Why is Atheism Necessary?

Human knowledge has expanded immensely in the last fifty years, and this by the purely scientific method, the materialistic method, and the questioning attitude.

The value of these findings when they can be converted into practical applications in industry are well known to all. We have added nothing to our store of knowledge except by the exercise of our mentality and reason.

The application of the scientific method to the workings of the mind has made more progress in explaining the mindin the brief period of fifty years than philosophical deductions hadmade in the past two thousand years. Every new fact that has been discovered has fitted into the mechanistic scheme of the universe, and not one new fact has been disclosed that suggested anything beyond nature. The theistic interpretation of the universe has been completely discredited by the scientific investigations. Science has brought to theconfines of invariable laws multitudes of problems that had hitherto been supposed to point to "spiritual" interference. Theology has been driven out of the open spaces of reason and still persists in clinging to the twilight zone of the present unknown, only to be driven from its precarious position constantly by our increasing knowledge and with increasing rapidity from shadow to shadow.

The Necessity of Atheism by David Marshall Brooks p 151

That's why.

Consequences.....

Let's start a new discussion, what say you all?

It seems to me that the more we discover in our world, the more we can explain, the less necessary the gods become. If one looks at the reason for religiosity and supernatural belief, it is easy to see why it has been and still is, so popular.

So, here is my topic. How would our country differ if religion was truly placed in the background, becoming the minority of the citizenry, rather than the majority?