Unless you did a Stalinist purge, it's never going away on its own.

Even then you'd have to really scrub down and burn out all the roots or it'll just come back like the cancer it is.

It's a placebo, intertwined with self-interest, self-loathing, and fear of others, dropped into a capitalist society that feeds and supports it.

So, it's never going away.

Remember, it was a opinion offered to a question. Not false or correct, only my thoughts.

No. Christianity is a security blanket that explains or rather comfort believers for not taking control of their human experience. I have always contended that Christian's do not believe in the directives of Christ, instead going in the direction of a cult of personality which has been futher highjacked by a dominant power structure to make the sheep more sheepy

"Do you think if atheism looked easier and more fun that Christianity would take a massive hit?"

No I do not believe Christianity would take a massive hit as you say. The majority of humans are follower's and require something to believe in, something to justify their actions and existence. Christianity offers them that.

No, I believe a lot of religious people chose to be so because they fear death, and can't accept that it is the ultimate peace. As long as people fear dying they will grasp at straws, religion, because they can't accept mortality/reality.

You make a good point! Atheism is easy and fun! Many Christians think that Atheists don't celebrate holidays or gather to share stories or teachings of moral values, or give gifts, etc. Many of us do!

Maybe we should put more effort into social outreach with positive messages showing Openly Secular and Humanistic folks having fun, sharing wisdom, being generous and being positive contributors to society!

An excellent question. I think the answer, at least for evangelicals, is no. They have a self-image (somehow, still) of being morally upright and taking the "narrow path", not the "broad path that leads to destruction". So difficulty is a virtue and a mark of high character to them. They're not looking for "easy" and they certainly aren't looking for "fun", as there's no way to really characterize Christian fundamentalism as carefree or fun.

People change only when the pain of changing is less than the pain of not changing. For most Christians, the pain of not changing takes the form of some personal tragedy or loss or chronic difficulty that forces them to confront the cognitive dissonance of their faith's truth-claims. That is how it played out for me. For others I've talked to over the years, it's some form of abuse (sexual, emotional or physical) from a family member or trusted Christian mentor, and/or, worsening depression or anxiety around that or some other need that their belief-system isn't addressing.

You may have a point about needing to have more of an emphasis of "taking people into sanity". Even there, though, if sanity contradicts dogma, dogma will win every time. Even with liberal Christians, there is some point beyond which you can't push without them getting defensive and twitchy. Usually questioning the existence of god -- even a depersonalized or otherwise watered-down version -- is the bridge too far.

A minority of Christians see themselves as intellectuals or at least as intellectually honest, and are heady enough to be open to notions such as learning about critical thinking and the definitions of various logical fallacies. Exposing them to such concepts may increase the scrutiny they give to their own faith, you'd think -- or it may simply increase the amount of compartmentalization that they do.

Most Christians however, particularly fundamentalists, are anti-intellectual and suspicious of, if not openly hostile to, higher education or abstract concepts like logic, reason, empiricism and critical thinking.

I'm afraid I don't see a way to reach them other than to wait for life to crack them open for us. Our job is to plant seeds, and be available when there's openness.

Atheism IS easier and more fun. Christianity uses that as a selling point. The primrose path and all that Calvinist crap.

I think Christianity is taking more hits every day. Largely because they put Trump in office.

No. Christianity is a survivor. It's that mangy street dog that somehow scrounges and keeps going. Despite its irrationality, it just keeps going. I think the rest of us just need to accept that Christianity is the crazy guy at the back of the bus who talks to himself.

Education is key. the job of public schools becomes extremely important

Religious convictions are the anomalies written by fantasists. If you hallucinate by eating mushrooms, beholding what you empathize with at the time seems real and authentic. Spiritual persuasion is coerced upon the masses as a means of controlling society. There was no immaculate conception, nor did man verbally communicate with their illusory maker. It’s all Fake News, probably formulated by Putin.

As long as fear and death are part of the human experience humans will seek for something sacred to give life meaning. Even if Christianity finally died, other religions would fill the void.

Christianity will probably hang on for longer than most religions because
A you don't have to believe in Christianity to be a Christian
B you don't have to understand Christianity to be a Christian
C Most people who call themselves Christians aren't, they've just been told they are
D You don't have to practice Christianity to be a Christian
E You don't have to read, understand or even own a bible to be a bible believing Christian
F You can believe Jesus Christ is a swear word and still worship him
G you can have the choice of about 15 hundred different denominations so long as you hate all of the others, and the football teams associated with them
H You know you're not a Jew or a Muslim if you identify as some sort of Christian.
I you only have to go to church a minimum of three times in your entire life and two of those you won't remember.

So it is pretty simple for the Christian church to keep and claim the support of a large (if inactive) membership

I think Christianity is a long, long way from being anywhere near the last straw. Even if the bible were absolutely proven to be a work of complete fiction about a person who is proven to not exist they would merely adapt and manipulate what is said and written to continue on. For example, the Turin Shroud was proven to be a fraud and it made no difference at all, it is still revered.

There are also way too many Christian religions for them all to just up sticks and close up shop. Religion will look different a 100 or a 1,000 years from now as it does from how it looked a thousand years ago but the basic tenants, based around bullshit, will still exist.

To compete with religion, atheism/agnosticism would need to replicate the sense of community that a lot of people get from religion. I suspect a lot of Christians don't really believe in God or Jesus, but they do enjoy the social circle and standing that goes with being a member of their church.

People are beginning to see the holes in Christianity. They recognise the stories and celebrations that are stolen from earlier faiths. And the idea that the whole thing was made up by the Romans to keep the Jews under control seems to be gaining traction too. But people will continue to cling to it as long as social status is linked to faith.