Conservapedia - User contributions [en]

Atheism

2007-06-02T08:46:10Z

Liberalathiest: /* Athiesm statistics and Sources (liberalatheist) */

Atheism

2007-06-02T08:45:07Z

Liberalathiest:

'''Atheism''', as defined by the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' and the ''Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', is the denial of the existence of any [[God]]. <ref>http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/atheism-agnosticism/</ref> <ref>http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/1998</ref> The term "atheism" also includes uncertainty about whether God exists or not, that is, people who never believe in God or actively deny His existence (see also [[agnosticism]]). There are two kinds of atheism, strong atheism, or someone who believes strongly that there is not God, and weak atheism, or someone who believes that there probably is not a God.

== Biblical View of Atheism ==
The Bible declares:

The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God." - Psalm 14:1 (KJV)

In addition, the Bible states:

For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, [even] his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse... - Romans 1:20 (KJV)

== Minority View and Well Known Atheists ==

In recorded history atheism has been a minority view, although there have been pockets of atheistic thought such as amongst the literati in pre-modern China who followed Confucian teachings.

Well-known atheists include [[Joseph Stalin]], [[Bertrand Russell]], [[Ayn Rand]], [[Richard Dawkins]] ,[[Douglas Adams]], [[Ernest Hemingway]], and [[David Hume]].

==Atheism and Communism ==
[[Karl Marx]] coined the saying "Religion is the opium of the people". Karl Marx also wrote: "Communism begins from the outset (Owen) with atheism; but atheism is at first far from being communism; indeed, that atheism is still mostly an abstraction."

[[Vladimir Lenin]] similarly wrote: "A Marxist must be a materialist, i. e., an enemy of religion, but a dialectical materialist, i. e., one who treats the struggle against religion not in an abstract way, not on the basis of remote, purely theoretical, never varying preaching, but in a concrete way, on the basis of the class struggle which is going on in practice and is educating the masses more and better than anything else could."

== Atheist morality ==

Although it is difficult to generalize about atheism because it has no creed in a way that [[Christianity]], [[Judaism]], and [[Islam]] do, atheists typically hold that no religious text can be the only source of morality; they do not look for their morality in revelation, but rather in reason or some other internal force. However, many atheists believe that religious texts contain useful ideas and principles, such as the [[Golden Rule]]. Such people would, however, assert that useful principles entered religion because they are useful, and not the other way around. As atheists do not believe in any form of deity, books purported to be based upon the revealed words of such deities are not considered to have any more inherent moral authority than books written by people, as they consider them to be one and the same.

== Atheist Population ==

It is difficult to accurately determine the proportion of the population that is atheist because survey definitions, and even real life definitions, are often unclear. Some people are unsure of the existence of God, but they are sometimes counted as atheists. People who think that the existance of god cannot be proven or disproven are called agnostics (see [[Agnosticism]]). Furthermore, surveys containing an option for "no religion" are not necessarily identifying atheists. Individuals may believe in some form of god but not subscribe to any particular religion.

Specific research on atheists conducted in 2006 [http://www.harrisinteractive.com/news/allnewsbydate.asp?NewsID=1131 suggests] that the true proportion of atheists is 4% in the United States, 17% in Great Britain and 32% in France.

== Concern about Atheists in America ==

Research in the American Sociological Review finds that atheists are the group that Americans least relate to for shared vision or want to have marry into their family.
<ref>Edgell, Gerteis & Hartmann 2006</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|-
!
! This Group Does Not At All Agree with My Vision of American Society:
! I Would Disapprove if My Child Wanted to Marry a Member of This Group:
|-
| Atheist
| 39.6%
| 47.6%
|-
| Muslim
| 26.3%
| 33.5%
|-
| Homosexual
| 22.6%
| NA
|-
|Conservative Christian
| 13.5%
| 6.9%
|-
| Recent Immigrant
| 12.5%
| Not Asked
|-
| Hispanic
| 7.6%
| 18.5%
|-
| Jew
| 7.4%
| 11.8%
|-
| Asian American
| 7.0%
| 18.5%
|-
|African American
| 4.6%
| 27.2%
|-
| White American
| 2.2%
| 2.3%
|}

