Third, those who hold that there is nothing to be believed in. Their number is high in comparison to what it might have been in the past. Disbelief is today a prominent characteristic of those who rebel against religious tradition and go astray. It constitutes one of the reasons why generation after generation of people fall into a state of depression. It is also the source of anarchic and anti-social behaviour and the consequent social problems.
Human societies experience the most troubled times when they have the least belief.
The free-thinkers of the Renaissance, then the mob of the French Revolution, gave formal expression to disbelief and contempt of religion and thus enabled it to spread. Later on, a still worse type of unbelievers took it over and disseminated it as an ideology and so instigated disorder and rebellion against religious traditions throughout the world. Disbelief or atheism may well be a subject properly within the domain of psychiatrists rather than sociologists since the actual lives of individual unbelievers and atheists can be convincingly compared to case studies of the insane as presented in psychology textbooks. Possible mistakes and false notes correctly anticipated can be avoided and, at the same time, appropriate directions and emphases can be given due attention during conversation. It is worth exercising the greatest care and sensitivity in such preparation in order to avoid wasting time and effort on those who have a heedless, trivial infatuation with atheistic ideas, who do not regard religious issues at all seriously but rather in a light, frivolous manner.