I've been an atheist for 20+ years now (ex-catholic). Early in my atheism, followed the typical new-atheism route; reading Dawkins, watching tons of debates and interviews, participating in forums, joining atheist and rationalist groups. I went through an angry atheist phase, and then into a compassionate rationalist phase, seeking to understand religions and religious people, and to guide those who might be on the fence.
For many years I was optimistic about the future, thinking that rationality would spread and accelerate around the world. That newer generations would discard their religion and adopt progressive attitudes. More recently, and obviously due to current world events, I've lost hope in a brighter future. I suppose I set myself up for disappointment. I think you could make an argument that in the very long run (centuries), people are getting more educated, rational, and secular, but it seems clear that is not a guarantee in the short term. Looking at the rise of Christian nationalism in the US, misogynistic laws, anti-LGBT sentiments, the absolute loss of freedom for women in Afghanistan, etc; Even my close family are some mix of religious, conspiracy theorists, and anti-vaxxers. Evidently, humanity can easily regress decades worth of progress in an instant.
I'm sure we all have coping mechanisms, relationships and activities we enjoy, escapism to take our mind off things. If you put those aside, how do you deal with living in a religious, irrational world that will likely not improve in our lifetimes? Can we reason our way to a positive mindset? Is cope all we have?
Thanks in advance for your replies. I will read every single one of them.
I'm an ex-Catholic as well. My advise is that you should pick your fights carefully as atheism in general has no response to our mortality that doesn't appear to be anything other than nihilism. Remember the saying "you may win the battle but lose the war" and that battle & war involves winning the the hearts and minds of your fellow humans.
As a fellow ex-Catholic you should keep separate debates about Jesus from debates against the Christian institutions that sprung up around him without his leadership or guidance. Basically call out Christianity for it's many hypocrisies, such as not loving one's neighbor, but be careful how you frame your debates against Jesus himself who is [unusually] absent [and late] from being here to defend himself [ ;) ]