<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Researchers Miran Lavric and Tibor Rutar from the University of Maribor in Slovenia have published a paper in <em>Sociology of Religion</em> that investigates whether the spread of the internet has contributed to a decline in religious belief globally.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The study analyzes data from 81 countries, including the United States, from 1990 to 2022, and suggests that the internet may be facilitating a rise in atheism.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Lavric and Rutar reference philosopher Daniel Dennett and Linda LaScola’s 2015 predictions regarding the “Inevitable Growth of Atheism,” which posited that the internet would enhance disengagement from religion by allowing scrutiny of religious beliefs. Dennett described the internet as “the best thing to happen to atheism since Darwin.”</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The authors examine this claim by utilizing six waves of the World Values Survey, creating a religiosity index based on factors such as religious affiliation, attendance at religious services, and the importance of religion and God in individuals' lives.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Their findings indicate that as internet usage increases, religiosity tends to decrease, even when accounting for other factors like income, education, and urbanization.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">However, the study notes that a decline in religiosity does not equate to a rise in atheism. While religious affiliation and self-identification have decreased, other measures such as church attendance and confidence in religious institutions have remained stable.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The authors' methodology for assessing religious identity has been questioned, as it relies on three categories: “religious person,” “not a religious person,” or “convinced atheist.” This approach may not accurately reflect changes in atheism itself.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">For instance, if a country sees a shift from 70% identifying as religious to 50%, while the percentage of convinced atheists remains unchanged at 5%, the overall religiosity score would decline without an actual increase in atheism.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Despite these limitations, the study's conclusions suggest that the internet is associated with a reduction in traditional religious identification, but it does not necessarily lead to an increase in atheism.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The late sociologist Rodney Stark argued that declining church membership does not imply a decline in supernatural belief, indicating that belief may persist in new forms even as traditional religious institutions weaken.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">While institutions like Tower Records and Blockbuster have disappeared, the underlying cultural practices, such as music and movies, continue. Similarly, the internet may be diminishing traditional avenues for encountering God, but this does not imply that belief itself is vanishing.</p>