Add 20 years of potential severe economic hardship to the many nails which are being pounded into the coffins of atheism and Darwinism. Also, RationalWikian backs down from a debate

There are a number of poweful trends facing Darwinism and atheism in the world and within secular countries

Questions: 

1. Do reasonable economic forecasts point to economic problems in the Western World?  How credible are these bearish forecasts?

2.  If these bearish forecasts are correct, how will this affect the prevalence of biblical creation belief, atheism, agnosticism and Darwinism in the Western World and in the world at large? 

The history of religion and economics shows that during times of economic hardship that atheism does poorer in terms of its number of adherents. In addition, the secular leftist ideology of socialism may help foster atheism.  On the other hand, conservative religion can prosper in economic hard times plus do well in prosperous countries as well if they have a significant degree of religious freedom.  See: Does atheism thrive on economic prosperity? Does religion prosper when people are desperate and ignorant?

Since WWII, the most vocal and ardent spokesmen for evolutionism have been atheists and agnostics. See: A Who’s Who of evolutionists and Refuting Evolution, Chapter 1, Facts and Bias.

The political and economic author/blogger Vox Day was among the people who foresaw the economic crisis of 2008 (see:  List of people who predicted the 2008 financial crisis ).  Although I don't agree with Vox on some matters,  Vox is often very informative when it comes to economic topics and he often makes accurate predictions in this area.

According to Vox Day America is heading for a Great Depression 2.0 which will be bigger in scope and longer in duration than the Great Depression of the 1930s. He predicts it could last could last until 2032. See: Interview with Vox Day

In 2011, the leading investment expert Harry Schultz wrote:

Roughly speaking, the mess we are in is the worst since 17th century financial collapse. Comparisons with the 1930’s are ludicrous. We’ve gone far beyond that. And, alas, the courage & political will to recognize the mess & act wisely to reverse gears, is absent in U.S. leadership, where the problems were hatched & where the rot is by far the deepest.

For those who are not family with 17th century economic history, an article on this topic for your review: General Crisis of the European Economy in the 17t h Century

The United States has a 16 trillion dollar federal government debt. Many secular European countries have high debt loads as well. Economic history points to the fact that is very difficult for a country to have sustained economic health under the weight of heavy debt.  See: Can an economy grow with serious debt? and High government debt will weaken the U.S. economy

If a leading economy like the United States has significant problems, it could easily drag down the whole world economy given the interconnected nature of the present global economy.  In addition, it would have a big effect on the socialistic economies of Europe which are already weighed down by the Eurocrisis and poor prospects for growth.

Of course,  if Vox Day, Harry Smith and other bearish economic forecasters are right, this is terrible news for Western atheism and Darwinism and global atheism/Darwinism as well.

See also:  Another crisis hitting Darwinism, atheism and agnosticism - Eurocrisis is causing secular Europe to have falling fertility rates. Creationism does well in economic hard times


Picture credits:

1. Bull and bear statues

Camera location	50° 6′ 53.71″ N, 8° 40′ 42.64″ E	This and other images at their locations on: Google Maps - Google Earth - OpenStreetMap	(Info)

Description	Deutsch: Bulle und Bär vor der Frankfurter Börse von Reinhard Dachlauer English: Bull and bear in front of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange
Date	4 September 2007
Source	Eva K.
Author	Eva K.
Other versions	Derivative works of this file: Frankfurt Montage.jpg

Picture license: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic