There has been the question of why the number of atheists globally seems to be growing, and this could be due to a lot of reasons, including the church.

A recent analysis of 2014 data says that "nones" or people with no religion in England and Wales outnumber those who identify themselves as Christians, namely Anglicans, Catholics, and other denominations. The former is at 48.5 percent while the latter is at 43.8 percent. Moreover, the number of "nones" has almost doubled in five years, having grown from 25 percent in 2011.

(Wikimedia Commons/Church & Lake Victoria) Photo showing church in Entebbe, Uganda, 4 August 2006

"The main driver is people who were brought up with some religion now saying they have no religion," Stephen Bullivant, senior lecturer in theology and ethics at St Mary's Catholic University in Twickenham, told The Guardian. "What we're seeing is an acceleration in the numbers of people not only not practising their faith on a regular basis, but not even ticking the box. The reason for that is the big question in the sociology of religion."

According to the study made by the Pew Research Center, there is a rise in religious "nones" or people who do not affiliate themselves with any particular religion, including atheists and agnostics and those who say that religion is "nothing in particular." As of last year, around 23 percent of adults in the United States were deemed as "nones," a rise from the 16 percent in 2007. National Geographic says that the world's newest major religion is "no religion."

"One religion that has grown in numbers and cultural significance is atheism," creationist and Answers in Genesis head Ken Ham wrote on Facebook last year, "AiG points out that as a non-theistic religion, atheism is a belief system that attempts to explain everything in our world, including how the universe came to be and how one should relate to his fellow humans. As such, it's a naturalistic, comprehensive worldview (as opposed to a supernatural one) often referred to as secular humanism."

Meanwhile, according to an article in The Star, the rise of atheism, in Kenya in particular, is partly due to the church. In the said country, there is a notion that God is for the poor and downtrodden rather than for everyone. The teaching that He is a God of provision during times of need and a God of comfort in times of pain becomes rather insignificant when a Christian advances in life and becomes prosperous.

The article also points out that the organization Atheists in Kenya is composed mostly of educated, young people who are more persuasive than Christians whose arguments seem shallow and hollow. Another item that the article points out on why atheism is growing in number is the infighting among church leaders, something that disillusions members. Atheism allegedly "exploits" this opportunity that the church itself provides.