03/11/2004: "Results of Papal survey on world religious state"

This Zenit article talks about a survey done by The Vatican regarding the state of "unbelief" around the world. It points out that strongly athiest feelings are losing ground to religious indifference.

As a former stanch athiest, I think this is a VERY bad trend. Many would be tempted to think that this is a good thing as it seems people are less concerned with destroying religion and are moving closer (albeit a small amount) towards religion. I heartily disagree.

I've always had a passion for religion. Even as an athiest, I took my athieism very seriously. I was always searching for truth. In the end, I came to the Catholic Church because of that insistence on finding truth. I have much more respect for someone who is a faithful athiest than an agnostic or humanist. At least they have the curage and determination to come to an answer. At least their willing to talk about God. In the end a honest athiest cares just as much about truth as I do as a Catholic, they just haven't come to know God yet.

However, what this survey says is that people no longer care about truth. That they can't be bothered to think about it. They don't even see it as something important to consider. In my opinion, that is the most disheartening state humanity can be in because it suggests that if they can't even care about the "possible" existence of God, how could the possibly care about anything else including their fellow human beings.