliefs they have grown up with don"t make an awful lot of sense when compared to what they actually feel is right or true. For example, if someone were to ask why homosexuality is wrong, their church may say it is because God says it is wrong, as written in the Bible. If someone asked the same question on the internet, they would receive a significantly larger variety of opinions from which they can decide which makes the most sense to them. The internet also brings science to the world. A controversial debate that continues to this day is whether religion and science can coexist. In some aspects, they can. But in others, they do not. Popular on YouTube are "atheist vs. theist" debates, where self-proclaimed atheists, often with a background in the sciences, will engage in thought provoking debates with theists on matters such as the existence of God or the Bible. One debate on YouTube between evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins and Cardinal George Pell has received almost 2 million views [6]. Bringing this type of dialogue directly to people gives them the ability to learn about the factuality behind their beliefs through multiple lenses. For example, the Bible asserts that the Earth is only a couple thousand years old, while science shows it is actually much older; billions of years older. This contrast encourages people to consider the truth and validity behind their beliefs. Many people find that science (which is secular in nature) overwhelmingly offers more rational explanations of how the universe works than religious teachings. This attitude can lead to more secular thinking. Science will most likely never disprove entire religions, but it continues to demonstrate that many deeply held religious stories and beliefs lack any sort of scientific evidence. In 2014, science educator Bill Nye engaged Christian apologist Ken Ham in a debate on evolution versus creationism. The debate received a lot of attention on the news and social media, and the full dialogue (nearly 3 hours in length) has been viewed over 5 million times on YouTube [7]. In one section of the debate, Bill Nye demonstrated how the Biblical story of the Great Flood and Noah's Ark cannot be literally true, due to the improbable physics of the ark as well as the lack of evidence. Videos like these encourage people to question the beliefs they have grown up with and open their minds to new perspectives and ideas, something many people may have never done without the help of the internet. People may start wondering and caring about whether their beliefs are actually true or just a story. This will likely lead people to further wonder whether they should continue affiliating themselves with organized religion if they know that parts of it cannot be true and simply do not make sense. Social media allows for the rapid sharing of ideas by way of the internet. It allows individuals to express their thoughts and be heard by a massive global audience, as well as interact with them. For example, many sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are centered on the promotion of freethought, skepticism, secularism and atheism, and they have seen tremendous growth and popularity. "The Amazing Atheist" is a YouTube channel that discusses relevant matters relating to atheism and religion. The channel has over 800,000 subscribers and has accumulated more than a quarter of a billion views [8]. The success of channels like these show that people want to question religion and open their minds. To summarize, the internet has given people access to greater knowledge. Access to the internet allows and encourages people to ask as many questions as they desire, it allows them to experience new perspectives, and it lets people learn about science. Secular individuals tend to exhibit these mindsets because they would rather not submit themselves to a religious authority. Many religions declare that its adherents must obey scripture and not question its teachings, which prevents people from learning. Secularists do not want this, and would prefer to believe what they'd like and what makes sense to them, without having to bind themselves to religious authority. The internet gives people the tools to educate themselves and to analyze their religious beliefs, which usually causes them to arrive at rational conclusions about whether their beliefs make sense according to science and reality. Sources1. . http://www.pewforum.org...2. . http://arxiv.org...3. . http://www.thewire.com...4. . https://www.washingtonpost.com...5. . http://www.pewforum.org...6. 7. 8. . https://www.youtube.com...