== World Religion Statistics==
Major Religions of the World
Ranked by Number of Adherents (2002)

1. Christianity: 2 billion
2. Islam: 1.3 billion
3. Hinduism: 900 million
4. Secular/Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheist: 850 million
5. Buddhism: 360 million
6. Chinese traditional religion: 225 million
7. primal-indigenous: 150 million
8. African Traditional & Diasporic: 95 million
9. Sikhism: 23 million
10. Juche: 19 million
11. Spiritism: 14 million
12. Judaism: 14 million
13. Baha'i: 6 million
14. Jainism: 4 million
15. Shinto: 4 million
16. Cao Dai: 3 million
17. Tenrikyo: 2.4 million
18. Neo-Paganism: 1 million
19. Unitarian-Universalism: 800 thousand
20. Rastafarianism: 700 thousand
21. Scientology: 600 thousand
22. Zoroastrianism: 150 thousand
== Athiesm statistics and Sources (liberalatheist)==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Poll
! Date
! Adherents
! Percent
! Total Pop.
! Source
|-
| The Universal Almanac
| Breakdown of World Religions
| Major Religions of the World Ranked by Number of Adherents
| United Kingdom Gallup - Telegraph
| Major religious denominations, Canada
| U.S. Religious Affiliation, self-identification,
| Top Twenty Religions in the United States, (self-identification)
| Non-Christian Religious Adherents in the United States
|-
| 1990
| 1989
| 2001
| 1999
| 2001
| 2002
| 2001
| 2000
|-
| Atheist
| Non-Believers
| Secular/Nonreligious/Atheist/Agnostic
| Atheist/ Agnostic
| No Religion
| Atheist/ Agnostic
| Nonreligious/Secular/Atheist/Agnostic
| Atheist/ Nonreligious
|-
| 26.8 %
| 21.6 %
| N/A
| 40.0 %
| 16.2 %
| 3.0 %
| 14.1 %
| 9.1 %
|-
| 1,016,400,000
| 1,100,000,000
| 850,000,000
| N/A
| 4,796,325
| N/A
| 29,432,000
| 25,479,000
|-
| http://www.positiveatheism.org/india/s1990c48a.htm
| See Above
| See Above
| See Above
| See Above
| See Above
| See Above
| See Above
|}
==External Links==

*[http://creationwiki.org/Decline_of_atheism Decline of Atheism -CreationWiki]
*[http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_225_report_en.pdf European Commission report on Social values, Science and Technology, includes info on Religious beliefs]
*[http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html]

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:Religion]]
[[Category:Philosophy]]

Atheism

2007-06-02T08:23:29Z

Liberalathiest: /* World Religion Statistics */

'''Atheism''', as defined by the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' and the ''Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', is the denial of the existence of any [[God]]. <ref>http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/atheism-agnosticism/</ref> <ref>http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/1998</ref> The term "atheism" also includes uncertainty about whether God exists or not, that is, people who never believe in God or actively deny His existence (see also [[agnosticism]]). There are two kinds of atheism, strong atheism, or someone who believes strongly that there is not God, and weak atheism, or someone who believes that there probably is not a God.

== Biblical View of Atheism ==
The Bible declares:

The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God." - Psalm 14:1 (KJV)

In addition, the Bible states:

For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, [even] his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse... - Romans 1:20 (KJV)

== Minority View and Well Known Atheists ==

In recorded history atheism has been a minority view, although there have been pockets of atheistic thought such as amongst the literati in pre-modern China who followed Confucian teachings.

Well-known atheists include [[Joseph Stalin]], [[Bertrand Russell]], [[Ayn Rand]], [[Richard Dawkins]] ,[[Douglas Adams]], [[Ernest Hemingway]], and [[David Hume]].

