There’s no doubt that the political influence of a church that once placed kings on their thrones and sent conquistadors off to new lands to add souls to its ranks (and slaughter them in the process), has greatly declined in European countries these days.

The once faithful routinely practice birth control, as evidenced by the slowing birth rates in Western European countries. In open defiance of church teaching, abortion is legal in most of Europe, as is divorce. For a church hierarchy hell-bent on maintaining control of the masses, it gets worse: There’s now legalized gay marriage in three countries: Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium.

In a front-page story, the Wall Street Journal recently reported that European church attendance has fallen to about 20%. On top of that, only 75% of Europeans identify as Christian. It’s not exactly news. In 2003, Time Magazine noted that while Catholicism is still the largest of the Christian sects on the continent, the number of people who admit to being Catholic fell 30% since 1978.

Out gay rock singer Elton John last year seemed to sum up the attitude of many Europeans when he said that religion has made human beings into “hateful lemmings” and should be abolished.

But European religious groups aren’t surrendering that easily. In Britain: Christians protested a London opera that they considered offensive to their faith. They joined Muslims in vocally opposing a British gay rights measure. Demonstrating Sikhs closed the curtain on a play they found objectionable.

It’s not just happening in England. Muslims worldwide took to the streets after a Dutch periodical published cartoons mocking Islam that included a likeness of Mohammed, which is strictly forbidden in that religion. Pope Benedict XVI ran into trouble with the Islamic world when he criticized fundamentalist Muslims. He was eventually forced to back down and apologize for his remarks.

European atheists aren’t keeping quiet either. Worried about how vocal these religions have become, atheists are more determined than ever to spread the gospel of non belief. Recent forums sponsored by atheist groups in Caen, France and London, England drew 500 and 2,000 participants respectively. Britain’s National Secular Society, which dates back to the 1800s, has seen its membership double to 7,000. France’s leading atheist, Michel Onfray, has issued his own manifesto, “Traité s’athéologie,” a bestseller in his own country as well as Spain and Italy.

There’s even an atheist group for Muslims. It was started in Cologne, Germany by Mina Ahadi, an immigrant from Iran. Ahadi says that her group, The National Council of Ex-Muslims, has as its core ideology a simple statement: “We don’t believe.” For her efforts, Ahadi has received death threats and is forced to travel with a body guard.

Unfortunately, it’s not time for atheists to declare victory. The battle to free humanity from religion will be “a difficult one,” as Terry Sanderson, head of England’s National Secular Society told the Wall Street Journal. It’s a struggle that’s been going on in the European world at least since the ancient Greeks, who coined the term “atheos,” or “without God.” In the 17th Century, English philosopher Thomas Hobbes was forced to flee to France to escape persecution for his atheism. In the 20th Century, French existentialist and atheist Jean-Paul Sartre declared humans “condemned to freedom,” meaning free from God and religion.

In 1966, a Time Magazine cover asked the question that philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche had answered affirmatively a century before: “Is God dead?” Perhaps the question now is, “When are people going to realize it?”

Tommi Avicolli Mecca is a radical, southern Italian, working-class, queer atheist writer, performer and activist whose work can be seen at www.avicollimecca.com.