Disclaimer: This is mostly a discussion of the major religions and the situation in the western countries. I'm fully aware that the situation isn't the same in other places in the world. Some areas are more religious than others. Even the US is considered one of the most religious countries in the world, something you should be aware of, since I'm more or less forced to incluse the US in this (because of the ridiculous amount of US members here).
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The downfall of religion is pretty much common knowledge. During the 20th century, many people have broken free from religious traditions and either joined other religions or (most commonly) claimed themselves atheists or agnostics. Of course, the major religions has been suffering for quite a while since its golden age during the middle ages.
I don't think anyone can deny the fact that people are less inclined to join a religion nowadays, and I doubt the trend is going to stop. People are more and more coming to the conclusion that the current religious movements are no more than obsolete views of life with unnecessary rules (whether you agree with that or not, that's another thing and is not to be discussed). I reckon it will only be a matter of time before religion will be forced to change its beliefs and practices - or die.
While the major religions have suffered the most, many religious groups having a more 'laid-back' attitude have gotten many new members as of late. As such, not all drop-outs of the state churches (for example) become atheists or agnostics, many of them decide to join a religion which allows them to maintain their core belief in God (or whatever) but skipping such things as the bible which by many is looked upon as something that doesn't represent their belief and they don't want to be associated with it. This is the group that believe, but that doesn't practice belief.
As I said, I'm very much convinced that the major religions will fall if they don't change. Many people are still believing that there is more to the world than the eyes can see. However, people do not want to commit themself to an obsolete movement that doesn't make sense to them. It will probably come to the situation where you either believe in a "higher power" or nothing at all, seing as it is not the concept of a higher power that make people abandon religion, but their strict believes in pin-pointing the nature of this higher power and the rules that come thereof.
Myself, I've always been an opponent of fundamentalists, I oftentimes see nothing but narrow-mindedness coming from this group of people. As such, I'm very pleased to see that their kind is going coming to an imminent end. Of course, extremists will always exist, but they will finally be looked upon as nothing but extremists, and will be respected for nothing more.
A change in religion would be pretty fatal for the religious debate. People claim God do not change and that their way of establishing a relationship with him also does not - and
can not - change. However, it will have to change if the religion wants to survive, and as such the religious side will have to admit their faulty reasoning - or stand strong, dying out in the process.
If you believe that your approach to God is the only right one, and that everybody else is wrong, you're a part of a dying religious generation. Just for the sake of it, I'd like to stick a needle in your eye by saying that God invented (as he invented everything) the concept "survival of the fittest". Here comes a deduction:
The fittest survives
Religion doesn't survive in its current form
Religion in its current form is not fit enough.
That is my final stand in this. By the laws of your very own god, you are forced to change.
Now, I'd like some dicussion 
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I expect people to ask me for sources. The fact that people are abandoning religion is pretty common knowledge as I've said, but if you want some sources, sure. I don't want to rely on how many percent this and how many percent that. The fact that people have been rapidly abandoning the believes of their fathers the past 100 years or so is all I need us to agree with.
The numbers vary, since this is a hard thing to determine. Anyway, here are a few sources.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article3412118.ece"
In a 23-page report published this evening, a UN rapporteur claims the 2001 Census findings that nearly 72 per cent of the population is Christian can no longer be regarded as accurate. The report claims that two-thirds of British people now do not admit to any religious adherence.
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Another popular percentage seems to be 44% as of 2005. Statistics vary, as stated.
Here's one for you US people:
Quote:
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Originally Posted by CNN
The U.S. Religious Landscape Survey estimates the United States is 78 percent Christian and about to lose its status as a majority Protestant nation, at 51 percent and slipping.
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As for my own country, we've gone from 17% atheists to 70% in a hundred years.