==Atheism and Communism ==
[[Karl Marx]] coined the saying "Religion is the opium of the people". Karl Marx also wrote: "Communism begins from the outset (Owen) with atheism; but atheism is at first far from being communism; indeed, that atheism is still mostly an abstraction."

[[Vladimir Lenin]] similarly wrote: "A Marxist must be a materialist, i. e., an enemy of religion, but a dialectical materialist, i. e., one who treats the struggle against religion not in an abstract way, not on the basis of remote, purely theoretical, never varying preaching, but in a concrete way, on the basis of the class struggle which is going on in practice and is educating the masses more and better than anything else could."

== Atheist morality ==

Although it is difficult to generalize about atheism because it has no creed in a way that [[Christianity]], [[Judaism]], and [[Islam]] do, atheists typically hold that no religious text can be the only source of morality; they do not look for their morality in revelation, but rather in reason or some other internal force. However, many atheists believe that religious texts contain useful ideas and principles, such as the [[Golden Rule]]. Such people would, however, assert that useful principles entered religion because they are useful, and not the other way around. As atheists do not believe in any form of deity, books purported to be based upon the revealed words of such deities are not considered to have any more inherent moral authority than books written by people, as they consider them to be one and the same.

== Atheist Population ==

It is difficult to accurately determine the proportion of the population that is atheist because survey definitions, and even real life definitions, are often unclear. Some people are unsure of the existence of God, but they are sometimes counted as atheists. People who think that the existance of god cannot be proven or disproven are called agnostics (see [[Agnosticism]]). Furthermore, surveys containing an option for "no religion" are not necessarily identifying atheists. Individuals may believe in some form of god but not subscribe to any particular religion.

Specific research on atheists conducted in 2006 [http://www.harrisinteractive.com/news/allnewsbydate.asp?NewsID=1131 suggests] that the true proportion of atheists is 4% in the United States, 17% in Great Britain and 32% in France.

== Concern about Atheists in America ==

Research in the American Sociological Review finds that atheists are the group that Americans least relate to for shared vision or want to have marry into their family.
<ref>Edgell, Gerteis & Hartmann 2006</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|-
!
! This Group Does Not At All Agree with My Vision of American Society:
! I Would Disapprove if My Child Wanted to Marry a Member of This Group:
|-
| Atheist
| 39.6%
| 47.6%
|-
| Muslim
| 26.3%
| 33.5%
|-
| Homosexual
| 22.6%
| NA
|-
|Conservative Christian
| 13.5%
| 6.9%
|-
| Recent Immigrant
| 12.5%
| Not Asked
|-
| Hispanic
| 7.6%
| 18.5%
|-
| Jew
| 7.4%
| 11.8%
|-
| Asian American
| 7.0%
| 18.5%
|-
|African American
| 4.6%
| 27.2%
|-
| White American
| 2.2%
| 2.3%
|}

== World Religion Statistics==
Major Religions of the World
Ranked by Number of Adherents (2002)

1. Christianity: 2 billion
2. Islam: 1.3 billion
3. Hinduism: 900 million
4. Secular/Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheist: 850 million
5. Buddhism: 360 million
6. Chinese traditional religion: 225 million
7. primal-indigenous: 150 million
8. African Traditional & Diasporic: 95 million
9. Sikhism: 23 million
10. Juche: 19 million
11. Spiritism: 14 million
12. Judaism: 14 million
13. Baha'i: 6 million
14. Jainism: 4 million
15. Shinto: 4 million
16. Cao Dai: 3 million
17. Tenrikyo: 2.4 million
18. Neo-Paganism: 1 million
19. Unitarian-Universalism: 800 thousand
20. Rastafarianism: 700 thousand
21. Scientology: 600 thousand
22. Zoroastrianism: 150 thousand

