Hello muchlove, welcome to our little corner of the Internet (hang on, does the Internet have corners? Or is it round?! The questions!!!!

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I suppose it is a little ambiguous. It certainly is not intended as a negative statement, hopefully it wasn't taken as such. I meant that it is interesting for me to be able to read and interact with an entire group sharing a common viewpoint that I am relatively unfamiliar with, and entirely different from my own. I've seen a very visible impact this past decade on Western society and culture (USA specifically) from a growing atheist voice. From advertisements in subways and on buses, to best selling books, to high-profile personalities, and even local chapters of various kinds meeting and even "evangelizing" atheism, it really is a movement which is having a significant impact on culture. I especially see this growing influence in youth culture, where large groups of young people are growing up and shedding religion. Unlike their parents who maybe "rebelled" for a time, these young people are rejecting religion outright. It's an interesting shift that I think our culture is experiencing, and I think it is largely due to this very influential and visible voice.
If I may ... what part of this is cause and which is the effect?
I mean, my grandparents barely knew there was this thing called 'Islam', 'protestant' was something odd the Dutch did and Jews killed Jesus. Information that used to require a trip to a well stocked library and several hours of reading and searching is now available in 2 minutes right in the comfort of your own home. Points that seemed valid and remained unchallenged a couple of decades ago, you can now debunk with a simple google search.
So, youngsters these days come to the conclusion that none of the thousands of available gods check out and they think they're alone in the desert, so to speak. Then, they discover there are others in that desert with them. It's fairly natural for them to band together and, eventually speak out.
So, is it a small core of atheists "evangelizing" and thereby changing people's minds?
Or is what you're seeing simple the already convinced 'coming out'?