More people don't believe...

I came across this yesterday and thought some of you might find it interesting.American Religious Identification Survey (2001)------------------
He hoped and prayed that there wasn't an afterlife. Then he realized there was a contradiction involved here and merely hoped that there wasn't an afterlife.
- Douglas Adams, The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Um, I'm wondering what you're getting at in your topic line.Are you talking about the general concept of god or any particular sect?From what I read in the table, while the number of people who profess to be outside religion has increased, the vast majority of them say "no religion" as compared to "atheist" or "agnostic."Just because a person has no religion doesn't mean he doesn't believe in god.------------------
Rrhain
WWJD? JWRTFM!

I don't know about the survey in question, but in the British Census there was no option for 'atheist' or 'agnostic', unless you put it under 'other'. However there was a 'no religion' category, thus many of those who don't believe would choose this category rather than go for the 'other' option.

Home - Office for National Statistics

quote:

---

About sixteen per cent of the UK population stated that they had no religion. This category included agnostics, atheists, heathens and those who wrote Jedi Knight.

---

Mr Jack responds to me:

quote:

---

I don't know about the survey in question, but in the British Census there was no option for 'atheist' or 'agnostic', unless you put it under 'other'. However there was a 'no religion' category, thus many of those who don't believe would choose this category rather than go for the 'other' option.

---

If we can assume similar conceptualizations regarding religion between the US and the UK, then this doesn't mean anything. From the US study, a good number of people do not label themselves with a title usually ascribed to a religion. But, the overwhelming majority of those people also do not identify themselves as atheists or agnostics. They simply say "no religion."Therefore, given that the British Census provided no method of separating the atheists/agnostics from those who simply would claim "no religion," then it's somewhat reasonable to think it's similar to the US survey: Very few of those who say "no religion" would identify as atheist or agnostic.------------------
Rrhain
WWJD? JWRTFM!

Your are correct. I have never been good at thinking up titles or slogans and in my haste to get this posted before I had to start work I wasn't entirely accurate with the topic name.Cound one of the administrators change the topic name to "More people without religion"?------------------
He hoped and prayed that there wasn't an afterlife. Then he realized there was a contradiction involved here and merely hoped that there wasn't an afterlife.
- Douglas Adams, The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy