The BBC reports that the while the US is one of the most religious countries in the west, it is undergoing a period of doubt.
It may be daring to say it but America seems to be experiencing an atheist moment. Although “In God We Trust” was declared the national motto by an act of Congress more than 50 years ago and has been stamped on the currency for longer than that, some considerable doubt has developed of late.
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More than anything, people without faith hate the description of them as empty or soulless. They have long been singled out for a special kind of hell.
The constitution of the state of Texas, for example, allows discrimination against atheists in employment or jury duty – provisions that have been nullified by federal laws.
And even my mother used to lower her voice in the kind of whisper reserved for people with terminal brain cancer when she described a neighbour as…. an atheist.
Non-believers say they have also been aided by the revulsion of fair-minded Americans to the religious zealotry behind the September 11 attacks and the subsequent violence on behalf of radical Islam.
You can read the entire article here: here.