Atheists Wet Selves in Excitement, Ignore Full Study Findings
Puddles spread below excited atheists all across the USA this week. Learning that self-identified “non-believers” now number 15% of the population, many atheists temporarily lost control of their bodily functions as they conveniently ignored the fine print . . . nearly all of these “non-believers” are neither atheist nor agnostic.
Oops.
Today, the American Atheists sprayed newspapers far and wide with a largely-ignored press release, excitedly informing the uninterested world that America has continued to turn its back on God:
An Atheist civil rights and advocacy group today hailed the findings of a national survey indicated that more Americans have “no religion.”
According to the latest American Religion Identification Survey, fifteen percent of those asked told researchers they had no religious belief, a rise from 14.2 percent measured in 2001, and up from 8.2 percent found in 1990. The report was released Monday by the The Program on Public Values at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn. Over 54,000 persons were surveyed.
“Non-belief is alive and thriving in America,” said Dr. Ed Buckner, President of American Atheists. “The findings show that sectarian religion is clearly in decline, and that people are no longer afraid to admit that they embrace a secular philosophy.”
Oh, joy!
The survey they’re quoting is the American Religious Identification Survey, 2008.
The statements the atheists make are factually correct, but as one might expect from the amoral who do not have God in their lives, they are not intellectually honest.
This story spins me right ’round, baby, right ’round.
Let’s dive into the tables, shall we?
Toward the bottom of the table, you’ll see the “Nones”. Indeed, that’s 15.0%.
Agnostic: 0.9%.
Atheist: 0.7%.
Yep. 1.6% of the American population identifies as agnostic or atheist; of that 15% who said “none”, the vast majority simply don’t identify with a particular religious tradition.
Like a record, baby. Right ’round, ’round, ’round.
Meanwhile, there’s good news!
False Christians are falling away in droves. (They’re not real Christians, and only want to play Christian while teaching others lies about God. Good riddance!) Evangelical/Born-Agains?
On the rise, friends. On the rise:
34% of American adults considered
themselves “Born Again or Evangelical
Christians” in 2008.
More detail? Try HERE.
Table 5 reveals the dimensions of a significant trend in “belief” among the 76 percent of contemporary Americans who identify as Christians. These respondents were specifically asked “Do you identify as a Born Again or Evangelical Christian?” No definition was offered of the terms, which are usually associated with a “personal relationship” with Jesus Christ together with a certain view of salvation, scripture, and missionary work. As the table shows, 45 percent of all American Christians now self-identify in this manner and they account for 34 percent of the total national adult population. What is significant is the recent spread of Evangelicalism well beyond Christians affiliated with those groups that are members of the National Evangelical Association so that millions of Mainliners and Catholics now identify with this trend.
Tables 4 and 5 show that there is a real and growing theological polarization in American society whereby 34 percent of the population believe they are “Born Again” but 25-30 percent reject the idea of a “personal” divinity. These questions on belief reveal the cultural polarization between the pious and non-religious portions of the national population, which are today roughly similar in size.
Praise the Lord, Christians are rising up to take control of this nation and ensure that it is, and will always be, Godly!
Are you as excited as we are? Hallelujah!
Um . . . have you seen the mop?
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Your childish floor-wetting metaphor — an idea of such brilliance that you beat the living shit out of it like a second rate comedian constantly, nervously laughing at his own jokes — makes the following fact all the more amusing to educated people and embarrassing to yourself:
You *are* aware of the definition of "atheist", right? Let's try Webster's:
"disbelief in the existence of God or any other deity"
If you don't subscribe to a religion, you don't believe in gods, since the belief in one or more gods (with or without a capital 'g') is by definition a *religious* belief.
Therefore, all those persons who don't subscribe to any religion (i.e. the "Nones" category) don't believe in gods.
Therefore, they are atheists.
Here's the catch: They are atheists *whether they identify as such explicitly or not*.
Or would you call someone who doesn't believe in gods a theist? You can't. Ouch.
As to your "Godly" nation myth, I must unfortunately heap even more embarrassment on you by informing you that even I as a non-American seem to have a better understanding of which principles your nation was founded on. This is really old news, but since you need some educational catching up to do, start here: http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/farrell_ti...
Of course, the possibility exists that Charles Smith is the satirical persona of an Onion writer doing a guest appearance here. In which case: well done, Sir, you got me.
Two points for you:
One, this article was written before July 8, 2009. You should have seen a notice pointing you to our About page. Did you? If not, I apologize and will find the problem.
Two, people who do not subscribe to a particular religion are not "atheists". Atheists do not believe that gods exist. There are plenty of people, such as Deists, who believe in the existence of "a god or gods", just not a particular one.
"Not religious" would also include people who subscribe to superstitious New Age nonsense and call themselves "spiritual", or say they "reject organized religion".
Sorry, "not religious" != "atheist".