I think you're smoking things much worse than marijuana. You make about as much sense as a baby that still didn't leave the womb.
Actually, for most atheists the decision to not worship and believe in supernatural beings and god(s) is an intellectual decision. It doesn't need philosophical reasons any more then I'd need a philosophical basis for not believing in the Easter bunny. I think most religious people tend to stick with whatever religion they were born and raised with some exceptions. There is probably a stronger emotional component, especially if one tries to deviate from the familial religious traditions.
One of the most brilliant and far ahead of it's time concepts that our founding fathers came up with is the separation between church and state. We are one of the few modern countries without an official state religion and long may we stay that way. This fundamental concept protects both the religious and non religious. Lately we have had religious groups in this country forget that simple fact as they use a bible as an excuse to treat LGBT citizens as second class people and to treat women as children unable to make basic medical and life decisions for themselves. There has been an increasing push from these groups to violate the division between church and state. In fact some religious politicians have used religion as an excuse to continue to use our planet as a toilet. I don't care if people want to worship a rock just don't try to craft our laws to cater to rock worshipping.
I looked and couldnt find anything that supports your assertion. I dont necessarily doubt that many would claim it is for intellectual reasons but in my experience it is ultimately due to emotional 'reasons'. Often times it is the problem of evil, death, sickness/disease or some tenents of a particular religion they find abhorrent.
Well I can't speak for everyone but it definitely is an intellectual reasoning for me. I don't "feel" that there is not a magical sky wizard zapping shit into existence from nothing and handing out wrath every so often. I know there isn't a magical sky wizard. I don't "feel" like I can't be beholden to a system based on superstitious creation stories from the bronze age that are not allowed to be questioned I KNOW I can't. My non belief in magical beings is most certainly not based on feelings. I can understand the reasons why religion has been created. Life for ancient people must have been frightening. Natural disasters and disease must have been so terrifyingly random that it's only natural that supernatural reasons were sought. Those things are still scary and we puny humans are still helpless in the face of it. However it's 2017 and only by breaking away from religion, often at the great risk of persecution, did humans find the reasons and even cures for some of the scary events that plague humanity. Religious people have the ability to suspend reason and meekly accept dogma with blind faith. I have never found much comfort in lies. It doesn't work for me or a lot of atheists. IDK I have never been able to shake the feeling that we humans as a species should be much further along developmentally, technology and socially but we are being held back by too much stupid. We are still killing each other in games of my God is better than your God. We know we are killing the Earth but there are still too many people that think the planet was provided by a whimsical terrifying God for us to use and abuse.
I think it highly depends on where you are in the world. But with everything, there are ebbs and flows in regard to the context and circumstance of the region. If even moderately faithful people believe their belief system and identity are under attack, they are more likely to defend it. Likewise if there are few religious tensions and a secular public attitude, you're going to see atheism on the rise. I may be biased living in a city but I generally believe that people are becoming more secular. I don't know if outright atheist though.
Just thought I'd share this spot of news. I'm not sure if religious people understand this but by defending the separation between church and state we defend the rights of religious people as well as atheists. Atheists File Suit Against Trump's 'Religious Liberty' Executive Order | HuffPost
Atheism has become what it has today because of advancements in science of the universe and religion. All the way down to what Jesus should really look like. In the good ole days before there was any entertainment at all people told stories. These stories became riddled with small add libs to bolster the story. Then men wrote these stories in a book. None.of the stories written were in fact experienced by the writer as the stories were written thousands of years after these events. Understanding that we are not dynamic to this universe in any way makes sense. Do we still believe we need to make sacrifice so the seasons will come? Even the largest Christian holiday Christmas is based off of a pagan winter solstice festival all the way down to the Christmas tree. Constantine aligned Christmas to try to "make the transition" from pagan to Christian a little easier.
Without trying to sound magnanimous, the atheists you are describing exist, but so do the intellectual ones. I've belonged to a few atheist groups during my younger years, and I've met several who were "atheists" because something bad happened to them @ the hands of religion or religious figures. I'd like to think the majority I've met, and certainly the ones I'd identify with, were atheist because religion simply did not make sense for them, and they chose to not follow it.
The problem I have with that is, not following religion does not ipso facto make one an atheist. Now we will probably run into the problem of defining 'atheist' or differentiate it from 'agnostic'. Not believing in religion one could idenfity as theist, agnostic or atheist.
I agree there are variants and nuances within atheism. My own has turned so spiritual due to several real life experiences, that I'm not even sure what to call it anymore.
I've always thought atheist = doesn't believe in any supreme ruler/higher being agnostic = neither believes nor disbelieves theist = strictly believes in one God, not in various religions' reincarnation of God into an earthly being (i.e. Jesus). heretic = personal faith, not community based and therefore may hold differing opinions from the general held belief of the religion religionist = someone who believes in the social aspect of religion, denominations, holding others accountable for sins, regular congregation with those of the same faith to interpret religious text as a group
It's really very simple an Atheist is someone that doesn't believe in any God(s) period. Everything else is just varying degrees of religiosity. Agnostics make no claim of having any ideas on if there is or isn't a God(s) and are really just trying to hedge their bets just in case. A Theistheist is someone that believes in God but doesn't subscribe in the concept of the holy trinity or divine revelation. A deist believes in God but doesn't believe he supervises anything. These are not interchangeable terms or definitions for Atheists.
There is no varying degrees of Atheists. Atheists DO NOT BELIEVE IN ANY GOD(S) period. They don't kind of believe a supreme being may be controlling the universe. They don't describe themselves with the kind of wishy washy description of being "not religious but spiritual" (eyeroll). Atheists simply don't believe in God(s) period. It very simple.
Another way of looking at it is agnostics don't have faith. That's an easier way to think about it. Religionists and deists believe in God's existence. Atheists believe God doesn't exist. Agnostics doesn't put eggs in either basket and thinks either could be true or false.
Religious folk "insult" atheists by saying they have their own agenda and are, actually, believing in something -- which in turn is nothing. It's in the word -- atheist! It means these people, like myself, don't believe in a theism in accordance to religious observation. Saying I believe in something as an atheist doesn't even make sense. It's the opposite. This argument will continue until the end of time. It will be interesting to see how levels differentiate once churches start closing due to low participation rates and lack of funding from parishioners, and how many people practice their faith/spirituality at home, to themselves.
An agnostic isn't sure if there is a god or not. They don't really go as far in denial as atheists. They neither acknowledge or deny faith. They are fence sitters covering all the bases. Nothing wrong with that but I'm not so sure they would consider themselves flat out atheists.
I don't think any churches will be closing anytime soon. If Trump has his way then churches will be able to meddle in politics but still not have to contribute taxes. It's blatantly a violation of the constitution and probably, like most of what Trump does, is just bullshit theatrics for the rubes. If we ever are stupid enough in this country to allow the violation between church and state then you can just imagine how much loot they will rake in becoming religious super pacs.