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Leonardo
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Topic: Atheism in the world Posted: 21-Feb-2006 at 08:01 |
As some governments have strongly promoted atheism, whilst others have strongly condemned it, atheism may be either over-reported or under-reported for different countries. There is a great deal of room for debate as to the accuracy of any method of estimation, as the opportunity for misreporting (intentionally or not) a belief system without an organized structure is high. Also, many surveys on religious identification ask people to identify themselves as "agnostics" or "atheists", which is potentially confusing, since these terms are interpreted differently by many different people, with some identifying themselves as being both atheist and agnostic. Additionally, many of these surveys only gauge the number of irreligious people, not the number of actual atheists, or group the two together.
The following surveys are in chronological order, but as they are different studies with different methodologies it would be inaccurate to infer trends on the prevalence of atheism from them:
- A 1995 survey [19] attributed to the Encyclopedia Britannica indicates that the non-religious are about 14.7% of the world's population, and atheists around 3.8%.
- The 2001 ARIS report found that while 29.5 million U.S. Americans (14.1%) describe themselves as "without religion", only 902,000 (0.4%) positively claim to be atheist, with another 991,000 (0.5%) professing agnosticism.
- In the 2001 Australian Census [20] 15.5% of respondents ticked "no religion", and a further 11.7% either did not state their religion or were deemed to have described it inadequately (there was a popular and successful campaign at the time to have people describe themselves as Jedi).
- The 2001 New Zealand census [21] showed that 40% of the respondents claimed "no religion".
- In 2001, the Czech Statistical Office provided census information on the ten million people in the Czech Republic. 59% had no religion, 32.2% were religious, and 8.8% did not answer. This suggests that the Czech Republic is probably the most atheistic country in the world.
- In 2002 survey in Russia, 32% self-described as atheist. Of the 58% self-describing as Russian Orthodox Christian, 42% said they had never been in a church.
- A 2002 survey by Adherents.com [22] estimates the proportion of the world's people who are "secular, non-religious, agnostics and atheists" as about 14%.
- In a 2003 poll in France, 54% of those polled identified themselves as "faithful", 33% as atheist, 14% as agnostic, and 26% as "indifferent". [23]
- A 2004 survey by the BBC [24] in 10 countries showed the proportion of the population "who don't believe in God" varying between 0% and 44%, with an average close to 17% in the countries surveyed. About 8% of the respondents stated specifically that they consider themselves to be atheists.
- A 2004 survey by the CIA in the World Factbook [25] estimates about 12.5% of the world's population are non-religious, and about 2.4% are atheists.
- A 2004 survey by the Pew Research Center [26] showed that in the United States, 12% of people under 30 and 6% of people over 30 could be characterized as non-religious.
- A 2005 poll by AP/Ipsos [27] surveyed ten countries. Of the developed nations, people in the United States had most certainty about the existence of god or a higher power (2% atheist, 4% agnostic), while France had the most skeptics (19% atheist, 16% agnostic). On the religion question, South Korea had the greatest percentage without a religion (41%) while Italy had the smallest (5%).
- A 2006 survey in the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten (on February 17), saw 1006 inhabitants of Norway answering the question "What do you believe in?". 29% answered "I believe in a god or deity", 23% answered "I believe in a higher power without being certain of what", 26% answered "I don't believe in god or higher powers", and 22% answered "I am in doubt". Depending on the definition of atheism, Norway thus has between 49% and 71% atheists. Still, some 85% of the population are members of the Norwegian state's official Lutheran Protestant church. Parts of this deviance is due to the fact that all non-affilated Norwegians were signed into this church a few years before (without being asked), and that signing out is a time-consuming, bureaucratic affair yielding no immediate gains.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheism
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Maju
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Posted: 21-Feb-2006 at 13:15 |
That's the point: institutionalized religions book us as members: I'm sure I still figure as Catholic, along with millions of other people who had the disgrace of being born in a Catholic family under a Catholic-fundamentalist regime.
