First you are talking about scientist in general, where I am stating that academia, specifically, pushes atheism though to be fair I cannot necessarily state outright that they are not pushing for a more agnostic view rather than atheist. Religion is not well received in Academia. You can take that as it is or disagree but it doesn't change the experiences that I and many others have had. Further, if that isn't what you want to believe, you don't have to. There are other explanations for why religions affiliation declines with age with respect to scientific communities. I pointed out another possible reason in my original post. That said, the reason I believe that it declines with age is because I believe it to be a generational type issue. The evidence that I have read coupled with my own experiences lead me to believe this.