This is a potentially complex issue, but I will try to keep it simple. Everyone (including characters in the books) seems to blame the loss of interest in space exploration on growing religiosity, but this is not the case.

In the Astronomicon Universe, the amount of religious believers on Earth is still reducing, as it is today in real life. The problem is the Council of Nations. This organisation is based on the European Union (which is expanding steadily in real life) but with the scale of the United Nations. It is a global government with the aim of bringing peace, equality and stability to the world. It particularly gained momentum after the supervolcano calamity in 2029.

As the Council of Nations absorbed more countries from around the world, many of which are still highly religious (even now in 2021, 82% of the world population has a faith), the percentage of the Council which is religious has increased until they form a majority.

When readers talk about religion becoming more popular, this is not the case. It is more that the more religious countries which were not involved in the Council previous, have now joined, shifting the balance substantially. The terrorist organisation, Holy Earth, have capitalised on this and made huge headway in the political world.