Is atheism a trend?
MCHS Senior Giovanni Santana
The earliest settlers in America came here seeking freedom to practice their own religion without the threat of being imprisoned or murdered. However, in recent times there has been an influx of those who identify as atheist, agnostic, or non-affiliated, which is a trend that has made itself apparent here at Middle College High School. Religion has become an afterthought in the minds of some youth, even with those who align themselves with one.
69 Middle College High School students took a poll which asked them about their beliefs and views on atheism. From the poll, 59 students believe that atheism is becoming more common. In “Way More Americans May Be Atheists Than We Thought,” by Daniel Cox, a FiveThirtyEight reporter, it is stated that “60 percent of Americans report knowing an atheist. Ten years ago, less than half the public reported knowing an atheist.” It is becoming more common for people to know an atheist, and 63 students who took the poll know people who identify as atheist. Americans can see atheism becoming more common, and at MCHS various students agree and some even identify as so.
Junior Jair Mendez, a Christian who regularly practices his religion, believes that atheism is increasing in popularity. “Most people that I know from school are atheists,” Mendez said, “I only know a few that are actually religious.” However, this does not mean that there are not people who are religious. Mendez stated, “I still see people going out and talking about it,” but he does not “see it as much as before.” Mendez believes one reason why more and more people are turning down religion is because “people usually think religion comes with restrictions, and they don’t like that.” It is maybe that those restrictions are part of the reason why many are leaning towards a secular life instead.

Religion seems to be slowly declining and junior Karen Alegria, who is Catholic, agrees. Alegria was brought into the Catholic religion as a child but was not forced by her parents. Now, she has been involved in her church for quite a while. Growing up and being exposed to more people, she believes that atheism is on the rise. “Personally, I know like five [atheists],” Alegria said. Her view on the spread of religion is that “people don’t see the point in religion anymore.”

Senior Giovanni Santana stated that throughout his life he has been influenced to be religious by his mother and youth groups that his younger sister has been involved in. Santana does not attend church regularly, but his family are regular churchgoers and take their faith seriously. His grandmother always attends church and prays every single night before bed. Santana said, “I believe church is important to some people who need it because for them that is the key to their happiness, but I believe that now churches are just for making money.” Santana states that he believes that it has become much more acceptable for people to not be religious at all or to not care about religion in present day. People are more skeptical now because they need to see something to believe it. Santana also states that people who are older may become more religious because they are closer to death and therefore are searching for some kind of security. Santana said, “People don’t really care anymore. Entertainment is now the biggest thing. People do not need the church for anything anymore.”

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Ashley Navarro • Oct 12, 2018 at 11:10 am
I feel like Atheism is a trend that is getting more common throughout the years. I remember when I was in elementary school, I didn’t know anyone who was an atheist. Nowadays, I probably have about 5+ friends who are atheist, however, I myself, am Catholic and always will stay in my religion. Although, I highly support people who don’t have a belief and I support them in their decisions.
Walter the Wizard • Sep 18, 2018 at 1:44 pm
Dear Rico,
The school is a sample and not a population, so your belief of it being a convenience sample, isn’t entirely accurate. While I appreciate you trying to keep the school newspaper accurate, you should take into consideration we did cluster sample of classes. Additionally, the classes were chosen through a random number generator, to avoid biases. In your words, everyone did “have a chance to participate”, and were chosen through sampling tactics. Rather than telling us that our information is plain wrong, you should ask what was the manner we chose to sample. Wouldn’t you agree? I’m sure your Statistic Professor would.
Respectfully,
The Wizard
Ramiro Rico • Sep 18, 2018 at 10:59 am
This information is not accurate and misleading. You have used a convenience sample, which is the worst way to represent the population of the school. In order to represent the population, you need to have everyone have a chance to participate. The two pie graphs are also very misleading and not represented properly. You also made a noticeable mistake in one of the pie charts. Please revise your information and work to make sure it’s correct before publishing it.
Anyssa Torres • Sep 14, 2018 at 11:23 am
I do agree that atheism is a trend but the correct percentage of the graph you are representing would be that 91.2% of the students who took the poll know at least one atheist. This is correct because even the classes of 3-4 and 5+ know at least one atheist as well.
Giovanni Santana • Sep 14, 2018 at 11:08 am
The data you used to talk about this topic is not accurate. You used a convenient sample, this does not represent a population. You also used the genetic fallacy, using information that only pertains to your argument. @jacob
Rosa Navarro • Sep 14, 2018 at 10:51 am
I agree that there is a trend with people who are not religious in Middle College. I personally am an atheist and my reason is that I don’t see the point of religion anymore. I was raised as a Catholic by my parents and as a child, I never took it seriously because I never really truly believed in it.