I suspect that the group of "no religion", including atheists, agnostics and free thinkers is pretty large but while in most of Europe you can go out an claim: "I don't have any god (stop babbling nonsense - you ignorant fanatic!)", in many places that's not the case. Social pressure keeps many people following formalities even if they are nonbelievers, not just in Saudi Arabia but also in the USA or Italy.
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NO GOD, NO MASTER!
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flyingzone
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Posted: 21-Feb-2006 at 14:05 |
Originally posted by Leonardo
As some governments have strongly promoted atheism, whilst others have strongly condemned it, atheism may be either over-reported or under-reported for different countries. |
Leonardo, I am not sure if any government (unless you are talking about the communist regimes) actually actively promotes atheism. There are many countries with a "state religion" (e.g. Lutheranism in Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Finland - Sweden abolished it in 2000), but the majority of the population of these countries are either nominal believers or atheists (not because of any active encouragement by the state). Some so-called "secular states" (e.g. South Korea, the United States) are actually very "religious" (e.g. SK - Buddhism and Christianity, US - Christianity). Even in non-religious secular countries like France, Japan, and Canada, the government never officially promotes or encourages atheism.
But both Maju and you are right. For example, in Quebec, a majority of the French-speaking Quebecois would IDENTIFY themselves as Catholics, but I would say most of them are either nominal Catholics (who wouldn't even bother going to mass on Christmas day) or atheists.
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Guests
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Posted: 21-Feb-2006 at 14:22 |
The 2001 ARIS report
found that while 29.5 million U.S. Americans (14.1%) describe
themselves as "without religion", only 902,000 (0.4%) positively claim
to be atheist, with another 991,000 (0.5%) professing agnosticism. |
I knew there aren't as much atheists in the US as in Europe, but I didn't know it was that little.
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Genghis
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Posted: 21-Feb-2006 at 15:12 |
Originally posted by Mixcoatl
The 2001 ARIS report found that while 29.5 million U.S. Americans (14.1%) describe themselves as "without religion", only 902,000 (0.4%) positively claim to be atheist, with another 991,000 (0.5%) professing agnosticism. |
I knew there aren't as much atheists in the US as in Europe, but I didn't know it was that little.
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I'm surprised too, I bet that number is incorrect.
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Emperor Barbarossa
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Posted: 21-Feb-2006 at 15:18 |
Yes, I also doubt that there are that few athiests and agnostics in America.
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Illuminati
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Posted: 21-Feb-2006 at 16:04 |
I have the feeling that this report has a different definition of atheism than we do.
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Maju
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Posted: 21-Feb-2006 at 18:08 |
Originally posted by Emperor Barbarossa
Yes, I also doubt that there are that few athiests and agnostics in America.
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If you live in one of the megalopolitan areas of BosWash or California you will surely have a diferent perception but in inner USA, from Georgia to Montana... it's "Talibanistan" (exaggerated of course). I used to be atheist when younger and I'm almost possitive I was the first atheist that they had ever seen in Inner Virginia in 1985
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Constantine XI
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Posted: 21-Feb-2006 at 18:39 |
In the 2001 Australian Census [20] 15.5% of respondents ticked "no religion", and a further 11.7% either did not state their religion or were deemed to have described it inadequately (there was a popular and successful campaign at the time to have people describe themselves as Jedi). |
We rock! I feel so proud.
In all seriousness only 10% of the Australian population attend any form of regular religious services. The attitude in this country is extremely casual and non-committal when it comes to religion. Most people here simply do not care, religion is such an insignificant part of society to most that most don't even see the need to get up an loudly proclaim to the world their atheism.
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SearchAndDestroy
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Posted: 21-Feb-2006 at 20:28 |
If you live in one of the megalopolitan areas of BosWash or California you will surely have a diferent perception but in inner USA, from Georgia to Montana... it's "Talibanistan" (exaggerated of course).
I used to be atheist when younger and I'm almost possitive I was the first atheist that they had ever seen in Inner Virginia in 1985 |
I wouldn't be to sure about all of Georgia. When I was down there it didn't seem religious, though I was in Atlanta.
