Atheism

Atheism, as defined by the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy and the Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, is the denial of the existence of any God. 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 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.

	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

• Decline of Atheism -CreationWiki
• European Commission report on Social values, Science and Technology, includes info on Religious beliefs
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