The new millennium has brought about many changes in the world. The rise of the Internet, various advanced multimedia components, and changes in world economic/so­cial issues have placed the last ten years in a time capsule of distress and sheer decadence. One thing that’s prevalent within this younger, self-indulgent, media driven culture is the downfall of religion and the rise of liberal thinking.

Many students at Skyline have a voice all their own. While some have been inebriated with religious vows passed down from parents, this new, thought-provoking generation sees through the emaciated veil that covers what religion stands for and the pressures of living up to expecta­tions that derail rational thought and reasoning.

Alex Parido, a second year Sky­line student, believes parents that use popular religious credos like “Do that and you’re going to Hell” or “It’s all a part of God’s plans” strike fear into young kids to con­form to strict guidelines.

“It dehumanizes their own moral thought process of not having con­trol of their destiny, which is right­fully theirs to begin with,” Parido explains.

Staunch Christian follower and third year Skyline student Tina Mi­chaels believes otherwise.

She states that although some religious recruiters come on strong, “it’s the passion for Jesus and His way that drives us.”

Tina also believes that there is nothing wrong with spreading the word of God on Skyline’s campus.

“I don’t see any harm in it,” she says.

Skyline student Eddy Lazo, a staunch Atheist, believes that soapbox preaching and free bibles are “propaganda” with intents to conjure interests within the Church. This type of advertising really both­ers Lazo.

“If people are already set in their faith, then there’s no point,” he says.

Active supporters of free thought and Atheism such as Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Christo­pher Hitchens, rely on suppressing the spiritual and fantastic aspect of religion, and consider the techniques used throughout various religious congregations as conforming and brain-washing.

Sam Harris, a renowned neu­roscientist and author of books on religious intolerance, believes that a person’s faith and beliefs constructs their outlook on society and non-believers.

As stated on his website, sam­harris.org, “The fact that belief determines behavior is what makes certain beliefs so dangerous.”

Massive religious events such as the Spanish Inquisition, the Prot­estant Reformation, and the Salem Witch Trials, shed light on funda­mentalism. Their brutal concepts to eradicate non-believers, while also justifying their actions by claiming divine intervention or retribution.

It is these acts alone that put reli­gion on the forefront of controversy; the recent Catholic Church sexual abuse scandals have given question­ers of faith even more fuel to use on the validity of religion.

According to an April 2010 ar­ticle in The Guardian, Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins stated that they planned to seek a prosecution of Pope Benedict XVI for his alleged intentional cover-up of the sexual abuse wrought on by priests. This type of action 50 to 100 years ago would have been deemed improper, and both Dawkins and Hitchens would have been black­listed.

The massive exodus away from religion has been easy for many people because of the rampant behavior of the many high echelon officials representing religion.

Graduate of Skyline College, Matt Provencio, expressed real concern about the almost “blatant” cases of “misuse of power” and corruption.

“Jerry Falwell was anti-Semitic, Dr. Gene Scott fooled people into donating money through outrageous superstitious claims, Ted Haggard was strongly anti-homosexual yet engaged in gay sexual activity with a male prostitute, and the Pope explicitly covered up sexual child abuse over many years by numer­ous priests…where does it end?” Provencio asked.

As the first decade of the new millennium comes to a close, the verdict is out on religion and its fu­ture with the emerging free-thinking era. Only time will tell if the thou­sands of years pertaining to faith can withhold the emerging tide, which is Atheism, and the younger generation of adults that have come to their own conclusions.