But I do find the Evangelicals dangerous, I don't trust them at since they are pushing hard to get into politics.
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Omar al Hashim
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Posted: 22-Feb-2006 at 04:06 |
Originally posted by Constantine XI
In the 2001 Australian Census [20]
15.5% of respondents ticked "no religion", and a further 11.7% either
did not state their religion or were deemed to have described it
inadequately (there was a popular and successful campaign at the time
to have people describe themselves as Jedi). |
We rock! I feel so proud.
In all seriousness only 10% of the Australian population attend any
form of regular religious services. The attitude in this country is
extremely casual and non-committal when it comes to religion. Most
people here simply do not care, religion is such an insignificant part
of society to most that most don't even see the need to get up an
loudly proclaim to the world their atheism. |
10% of people being religous sounds right.
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Leonardo
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Posted: 22-Feb-2006 at 08:19 |
Very interesting also this quote from the same wikipedia article:
Islam
In Islam, atheists are categorized as kafir (), a term that is also used to describe polytheists, and that translates roughly as "denier" or "concealer". The noun kafir carries connotations of blasphemy and disconnection from the Islamic community. In Arabic, "atheism" is generally translated ilhad (), although this also means "heresy". As the Sharia punishment for apostasy in Islam is death and such apostasy is also widely socially disapproved of, atheists (as well as converts from Islam to other religions) in Islamic countries and communities frequently conceal their non-belief. The surveys mentioned above that indicate 100% religious belief in certain Islamic countries should be interpreted in light of this fact.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheism
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Halevi
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Posted: 22-Feb-2006 at 09:09 |
I'd like to start a mini (verbal) poll, for curiosity sake. I wonder if we're all talking about the same thing:
Please write your own definitions for the following terms:
Atheist
Agnostic
Spiritual
Mystic
Religious
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Cywr
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Posted: 22-Feb-2006 at 11:06 |
The problem with atheism, is that some people treat it as an ideology
or religion when it is no such thing, it is merely the opposite of
theism, that is to say, not believing in god. That said there are
debates about its meaning, but they all tend to be centered on some
worldview or other (IE, secular humanists will define it as thus, but
some christians differently and so on).
As such, it should be no suprise then that conflicting polls will yield
such conficting results, as athiests state they don't believe in god
one minute, and state that they idenitify with say catholocism the next.
The fact is that religions are labels for many people, even the
non-devout, are an identiy tag, where as atheism for the larger part of
many people of an atheistic inclination, isn't, really clouds matters.
Eh, i see maju has a new crush
Anyways, per Haveli's request:
Atheism - Opposite of theism, simply beliving that there is no supreme
entity as purported by certain religions. It has to be active, so
specificly having a belief that there is no dude-upstairs (or whatever
anology is appropiate), not merely having no opinion or belief in
general.
Agnostic - People who take the view that the god(s) vs no-god question
is unknowable and unanswerable, and therefore irrelevant. (Admitably
some call this 'Strong' Agnosticism).
Spiritual - I veiw this very broadly, could be anything regarding
beliefs of the soul or spirit, the belief in some sort of life essense
even things approaching and/or including the supernatural. Whether such
things are explainable by present scientific understanding (say, deep
subconscious or neuroscience in general) isn't relevant IMHO.
Mysticism - Basicily the belief in the existence of realities beyond
one's perception/comprehension. The exact nature of it can vary
considerably depending on what sort of mysticism you are dealing with.
Religious - This term i regard as being very christian-centric, it was
originaly used to describe someone who was a member of a christian
order or some sort or other. In a more modern and inclusive context you
could say that it refers to anyone who is concerned with the study and
following of specific religious teachings and or beliefs, but the
tendancy is again to regard each type of religiousness within the
framework of a specific view of a religion.
