Membership trends

[Chris Worfolk]

I like to think that the general trend of membership over the new few years and decades (and indeed beyond) will be upwards. However, having talked to quite a few people who are older and wiser, they all talk of the 60's and 70's as the real boom of Humanism and since then free throught has been receding.

Having said all that, it's hard to ignore what has been happening in recent years. As I've said before, when I started Leeds there was hardly any other free throught societies really going on campuses. Now there are dozens of us. And of course the major change of recent times is AHS. While it hasn't done anything yet, it should with any luck be looked back on as a landmark.

The New Atheism movement is also going strong - it is only in recent years that God Delusion, End of Faith, God is Not Great have come out and if it continues then this is good evidence of a trend upwards.

The flip side of this however is that the current student movements that have been springing up could be directly caused by the recent discussions and general melee from the recent publications. And while I sincerely hope not, it could be that such public figures speaking out is a short term trend and as a result the student movement (or free thought movement in general) could die down also.

So I just wondered what everyone elses thoughts were? Are we going to be surrounded by huge committees in 10 years time or is it just going to be another small handful of younger, fresher faces running a few rag tag societies with hardly any members?

[AlexMagd]

I'm not sure whether there's been a decline in free thought, but certainly a decline in people speaking out about religion and their lack of it. The 70s were good in some ways for atheism: religion was generally in decline, you have the whole idea of the secularisation thesis gaining support etc. From what I've heard, the Oxford humanist group thought "right, mission accomplished" and fell apart.

The wonderful thing about Dawkins, Hitchins et al is that they have encouraged people to speak up, not to tiptoe around religion, and really try and kick religious privilege into touch. That's not to say that there weren't loads of people doing that already - just look at the NSS and the BHA, for a start - but post-God Delusion it's an idea that's really really popular. Those books, and the surprising realisation that religious fantatics were on the rise (and were over here!), turned me from a quiet nonbeliever into a noisy and proud one.

I don't think this is going to fade away. The hysterical religious response to these books, all that crazy stuff over Jerry Springer: The Opera and the current Anglican comedy have really made an impact on public consciousness. The movement against Scientology, while not explicitly irreligious, has really chimed with public opinion. As long as we keep pressing the advantage, I don't see why this trend of challenging and questioning religion shouldn't carry on for aaages

[norman]

Free thought is definitely on the decrease, not because of a resurgence of religion but the domincance of then media on people's lives!

How many people do you know who critically read the news or watch a documentary without accepting what they see/read at face value?

I think that there will always be a bse number of people willing to publicly admit their non-belief and the purpose of this group along with the individual university groups is to ensure that those people have an outlet.