Generational change - a solution to religion?

The idea that generational change may provide the eventual downfall to most recognised religions may seem an absurd idea at first. However while it's damn near impossible to change the mind of a believer, it is almost a given that following generations, exposed to different ideas, will have a different outlook on life.

My family are devout christians, of a little-known sect that claims to have no name but is known to others as "Cooneyites" after the founder. Out of 5 kids, I'm the only one to actually reject their beliefs (at age 20). Don't get me wrong; I love and respect my parents, and apart from my eldest brother, who's a bit of a twat, I get on pretty well with the rest of the family.

This sect is mainly comprised of families, and succeeding generations are brought up within the faith. Marriage outside of the faith is not encouraged. The point is, despite these strictures, there are encouraging signs that the current young generation are not conforming to a frankly outdated way of life.

My sister's family is a good example. Although devout herself, she married an "outsider" and now has two kids in their late teens. The boy takes after his father, fully and frankly rejects his mothers' beliefs, and seems from all accounts to be a happy and healthy individual with a secular humanist outlook on life. The girl, though at this stage still going to meetings with her mother, has an "outsider" boyfriend and has a social lifestyle similar to "normal" agnostic kids her age.

Just the thing to give the kids screaming nightmares! From inside the Duomo, Florence

The sad thing, in my family's case, is their belief that anyone not in their religion is going to hell. (As 99.999999% of the earth's population don't even know of their existence, that means that heaven is going to be pretty empty and it'll be standing room only in hell!) So, my parents would mourn the fact that I'm going to hell. My sister thinks her husband will. This irrational belief - not only in an afterlife, but that a smug few will gather around their god as he shuttles the majority through a cattle run to eternal flames, is one of the saddest aspects of religious belief.

However in an information age it's going to get harder and harder for religious parents to "shield" their kids from heretical ideas. That's why it's great to see atheism blogs and sites all over the net; if they cause kids to question their parents beliefs, they're providing a huge service to humankind. Of course, hard core monotheistic religions do all they can to prevent this - especially islam, where in some countries there's no separation between church and state, and kids get taught religious bullshit instead of useful knowledge. Even so, knowledge has a tendency to ignore international and religious borders.

Through ignorance, people used to believe all sorts of strange things that they don't today. Religion is the same, just another idea that has continued past its use-by date. Give it time, and it'll fade away all by itself.