In 1897, J.J. Thomson discovered the electron. This was the first constituent part of the atom which, for 2,000 years, was thought to be indivisible. Today, we know of 18 elemental particles following the recent discovery of the Higgs Boson, the so-called god particle.
Back in 1897, most people believed in god because there weren't even any theories as to how the universe came into being. Today, several theories exist.
Back in 1897, most people believed that jesus actually existed. Today, at the very least, there is much room for doubt.
In those 118 years, Man has come far. The speed at which man is acquiring new knowledge is increasing and will continue to increase for the foreseeable future.
Man is now not too far away from understanding how our universe came into being. No serious scientist believes that the solution involves a deity in any way. My best guess is that it will occur within the next 20 years. However, given the speed with which science is moving forward, it may happen in less than 10 years.
One of the main reasons why man created gods, and ultimately god, was to explain where the universe came from. Once we solve that conundrum, we can dispense with god and put an end to the superstitious nonsense. As Dawkins predicts, deity-based religions will disappear and be dispatched to the waste paper bin of history within a generation. christianity will then become nothing more than a historical curiosity. Within two or three generations, people will look back and wonder about the sanity of a people who believed in two mythical figures (god and jesus) that they were willing to die for.
I do not believe that the existence of god will be disproved but only because I can't see how this might be achieved. However, within the next 20 years, we will know enough about the universe to realise that it was probably a case of man inventing god, rather than the other way round. Rather than god being disproved, god will become increasingly marginalised through increasing scientific advances. Dawkins has already gone on record as saying that the probability that god exists is very low (less than 1%). As we move forward, I expect Dawkins' figure to be reduced even further and for the bulk of the population to follow suit.
So. within the lifetime of many of the readers of this post, the existence of god, for all intents and purposes, will be disproved, but probably by stealth.
There will be some of you who will ignore and disregard this post. There will be some of you who will refuse to believe this post because you wont want it to be true. There will be some of you who wont understand the science. There will be some of you who will just continue to believe in god regardless because that's what you want to believe. All this is fine. It's your choice.
However, regardless of how you feel and what you want, it will happen. It's no longer a case of IF, it's now only a case of WHEN.
I wont be affected at all because I don't believe in god and I never have, even as a child.
Those of you whose lives do not revolve around a belief in god and church will largely be unaffected too.
Those of you who do have a devout belief in god and the church are going to be affected most. You people need to think about what you are going to do.
Your church will probably tell you that this is all stuff and nonsense and that it will never happen. You had better hope that your church is right and that I'm wrong. In your position though, I'd do some reading about how far science has progressed and where it's going and what the implications are.
IMHO, though, the writing is already on the wall. As the sandwich boards said, "the end is nigh". It just isn't the end that some people were expecting.