A New Hampshire atheist is offering Christians who believe in the Rapture a service to look after their pets when they get taken up into eternity, the New Hampshire Union Leader reports.
Bart Centre, 61, a retired retailing executive, is co-owner of Eternal Earthbound Pets, which charges $110 for the pet service.
Are you?" the ad, plastered on city subway walls, asks passersby.
Are you good without God? That's the question ads, plastered on the walls of a dozen subways stations, are asking straphangers.
Today, the Big Apple C.O.R. -- New York City Coalition of Reason -- kicks off their month long $25,000 ad campaign, courtesy of an anonymous donor.
America is a country on the move in innumerable ways, and religion is no exception. Half of Americans have changed their religious denomination at least once in their lives -- many several times -- and 28 percent have switched faiths altogether (for example, from Christianity to Judaism). Amid this fluidity, the number of "unaffiliated" adults has grown to 16 percent of the population.
Religion
When South Florida atheists held their first meeting, they were just five friends, having a beer at a bar.
Four years later, they've moved to a bigger place -- still a bar -- to hold their weekly meet-and-greets. Membership is up to almost 500, Darwin Day is in the planning stages and bumper stickers are on sale.
The American Religious Identification Survey recently found the number of people who claimed "no religion" had nearly doubled nationally over the last 18 years, to 15 percent. They were the only demographic that increased in all 50 states.
"One in four adults under 30 are atheists, agnostics or unaffiliated, according to the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life (see chart), but the number of young people who outwardly identify as nonbelievers is much, much smaller, for fear that it could threaten their careers, social lives or familial relationships. Now, with the help of the Internet and the Obama administration, 2009 may start a more open age for America’s nonreligious population."
"As more college campuses provide opportunities for students to get involved in groups of nonbelievers, it’s becoming easier for younger people to identify as atheists."