Interesting that the Foreign Affairs article that I couldn't access was written by one Ronald Inglehart, and this Oxford University Press article is written by... you guessed it - the same Mr. Inglehart, who is hawking a book he wrote about the subject, and definitely has an opinion that he wants to promote, but doesn't tell us upon what data the opinion is based. Sadly.

The Soapboxie article is written by a mysterious author who will disclose only their initials - DK - and gives three reference sources - one is a wikipedia article that contains no data source, one references a study by a Mr. Wiener, but notes...
"Mr Wiener did, however, admit the highly-formulaic study only provided ‘suggestive results’ and recognised it did not represent the structure of modern society with the way it calculated each person being influenced equally by all other people."
And the third reference was relative to the UK only - not the world.

Meanwhile, I stumbled across a 2017 update to the 2015 Pew Research study. An article about it entitled "Why people with no religion are projected to decline as a share of the world’s population" says, among other things...
"Some social theorists have suggested that as countries develop economically, more of their residents will move away from religious affiliation, as has been seen in Europe. But there is little evidence of such a phenomenon in Muslim-majority countries. Moreover, in Hindu-majority India, religious affiliation is still nearly universal despite rapid economic and social change."
[pewresearch.org]

This study is based only on data (not opinion) which is generously shared along with ample charts and graphs. It states its conclusion in no uncertain terms:

"Although current patterns of religious switching favor the growth of the religiously unaffiliated population – particularly in Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand – religious “nones” are projected to decline as a share of the world’s population in the coming decades due to a combination of low fertility and an older age profile."

And also references the error in popular American opinion:

"The survey also asked Americans how they expect the share of the global population with no religion to change in the coming decades. Most Americans (62%) predict that the global share of religious “nones” will increase between now and 2050 – an expectation perhaps colored by what is happening on a national level."
[pewforum.org]

.

Your first link was written by the same man who made the false claim in the video. And he clearly distorts the facts presented in the Pew study by cherry-picking his points. The very reference he cites goes on to explain that while the non-religious are growing in absolute numbers, because of population growth, they are declining as a percentage of the population. This man is either a very careless reader, or a deliberate deceiver.

Your second link requires that I give them my email address to read the article, which I’d rather not do. But if you will copy the whole article and paste it here I’d like to read it. Thanks.

@skado I'll spare you my 'soapbox' about how f'd up copyrights are, but I don't advocate the full
copy-paste behavior. It would be a legitimate reason for any disgruntled user (or interloper) to
create legal issues for this website.

I use Firefox with private windows, many useful extensions available.
I virtually never get shut out of paywalled websites.

@FearlessFly
Thanks.

@FearlessFly
Ok, I tried that but was still not able to access the foreignaffairs article without giving up an email address. Can you access it?

@skado Yes.
A list of some of FF extensions I have added (addons.mozilla.org)
AdBlock
Bypass Paywalls -- [github.com]
ClearUrls
EditThisCookie2
Firefox Relay
NoProfile

@FearlessFly
Thanks!

My question remains: Why do you believe that? Is it just wishful thinking - or some kind of “faith”? In 2015 Pew Research did an extensive study that showed the opposite. Where is the scientific research that shows a worldwide decline in religion? Your opinion is a very reasonable one, but the data that I have seen don’t bear it out. Show me the source from which you draw these conclusions, please. Thanks.

@darren316
Now you know:
[pewforum.org]

@Retiredsteve
Yep. But the U.S. is not the world.

I don't know if it's in decline worldwide, but it is in decline in the us Canada most of Europe Australia and the most populated country on earth (china) calls itself an atheist nation.

@TheMiddleWay
“An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.”

They are becoming the thing they were fighting.

@Tejas
Now you know:
[pewforum.org]

@skado it has been known for some time poorer countries and less educated countries populations are on the rise. Many countries in the middle east and African nations especially those who suffer economically breed more than westernized countries do. That I believe is the increase in the religious, its not that its becoming more popular. It's just religious people breed more. To point out the obvious any and all religious can become atheist or non religious throughout their life, but to go from a non believer to a religious person is rare.

@Tejas
All true enough, but doesn’t change the fact that religion is not declining in the world. If atheists object to religion on the basis that it’s not factual, they would be better off to not lean on, and perpetuate, falsehoods themselves - especially when they have a public platform.

@TheMiddleWay
All of which makes the Pew statistics under-represent the prevalence of religion in the world.