Understanding the Rise of Atheism in Pakistan: An Analysis of Socio-Educational and Psychological Factors

Abstract

This is a research paper that explores a very nuanced and delicate issue of the apparent increase of atheism and religious skepticism in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Beyond the simplistic descriptions, it examines the interaction of socio-educational, psychological and digital determinants that are leading to the propensity towards non-belief among some of the population and especially the young ones. The paper points to the following motives as the intellectual dissent created by the availability of international information, critical defects in the national education system to accommodate faith with contemporary scientific understanding, and deep socio-economic disillusionment. It also analyzes how social media is a catalyst; it offers the doubters an alternative view of the world and anonymity of community. In combining the available qualitative indicators in the digital spaces with the theoretical models of secularization and identity, this paper will argue that the trend can be viewed as a complex crisis of meaning and authority. It then ends by outlining avenues of positive interaction and the necessity to reform education, a sympathetic religious discourse, and more sophisticated studies to explain this drastic change in the socio-religious environment of Pakistan