Let me rephrase my point on the discussion of where faithlessness comes from. 10% of the population is atheistic and has no obligation to convert. 90% of the population has some degree of religiousness and is thus told by their beliefs to convert. These preachers are present at least twice a week at my campus, yelling at me and my classmates. Subtract or add the percentage of people who believe a religion that does not require conversion. Disregard developing nations for this discussion, as the sweeping generalizations most of us are making are not taking them into consideration anyhow. Plus I doubt that they are having a sharp decline in religious belief anyhow.
10% not obligated to convert verses some other percent, more than likely higher than 10%, that is obligated to convert kind of disproves the social pressure theory. Perhaps people are just being given an alternative that they are exploring and that resonates with them.
Perhaps your generalization applies to those who are agnostic. Agnostics believe that there may be a god, and are thus not atheists. Atheists believe that there is no god. There is no confusion or denial for myself, as much as there is confusion or denial that there is not an elephant in my back yard. While I cannot draw any conclusions from the way I personally feel about my lack of belief, I do think that the thoughts of a true atheist are much different than those of an agnostic. The two should not be grouped together as much as agnostics and those who are religious should not be grouped together.
Also, I am wondering what context you mean to say righteous in bitesh. Are you talking about smug righteousness, or morality? Most religious persons doubt the morality of atheists due to the fact that they were not taught religious morals. Perhaps that was what you were trying to touch on, as the term righteous may adopt several different meanings based on the connotation.
May I point out as well the number of smug religious people? I think there are just assholes everywhere, regardless of country, color, or creed.