Back in 1990 most people trusted their governments and other societal institutions like the lame street media and the medical establishment for e.g., how many people still do because of the internet?
Instead of thinking of the internet as bad 'thing' in and of itself think of it as 'information'. The last time such a revolution in information appeared was back in the 1500's with the Gutenberg Press. One of the first things they started printing was the Bible and this allowed the masses, for the the first time in ages to actually read it and understand that the authorities had been bs'ing them for hundreds of years. Which in turn led to the reformation and the authority temporarily lost it's position. Of course it got it back again in the form of western psuedo-democracy based on, again, lies and manipulation. It's simply the same spirit in a different form. Then 500 years later along comes the NEW Gutenberg press, the internet, and people are starting to figure out how they've been suckered again (well, some of us are anyway) and things are starting to change.
In terms of losing religion it's the same thing. Most of the kids I know who are brought up in a religious home have been taught to follow that particular belief but have never been taught WHY. Why is 'x' true and not 'y'? So for people who haven't made that particular worldview their own there are plenty of excuses that can be found on the net to justify their abandonment of faith. Fair enough too, I'm pretty sure that God would be much much happier if there were less religion and more truth in the world. These findings obviously say nothing about the veracity of any particular truth claims or any particular worldview. Just as the article mentions that a lot of believers lose their faith at colleges and unis. It's not because they are given truth but rather that most higher education facilities and rabidly secular and so a weak faith is easy prey for the wolves that lurk there.
So interesting article but nothing too surprising.
