On a good day, when I’m feeling optimistic about future society – which isn’t very often, if you follow this blog – I can foresee the rapid shedding of religious beliefs in America perhaps two or three generations from now.

As it becomes less and less stigmatizing to proclaim one’s nonbelief, closet atheists will begin to “come out” in growing numbers. At some inflection point, it will become mainstream or, at least, no longer socially acceptable to vilify someone over their atheist or agnostic beliefs. Eventually, it will no longer be political suicide to be openly unreligious.

Influenced by advances in science and technology, more and more parents will become less rigid about brainwashing their offspring with outdated, dogmatic silliness. That next generation will have the chance to become the first nonreligious majority in American society. After that, religion will peel away like an onion and only the fundamentalists and die-hards will remain, relegated to the margins of society like cults or the Amish are today.

It was much the same process with slavery and its acceptance. And we are now on the tail-end of the process with homosexuality.

After all, the power of religious groups lies not in their ideas but in their numbers. And as those numbers decline, so too shall their power. Glory be the day.

It is not my job to fix the world.

Right now, there are people spending money on water pills, a.k.a. homeopathic remedies, instead of going to the doctor. I want to shake some sense into them.

It is not my job to fix the world.

Every second of every day, well-intentioned parents are introducing their child for the first time to the dogma of religion and the existence of a supernatural power. I want to intercede and save the youngster from the most prevalent form of child abuse in existence.

It is not my job to fix the world.

Time and time again, hopeful entrepreneurs are being swindled by age-old scams such as vending machine routes, penny stocks of mining companies, and multi-level marketing programs. I want to remind them that if it sounds too good to be true – or if they have to buy inventory for their new sales job – it’s a ripoff!

It is not my job to fix the world.

Want to take a guess what my primary resolution is for 2009?