Perspective on atheist believers
I've seen the statistic cited a few times today that 21 percent of (American) atheists believe in a higher power, which is roughly as absurd as saying that 21 percent of vegetarians eat meat.
It's pretty easy to make more out of a statement like that than the data really implies, and people have been rightly skeptical. But in chipuni's discussion ( Read more... )
It's pretty easy to make more out of a statement like that than the data really implies, and people have been rightly skeptical. But in chipuni's discussion ( Read more... )
Given the state of education and religious indoctrination in this country, I think you're on the right track in assuming that these are the results of a linguistic error. If I were to place a bet, it would be on most of the 21% of self-described "atheists" having chosen that label for themselves just because they don't attend church services or adhere to a holy book.
There might even be a good reason for that. If somebody directly asks me about my religion, or if the topic comes up and it's appropriate for me to chime in, I start with the abridged, "I'm atheist". It's the closest-to-accurate pigeonhole that the average person is likely to recognize, and if there's any genuine interest on their part, then I can begin to qualify my position: "actually, strictly speaking, I'm not an atheist; I just prefer to approach the subject of religion from a logical foundation, rather than a faith-based one, even though I'm uncertain of the nature of personality and spirit, and even though I might concede that there could be supernatural phenomenon. Also, I once was a practicing mage, and I think that people can have connections between each other that run deeper than merely the physical or the emotional, and that some people sometimes have that sort of deeper connection with their surroundings. I have a smattering of other little beliefs that I find useful or comforting even though they exist without a rigorous logical foundation, but that's a longer conversation still."
See, now that would be a very poor answer for a survey. :-)
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The charts are pretty interesting throughout, but especially check out the one on pp. 99, "Evolution as the best explanation for the origins of human life". Before I go any further, I'd like to take issue with the title of that chart, since evolution is the standard explanation for the origins of all life, not limited to human life only. It was called, "On the Origin of Species", dumbasses.
Aaaanyway: according to that chart, 9% of atheists and 11% of agnostics do not believe that evolution explains the origin of species.
I would love to talk to some of these 9-and-11-percenters. I'm intensely curious on what they have to say about the subject.
(Also, in that same chart, note that 45% of the overall polled population disbelieves evolution altogether. In my opinion, this represents a grave systemic failure of both education and rationalism in this country.)
...Huh! pp. 117, "Frequency of Attendance at Religious Services by Religious Tradition": 6% of "atheists" attend services at least once or twice a month, with 4% attending once a week, and 1% attending more than once a week. OK, WTF? Even the agnostics attend services less regularly. I refuse to accept that that number is entirely made up of people like necama. ;-)
Also, pp. 123, 2% of atheists pray at least once a week, and (pp. 126) 3% of atheists believe that the word of God is to be taken literally. Did this survey take place on 4chan, or what?
Aiiieee, and (pp. 150), 20% (!!) of atheists believe that the government should do more to protect morality in society. That's it, that number just pegged my stink-o-meter. It's official, this stinks. :-P
...Ah! Finally found what I was looking for, on pp. 210, the interview question that establishes the respondent's religion. They present the question of religion as multiple choice, and I think the way it's presented, there would be a tendency for persons of "alternative" religions to answer either atheist or agnostic.
Still, not at all the results I would have expected.
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