Is a non-practicing Catholic who is heavily influenced by say Sufi and
Daoist ideals and beliefs, and incorperates them in do their daily live
and worldview religious? This cuts in to the whole "i'm not religious
but i am spiritual" shebang i guess. I guess i personaly lean to a sort
of a post-modern view of religiosity, allowing for people with a more
pluralistic religious worldview.
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Arrrgh!!"
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Guests
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Posted: 22-Feb-2006 at 13:05 |
Also keep in mind that agnosticism doesn't exclude either atheism or
religiousness. Agnostic athesm is not believing in a God while you
admit you can't prove it while religous agnosticism is believing in (a)
god(s) while while you admit you can't prove his existence (I think
religious agnositicism is rare, but at least it's theoretically
possible)
Some also make a difference between strong atheism (believing there is no god) and weak atheism (not believing there is a god).
Edited by Mixcoatl
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Maju
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Posted: 22-Feb-2006 at 17:19 |
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NO GOD, NO MASTER!
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Halevi
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Posted: 22-Feb-2006 at 21:00 |
Originally posted by Maju
Originally posted by Mixcoatl
Some also make a difference between strong atheism (believing there is no god) and weak atheism (not believing there is a god).
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That's like the difference between "there's no God but Allah" or "there's only one God: Allah" - too subtle for me.
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There's a big difference for me. For amusment and clarity, lets replace
'God' with 'aliens'. You can believe that there are no such thing as
aliens, and write off all 'alien believers' as idiots, or you can
believe that there may well be aliens out there, put you're never going
to know if they exist (unless you are presented with physical or
experential evidence, that is).
I put myself in the 'Agnostic Atheist' category: i do not believe
that a god exists, although i'm not 100% certain that i'm right. More
like 90-99% certain. And since god's existence is not really testable
or falsafiable, i imagine im going to stay in this state of mind until
i die... barring any unforseen 'revelations' that is lol
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Omar al Hashim
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Posted: 22-Feb-2006 at 22:30 |
Originally posted by Leonardo
Very interesting also this quote from the same wikipedia article:
Islam
In Islam, atheists are categorized as kafir (), a term that is also used to describe polytheists, and that translates roughly as "denier" or "concealer". The noun kafir carries connotations of blasphemy and disconnection from the Islamic community. In Arabic, "atheism" is generally translated ilhad (), although this also means "heresy". As the Sharia punishment for apostasy in Islam is death and such apostasy is also widely socially disapproved of, atheists (as well as converts from Islam to other religions) in Islamic countries and communities frequently conceal their non-belief. The surveys mentioned above that indicate 100% religious belief in certain Islamic countries should be interpreted in light of this fact.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheism
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Wrong. Apostates can only be killed if they cause turmoil in a society. In other words if they commit treason, or do a Salman Rushdie. Normal people can come and go when they please. Islam is between you and God and nobody else.
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Maziar
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Posted: 22-Feb-2006 at 23:49 |
Originally posted by Omar al Hashim
Originally posted by Leonardo
Very interesting also this quote from the same wikipedia article:
Islam
In Islam, atheists are categorized as kafir (), a term that is also used to describe polytheists, and that translates roughly as "denier" or "concealer". The noun kafir carries connotations of blasphemy and disconnection from the Islamic community. In Arabic, "atheism" is generally translated ilhad (), although this also means "heresy". As the Sharia punishment for apostasy in Islam is death and such apostasy is also widely socially disapproved of, atheists (as well as converts from Islam to other religions) in Islamic countries and communities frequently conceal their non-belief. The surveys mentioned above that indicate 100% religious belief in certain Islamic countries should be interpreted in light of this fact.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheism
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Normal people can come and go when they please. Islam is between you and God and nobody else.
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Oh come on, you don't believe it yourself. Only in Germany i dare to consider me as an atheist.
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ArmenianSurvival
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Posted: 23-Feb-2006 at 00:05 |
The very fact that Pagans and
Agnostics/Atheists are known as "deniers" or "concealers" in Islam
should be a good enough reason to not admit to being one when you're in
a country under Islamic law
That's assuming that the statement was actually true. I don't know. But I'd rather be safe than sorry.
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