On atheism and agnosticism
A belief in a god is fairly widespread, the majority of the world's people do believe in one. However a growing number of people are rejecting this belief or having doubts. This is particularly common in western countries, with one notable exception. The growth in the number of people who do not believe in god has raised all sorts of questions about the future of religion and its influence on society.
An atheist is somebody who does not believe in god. They are generally just as sure that god does not exist as the most religious of people are sure that there is a god. Agnostics on the other hand are people who are not sure whether or not there is a good. Usually they take the view that there is no way to know whether or not there is a god. Many people have doubts about the existence of god; this does not necessarily make them agnostic. It takes more than just doubt to be considered agnostic.
Atheism an agnosticism are not new, since the very first religions were founded there were people who have their doubts or have outright denied the existence of god. This was not a particularly uncommon view in ancient Greece for example. However for much of the history of Christianity the church has wielded considerable power. As a result those who were not believers tended to have to pretend to believe. This has really only started to change over the last couple of centuries as Atheism has started to become a more commonly held belief.
A big part of the reason for the rise in atheists and agnostics is the development of modern science. There are a couple of reasons for this; the first is that much of what the church teaches has been shown by science to be wrong. The other reason is that with science able to explain the workings of the universe there was no longer a need for a supreme being to explain it. As a result there has been a sharp growth in the number of people who either outright reject the existence of god or who are not sure about his existence.
To some extent the growth of atheism and agnosticism has been countered by a similar growth in fundamentalism. As more and more people reject the existence of god those who do believe become more convinced of their belief. This is particularly common in the United States. It is actually a bit of an oddity as atheism and agnosticism have become fairly widely accepted throughout the western world the United States remains the one hold out. While certainly there are non-believers in the US they are clearly in the minority. This has created a considerable amount of religious tension as the two group's battle over the influence that religion should have on society.