Much like America itself, soon Atheism will no longer be over populated with old white guys.

Courtesy of The Guardian:  

When you think of atheists, the face that probably comes to mind is male, white, older and a little bit nerdy. There’s more than a grain of truth to this reputation. Atheist groups in America have traditionally been dominated by older white men – but that may finally be starting to change. 

The Barna Group, a Christian polling firm, recently released their 2015 State of Atheism in America report. Based on a year of research on the non-religious demographic, Barna found not just that atheists and agnostics’ numbers are growing rapidly, but that they’re very quickly becoming more diverse. 

The most important finding in Barna’s report is that women are joining the atheist community by the millions. In 1993, just 16% of nonbelievers were women, but in 2013, that number was 43% - representing a nearly threefold leap. And this shift isn’t because men are leaving the community, which would bring the gender balance closer to parity. Barna found that the absolute numbers of both male and female atheists have increased in the last twenty years, but the number of women has grown far faster. 

The atheist community is becoming more racially and ethnically diverse as well. In 1993, people of color made up just 20% of nonbelievers. The change in these numbers hasn’t been as dramatic, but there’s been change nonetheless, with the number rising to 26% in 2013. Many of these religious skeptics have come from the Hispanic and, especially, Asian communities.

Well this is one older white guy who is really looking forward to more diversity within the Atheist community. 

I personally am of the mind that the growth in the Atheist community has much less to do with people suddenly deciding they are not religious, and much more to do with people feeling comfortable in coming out as Atheists or Agnostics.

That's why it is critical to continue having the conversation, and opening it up to as many people as possible.

My personally held belief, and yes I understand the irony of using that term, is that the majority of the people on this planet are actually atheist but are just too intimidated to admit it. Even to themselves.

In the next decade or so we will see if I am correct as the label shakes off it's negative connotations and becomes more and more accepted by the public at large.