You'll note that *I* did not tout or recommend belief in 'intelligent design'. I merely referred to its widespread acceptance by the hoi polloi as a simple, comfortable concept to cope with the immense complexity of "life, the universe & everything". As a matter of fact, I find it easier to look up, down and around and shake my head at the very notion of it all being 'designed' at all.
   Existence, in all its facets, follows physical laws. No matter where one believes 'everything' came from, once it **happened**, certain relationships between the elements and their elementary particles ensure that certain types of reactions and combinations happen, although in varying amounts in various places. When we observe this, WE are doing so AS a product of the very physical laws we are trying to describe.

Now, as this basic comprehension becomes more widely understood, whether in the UK or anywhere else, it is natural that recourse to metaphysical explanations decreases and church membership also decreases...... although lifelong beliefs and cultural pressures make some of us more... ummm... resistant... to casting off the beliefs of centuries past.

Yes... all that above simply says that 'as science learns more, religion tends to lose its hold'.

As to atheism, agnosticism and skepticism.... people WILL continue to debate definitions. What is important is that **lack of belief**, however you define it or process it, not be treated by believers as 'false'. Non-believers cannot DISprove 'god(s)' anymore than believers can prove him/it/them. In such a system, family, culture, habit and specific educational history will continue to guide every individual's decision about what to think, and if they have learned the basics of the content-neutral HOW to think, they'll do better at coping with life.