Almost a quarter of the population in the USA is non-religious, and in the last ten years, their number has exceeded the number of Catholics, believers of major Protestant churches and all other non-Christian religions, according to the text of "National Geography".
It has long been predicted that the role of religion will fade as the world modernizes, but the latest research indicates that this trend is spreading at an alarming rate.
France will soon become a majority secular society, as will the Netherlands and New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Australia, reports the Croatian portal Indeks.
Religion is rapidly becoming less important, even in countries where it influences the election of leaders and architecture.
The irreligious, however, have not yet taken over the world.
In many parts of the world, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, religion is spreading, so the share of non-religious people in the world population will actually decrease in the next 25 years, writes Tanjug.
Experts estimate that because of this, there will be a secular West and the rest of the world. Another distinctly secular area is China, where the communist authorities suppressed religion for decades. On the other hand, in many former communist states, religion is expanding.
Even in secular Western democracies, faith-infused cultures show no signs of retreat. Among the non-religious, the division remains deep – some are vocal atheists, others are agnostic, and many have no need to declare their belief.
Gathered around a skepticism of organized religions and united by a common belief that they do not believe, the non-religious are a complicated group, just like many religions.
In the text of National Geography, it is stated that precisely these internal contradictions could repel new "followers", just like when it comes to religions.
If the world is facing the collapse of religion, then we have been moving towards it for decades.
In Europe and North America, the non-religious population is on average several years younger than the general population.
About 11 percent of Americans born after 1970 grew up in secular homes. Scientific advances have not only encouraged people to doubt God, but have also united questioners.
Time magazine asked the question "Is God Dead" on April 8, 1966
Half a century ago, the American magazine Time asked if God was dead.
This raised the question of whether religion would be relevant to modern life in the post-atomic age in which communism was spreading, and science was answering more questions than ever before.
The same question applies today, but the answer is not limited to a simple "Yes" or "No". A part of the population born after the publication of the headline in Time might provocatively respond with the question: "What is God?"
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