Top Twenty Religions in the United States, 2001
(self-identification, ARIS)
Religion 1990 Est.
Adult Pop. 2001 Est.
Adult Pop. % of U.S. Pop.,
2000 % Change
1990 - 2000
Christianity 151,225,000 159,030,000 76.5% +5%
Nonreligious/Secular 13,116,000 27,539,000 13.2% +110%
Judaism 3,137,000 2,831,000 1.3% -10%
Islam 527,000 1,104,000 0.5% +109%
Buddhism 401,000 1,082,000 0.5% +170%
Agnostic* 1,186,000 991,000 0.5% -16%
Atheist* 902,000 0.4%
Hinduism 227,000 766,000 0.4% +237%
Unitarian Universalist 502,000 629,000 0.3% +25%
Wiccan/Pagan/Druid 307,000 0.1%
Spiritualist 116,000
Native American Religion 47,000 103,000 +119%
Baha'i 28,000 84,000 +200%
New Age 20,000 68,000 +240%
Sikhism 13,000 57,000 +338%
Scientology 45,000 55,000 +22%
Humanist 29,000 49,000 +69%
Deity (Deist) 6,000 49,000 +717%
Taoist 23,000 40,000 +74%
Eckankar 18,000 26,000 +44%

* many atheists/ agnostics undoubtably respond with 'non-religious/ secular' due to the stigma of 'atheism'

source

Collection of polls showing population of Atheists, Agnostics, Secularists and Non-Religious
Poll

Date

Group

Adherents

%

total pop.

Source
The Universal Almanac 1990
Atheist
9.9%

210,500,000

Universal Alminac+
Non-Religious
16.9%

805,900,000
Breakdown of world religions 1989
Nonbelievers
21.6%

1,100,000,000

Catholic News Service and Encyclopedia Britannica+
Major Religions of the World Ranked by Number of Adherents 2001
Secular/Nonreligious/
Agnostic/Atheist
*

850,000,000

Adherents.com
United Kingdom Gallup - Telegraph 1999 UK 16-25 age-group Atheist/ Agnostic
40%

*

Gallup - Telegraph
Major religious denominations, Canada 2001 Canada No Religion
16.2%

4,796,325
Major religious denominations, Canada, 1991 1 and 2001
U.S. Religious Affiliation, self-identification,
2002

Atheist
1%

*

Pew Research Council
Agnostic
2%

*
Top Twenty Religions in the United States, (self-identification)
2001

Nonreligious/Secular
13.2%

27,539,000

ARIS
Atheist
0.4%

902,000
Agnostic
0.5%

991,000
Non-Christian Religious Adherents in the United States
2000

Atheist
0.3%

925,000

Britannica Book+
Non-Religious
8.8%

24,554,000
Atheist Prison Population
Canadian Prisons
1925
Ca. prisoners Atheist/ Agnostic, non-religious Uniterain
0%

0 of 1,2061

Steiner and Swancara
Prison Population executed for murder at Sing-sing
1925
US Sing-Sing Pen. non-religious
0.33%

*

"The New Criminology," Max D. Schlapp and Edward E. Smith
Prison Population
1925
US Prisoners convicts without
religious training
0.1%

*

"The New Criminology," Max D. Schlapp and Edward E. Smith
Prison Population
1997

U.S. Prisoners
Atheist
0.209%

156 of 74,731

Federal Bureau of Prisons +

Other Groups
National Academy of Sciences 1998 members of the National Academy of Sciences Personal disbelief in god
72.2%

517 members, half responded

Nature
doubt or agnosticism
20.8%
Religious Affiliation US voters
2000

U.S. Voters
Agnostic or Atheist
7.1%

*

Harris poll
Nonreligious/No answer
10%

*
What religious or nonreligious group doesn’t share your vision of American society 2003
Atheist
(Muslims were second)
54%

*

American Mosaic Project

==External Links==

*[http://creationwiki.org/Decline_of_atheism Decline of Atheism -CreationWiki]
*[http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_225_report_en.pdf European Commission report on Social values, Science and Technology, includes info on Religious beliefs]
*[http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html]

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:Religion]]
[[Category:Philosophy]]

Atheism

2007-06-02T08:22:11Z

Liberalathiest: /* External Links */

Atheism

2007-06-02T08:21:24Z

Liberalathiest: