How long have atheists exist

So not surprisingly, nations that report the highest rates of atheism tend to be those that provide their citizens with relatively high economic, political and existential stability. Capitalism, access to technology and education also seems to correlate with a corrosion of religiosity in some populations, he adds.

Japan, the UK, Canada, South Korea, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, France and Uruguay where the majority of citizens have European roots are all places where religion was important just a century or so ago, but that now report some of the lowest belief rates in the world. These countries feature strong educational and social security systems, low inequality and are all relatively wealthy. Yemeni girls show their hands decorated with traditional henna designs as they celebrate the end of Ramadan Getty Images.

Yet decline in belief seems to be occurring across the board, including in places that are still strongly religious, such as Brazil, Jamaica and Ireland. The US, too, is an outlier in that it is one of the wealthiest countries in the world, but also has high rates of religiosity. Still, a recent Pew survey revealed that, between and , the proportion of Americans who said they are atheist rose from 1.

Decline, however, does not mean disappearance, says Ara Norenzayan, a social psychologist at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, and author of Big Gods. Existential security is more fallible than it seems.

In a moment, everything can change: a drunk driver can kill a loved one; a tornado can destroy a town; a doctor can issue a terminal diagnosis. As climate change wreaks havoc on the world in coming years and natural resources potentially grow scarce, then suffering and hardship could fuel religiosity. This phenomenon constantly plays out in hospital rooms and disaster zones around the world.

In , for example, a massive earthquake struck Christchurch, New Zealand — a highly secular society. There was a sudden spike of religiosity in the people who experienced that event, but the rest of the country remained as secular as ever.

While exceptions to this rule do exist — religion in Japan plummeted following World War II, for instance — for the most part, Zuckerman says, we adhere by the Christchurch model. A rabbi reads during Purim festivities Getty Images. This psychological staple states that we have two very basic forms of thought: System 1 and System 2. System 2 evolved relatively recently. System 1, on the other hand, is intuitive, instinctual and automatic. These capabilities regularly develop in humans, regardless of where they are born.

They are survival mechanisms. Postgraduate courses How to apply Fees and funding Frequently asked questions. International students Continuing education Executive and professional education Courses in education. Annual reports Equality and diversity Media relations A global university. Events Public engagement Jobs Give to Cambridge. Research at Cambridge. Home Research News Disbelieve it or not, ancient history suggests that atheism is as natural to humans as religion.

What types of animal do we use? S2 ep2: What did the future look like in the past? S2 ep 3: What is the future of wellbeing?

S2 ep4: What would a more just future look like? S2 ep 5: What is the future of artificial intelligence? S2 ep 6: The future of reproduction Business and enterprise Research impact Animal research. Disbelieve it or not, ancient history suggests that atheism is as natural to humans as religion. Read this next. Search research. Keyword search Go. Sign up to receive our weekly research email Our selection of the week's biggest Cambridge research news and features sent directly to your inbox.

Ancient Greece. Disbelief in the supernatural is as old as the hills. It is only through profound ignorance of the classical tradition that anyone ever believed that 18th-century Europeans were the first to battle the gods.

The rhetoric used to describe it is hyper-modern. The fact that this was happening thousands of years ago suggests that forms of disbelief can exist in all cultures, and probably always have. There are always those who suffer from this illness, in greater or lesser numbers.