With the rise of scientific thinking, we&#x27;re seeing a rapid increase in the number of folks who identify as agnostic or athiest [1]. This is natural given that the tenets of most major religions can&#x27;t be tested or validated via experimental methods.<p>The problem though is that absent these religious ideologies, we&#x27;re left with a number of core questions that secular philosophy has been unable to answer convincingly. Namely:<p>- Where does value stem from? What is good? What is bad?
- What is the meaning or purpose of life?
- Why is there something instead of nothing? What was the original cause? Was there one?
- What happens after we die?<p>This dovetails with a number of practical issues in today&#x27;s world. (1) Lots of suicide and depression. There are 30 million prescriptions of Zoloft written in the United States. Many of these folks (I assume) aren&#x27;t suffering some sort of pathological illness but find themselves looking at a world that appears to be devoid of meaning when these religious frameworks break down for them (i.e. nihilism) (2) Religious extremism that manifests in sectarian violence and war.<p>Ultimately, secular thought (agnosticism and atheism included) is just an inferior product compared to religions. It doesn&#x27;t provide out-of-the-box answers to these really hard questions and as a result can be a very scary and lonely ideology.<p>Relevant point: I&#x27;d love to see academic philosophy working to shore up these areas and provide folks a better, clearer framework in which they can live meaningful, enjoyable lives that doesn&#x27;t require a religious framework.<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.pewforum.org&#x2F;2015&#x2F;05&#x2F;12&#x2F;americas-changing-religious-landscape&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.pewforum.org&#x2F;2015&#x2F;05&#x2F;12&#x2F;americas-changing-religio...</a>