The Vatican has just held a scientific conference on atheism with the University of Kent who has published its research findings on:
“The global Understanding Unbelief program to advance the scientific understanding of atheism and nonreligion will today (May 28) present results from its research at the Vatican in Rome”
quote:
Key findings from the research include:
Unbelievers exhibit significant diversity both within, and between, different countries
In all six countries, majorities of unbelievers identify as having 'no religion'
Relatively few select 'atheist' or 'agnostic' as their preferred (non)religious or secular identity
Popular assumptions about 'convinced, dogmatic atheists' do not stand up to scrutiny
Unbelief in God doesn't necessarily entail unbelief in other supernatural phenomena and the majority of unbelievers in all countries surveyed expressed belief in one or more supernatural phenomena
A common supposition - that of the purposeless unbeliever, lacking anything to ascribe ultimate meaning to the universe - does not bear scrutiny
Most unbelievers endorse objective moral values, human dignity and attendant rights, and the 'deep value' of nature, at similar rates to the general populations in their countries
Unbelievers and general populations show high agreement concerning the values most important for 'finding meaning in the world and your own life'. 'Family' and 'freedom' ranked highly for all.
Vatican hosts major atheism conference with U | EurekAlert!
Well, like I said, who knew?
As I heard Dr Lois Lee speak about this I couldn't work out why I was getting increasingly angry about it. Particularly as her research was debunking falsehoods about atheism. Then I realised it was because I was being spoken about like an alien. Consider this statement
“A common supposition - that of the purposeless unbeliever, lacking anything to ascribe ultimate meaning to the universe - does not bear scrutiny”
This despite the fact that the study found that 50% of the populations they studied were unbelievers so how do they get to their “popular assumption” if 50% are actually atheists and can't be making that assumption? In fact, just that statement speaks of an internal bias.
The unspoken assumption behind this is that atheists aren't human. Though, having said all that, their findings do disprove this obvious nonsense. I think perhaps we would have noticed if half of our population were psychopaths.
Je suis Charlie. Je suis Ahmed. Je suis Juif. Je suis Parisien. I am Mancunian. I am Brum. I am London.I am Finland. Soy Barcelona
"Life, don't talk to me about life" - Marvin the Paranoid Android
"Science adjusts it's views based on what's observed.
Faith is the denial of observation so that Belief can be preserved."
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