Angry Atheism (Fault or Fault Line?)

The Stage

It would seem to many today that, "angry atheism", is rising rapidly; that the institution of religion is under attack, and that new and strange religions are popping up nearly at the rate of a fast food franchise.
What's going on? The world is on its head and it seems like it happened in a rush!
The world is rapidly increasing its running away from the tradition of religion in western society, and at the same time, there seems to be an aggressive aversion coinciding with this flee.
Accompanying this upset, it appears that vurbose and active preservationists of traditional religions are popping up at an equally alarming rate.

The anger and animosity surrounding religion on all sides seems to be at an incredible zenith hanging the hammer directly above the warhead, inches from detonation.

Is it a detriment of society finally taking hold and toppling the order of civilization?
Is the last stand of theism and atheism at hand?

The Rarely Used Door

The short answer? No. The world is not disowning religion in groves, nor are the preservationists of religion suddenly a threat in any inherent manner. But yes, "strange", religions and spiritual practices are popping up in greater numbers.

So why is this then? It has to do with time. Religions are, by their nature of practice, hesitant to innovation in their core tenants of spiritual address. Every now and then, if we look back at history, we can see a pattern where an uproar excites in a given society in regards to religion until eventually a revolution of some degree takes hold and a new approach to spiritual expression is achieved by a newly satisfied population while not so often approved of by the traditional adherences.
The largest traditional religion in western society, Christianity, itself was a revolution of such regard; regardless if we hold it divinely ordained or not.

We are in yet another age of spiritual revolution in western society.

a religion that discusses only external measures of metaphysical success and achievements as well as isolates a large portion of the global human population is not as attractive to the psyche of the current western citizens as it once was.

The reason for the anger and frustration is actually rather simple; it takes a massive amount of energy to create a radical change in something that is resident so deeply within the core of a peoples sense of existence.
It is similar to asking why there is so much activity and motion on the cellular level of a snake shedding its skin. There is because that's what it takes to shed the skin and emerge anew yet again.

So why now? What is provoking this sudden motivation to change from only slight alterations to traditional religions, to more radical progressive responses to traditional religions?
Markedly it has to do with a sense of stress, anxiety, and ennui. Generally speaking, people are more compressed in proximity, function at a higher rate of energy, work more positions that lack direct results of their labor tangibly, live in environments compelled by rapid acquisition of consumer products that are alarmingly more and more difficult themselves to keep up with for all kinds of people, constantly surrounded by an amazing array of audible and visual noise that requires tuning out general layers of perception to adhere to one's own requirements of daily life, and filled with daily assertions of entertainment that the world is a dangerous and decrepit place that is just nearly falling apart at the seems.

One would think this would increase traditional voucher's towards religions; a return to stability known; but if we consider that the methodologies of western society religions focus on improving the self in pursuit of external relationship acquisition (meaning, that a person of most western religions are pursuing righting their self with an external criteria that is ideal for gaining a better metaphysical life and not necessarily a better temporal life), then it begins to make a bit more sense.

With all of the above, more and more people want a very simple thing: peace.
More and more people just simply want to find their self. They have lost track of it, if they feel they ever had it at all. On top of this, they want the noise and over activity of everything around them to just stop - just for a moment, if for no other reason than to catch their breath.
No expectations, no have-to's of the metaphysical world to couple on top of their already overflowing "have-to" list of the temporal world, and no lacking of persistence of the peace reserved periodically by standard religious practices of the west (most western religions do not adhere more than a day to three days within the week, and only then for a short time and thereby the adherent is left mostly without facilitated spiritual sanctuary from the cataclysm of the daily society).

The Common Tangent

People are not as sated as they once were with the traditional methodology of their religions. As such, a population of movement away from the tradition is creaking open, and the henge's of that very rarely moved door are really squealing loudly. Those loud squeals are the sounds of the, "angry atheist's", or anti-theists.
Why should such a reaction occur? Because our society (not to isolate our society by any means as such is not the case, but it is the one of interest at the moment) lacks the faciliation of openly encouraging spiritual expression freely without stigma against doing so. In a word, tradition.
When the expression of change is not readily encouraged, the result is that a portion of the changing population will radically denounce all religious affiliation in exchange for a liberation.
In a manner of speaking, "If you cannot satisfy my spirit, then what good are you at all?!"

In this view, what comes about is a perspective that suddenly can only see the negatives of what has been left behind. It is the youthful yell of rebellion, "Down with the establishment, and up with liberation, for the establishment gives us nothing but takes it all!"

Even monasteries are teaching people ideologies which are radically new to the regular person

This perspective's claim doesn't have to be the case in actuality; it only has to feel as if it is the case for it to be the case to the extreme end of the departing population.

The more in-between range of the population is actually larger than the outraged fringe and instead pursues a new search for the next, "it".
Yes, I am asserting that western society is looking for the next big hit like Christianity was. People are trying all sorts of new religions, and even creating their own. And in nearly every case of newly created religions and spiritual practices, the common tangent can be seen of self-help. "You are the importance."; "Your peace with yourself is the importance."

This is the basic underlining offering of Scientology, countless new age spiritual practices, and the rising of Eastern spiritual practices and religions in the west is growing rapidly for the same attractive reasons.
And it should be little surprise that Eastern practices and religions are striking to the western spirit currently. The Eastern concepts of spirituality are typically formed around concerns that are incredibly beneficial to the type of overly stimulated citizen of a close-proximity modern society.

Coupled on the back of this is a new attribute which has not taken place in recorded history, which is the event of a globalising community. With the advancement of technology rapidly increasing at exponential rates, the concept of the world is decreasing in the sense of distance at baffling speeds. The response is increasing among many demographics for a desire of united interest in global cultural acceptance and religious toleration.

What this means is that a religion that discusses only external measures of metaphysical success and achievements as well as isolates a large portion of the global human population is not as attractive to the psyche of the current western citizens as it once was. Imperial prestige is not the pride that it was once long ago. Instead, today, cohabitation and mutual encouragement are the gaining admiral qualities.

At the same time, yes, the traditional preservationists will become louder as this demographic holds the ideal, as all such groups do, that a return to the tradition in more reticent adherence will recover what is seen as a loss of the foundation of the given society. In a manner of speaking, they are correct, but they rarely achieve their goal as the spirit of the unrested adherents deeply searching for spiritual rest find little solace in the preservationist's practice - which does tend to include aggressive tones, even if only occasionally. And the unrested of discussion, keep in mind, are wanting to be removed from tension; not pushed into it.

The Great Earthquake

So is anti-theism correct? Is religion ready to be tossed outright? Is religion the total compilation of all that has been wrong in society throughout all ages of man?
Hardly. Man does that, with or without religion. We could as easily suggest the same in regards to politics and government as we can with regards to religion. But can we understand where this frustration is coming from, where these new pursuits are coming from? Absolutely. They are coming from a centeral dissatisfaction with current spiritual offerings to the human spirit.

The human spirit of the west is simply starting to roll in unrest and dissatisfaction of what it has in its standard toolbox of spiritual calm for the restless. As such, expect the culture we are in to swing wildly for some time now until the next major plate of the spiritual tectonic floor is able to burst into growth, making room for itself where it wishes to lay.

And in the observation, I encourage people to be happy as well, as new religious expressions will arise that will delight and enlighten our spirit along the way - even without conversion of any kind.
People in western society are openly re-examining what exactly spirituality is, and what that means as a human. Even monasteries are teaching people ideologies which are radically new to the regular person (such as the practice of periodic monastic silence within the modern standard life).

Religion is changing rather radically, even if it seems stale and old. Truly, the continuation of this will be an amazing phenomena to witness.