Times-Harris Poll: 1/4th of Us Could Be Atheists or Agnostics

[webmdave]

Source: The Nation [from the June 25, 2007 issue]

 

"We commonly hear that only a tiny percentage of Americans don't believe in God and that, as a Newsweek poll claimed this spring, 91 percent do. In fact, this is not true. How many unbelievers are there? The question is difficult to assess accurately because of the challenges of constructing survey questions that do not tap into the prevailing biases about religion."

 

"According to the American Religious Identification Survey, which interviewed more than 50,000 people, more than 29 million adults--one in seven Americans--declare themselves to be without religion. The more recent Baylor Religion Survey ("American Piety in the 21st Century") of more than 1,700 people, which bills itself as "the most extensive and sensitive study of religion ever conducted," calls for adjusting this number downward to exclude those who believe in a God but do not belong to a religion."

 

"Contrast this with a more recent and more nuanced Financial Times/Harris poll of Europeans and Americans that allowed respondents to declare agnosticism as well as atheism: 18 percent of the more than 2,000 American respondents chose one or the other, while 73 percent affirmed belief in God or a supreme being."

 

"A more general issue affects American surveys on religious beliefs, namely, the "social desirability effect," in which respondents are reluctant to give an unpopular answer in a society in which being religious is the norm. What happens when questions are framed to overcome this distortion? The FT/H poll tried to counteract it by allowing space not only for the customary "Not sure" but also for "Would prefer not to say"--and 6 percent of Americans chose this as their answer to the question of whether they believed in God or a supreme being. Add to this those who declared themselves as atheists or agnostics and, lo and behold, the possible sum of unbelievers is nearly one in four Americans."

 

"All this helps explain the popularity of the New Atheists--Americans as a whole may not be getting too much religion, but a significant constituency must be getting fed up with being routinely marginalized, ignored and insulted. After all, unbelievers are concentrated at the higher end of the educational scale--a recent Harris American poll shows that 31 percent of those with postgraduate education do not avow belief in God (compared with only 14 percent of those with a high school education or less). The percentage rises among professors and then again among professors at research universities, reaching 93 percent among members of the National Academy of Sciences. Unbelievers are to be found concentrated among those whose professional lives emphasize science or rationality and who also have developed a relatively high level of confidence in their own intellectual faculties. And they are frequently teachers or opinion-makers."

 

Thanks to Edward T. Babinski for finding this.

 

 

 

 

To monitor comments posted to this topic, use .

 

http://exchristian.net/exchristian/2007/07...s-could-be.html

[Mankey]

"the New Atheists"

 

How about anti-theist. Its not a dirty word.

 

Atheism is simply disbelief in Gods.

 

I like to point out that there are plenty of atheists that are not anti-theists like me.

 

Maybe anti-theists can start taking the heat from believers instead of mere atheism getting bashed. Another way of looking at it.

[woodsmoke]

It's a good distinction, but one to which believers will be blind. If one isn't with them, one is against them, and they'll treat one accordingly regardless of one's degree of opposition.

[Ex-COG]

The problem with these polls are with what choices they list. None of the groups they use may match what you call yourself. Before I realized I was agnostic, I would look at some of these polls and wonder where I would fit. Atheist didn't describe me, I wasn't non-religious since I attended a Unitarian Church, but I didn't feel comfortable with the designation Theist either, as my ideas about a possible God were quite different from what most people thought. I also always felt uncomfortable with the results, as people like me might be lumped together with all religious believers in God, including fundamentalist Baptists, Mormons, Catholics, etc., thus bumping up the numbers for those who presumably are "against" atheists and non-believers. I did not feel any affinity with those religious groups! The poll listed in this story sounds better, as you even had choices like "would prefer not to say" and "unsure".

[Amethyst]

The problem with these polls are with what choices they list. None of the groups they use may match what you call yourself. Before I realized I was agnostic, I would look at some of these polls and wonder where I would fit. Atheist didn't describe me, I wasn't non-religious since I attended a Unitarian Church, but I didn't feel comfortable with the designation Theist either, as my ideas about a possible God were quite different from what most people thought. I also always felt uncomfortable with the results, as people like me might be lumped together with all religious believers in God, including fundamentalist Baptists, Mormons, Catholics, etc., thus bumping up the numbers for those who presumably are "against" atheists and non-believers. I did not feel any affinity with those religious groups! The poll listed in this story sounds better, as you even had choices like "would prefer not to say" and "unsure".

 

Gotta agree. And a lot of people go to church to fit in, but don't believe at all, or lean toward agnostic. They need to rewrite these polls to include options like:

 

Check all that apply

1. You attend church weekly...

a. Because of social/family obligations rather than religious beliefs (eg. spouse or parents strongly encourage you)

b. And you have religious beliefs that agree with the doctrine of the church

c. And you have religious beliefs that are different from that of the church

d. But you are unsure of your religious beliefs

e. But you have no religious beliefs

f. Prefer not to answer

 

Check all that apply

1. You attend church at least once a month...

a. Because of social/family obligations rather than religious beliefs (eg. spouse or parents strongly encourage you)

b. And you have religious beliefs that agree with the doctrine of the church

c. And you have religious beliefs that are different from that of the church

d. But you are unsure of your religious beliefs

e. But you have no religious beliefs

f. Prefer not to answer

 

Check all that apply

1. You attend church once a year...

a. Because of social/family obligations rather than religious beliefs (eg. spouse or parents strongly encourage you)

b. And you have religious beliefs that agree with the doctrine of the church

c. And you have religious beliefs that are different from that of the church

d. But you are unsure of your religious beliefs

e. But you have no religious beliefs

f. Prefer not to answer

 

Check all that apply

2. You do not attend church

a. Because you go to a temple, mosque, or other religious gathering instead

b. Because you are unable to attend church, but you have religious beliefs

c. Because you are unsure of religious beliefs

d. Because you have no religious beliefs

e. Because there is no church in your area that agrees with your religious beliefs, but you do have them

f. Prefer not to answer

 

Something like that would at least weed out those who go to church but are agnostic or other religions and those who go simply because their spouses or parents make them. Then you could count those who checked unsure or have no religious beliefs as atheist and agnostic, respectively.

[HuaiDan]

But why complicate things when it would only undermine the agenda?

[Amethyst]

But why complicate things when it would only undermine the agenda?

 

How would it undermine anything to get a more accurate count of who is agnostic and who is atheist?

[Ex-COG]

But why complicate things when it would only undermine the agenda?

 

How would it undermine anything to get a more accurate count of who is agnostic and who is atheist?

Christians don't want to know the true numbers. It might rattle their cage, pop their balloon, steal their candy, spade the grave for their god.

[Sexton Blake]

I think in America there is a fear amongst atheists to admit what they are. In jobs, being an atheist can inhibit job prospects with many bosses. Even after 9/11, 1 in 4 christian parents would rather have their children marry muslims than atheists. We hear of christians wearing their religion like a badge and daring anyone to criticise them. I think being an atheist is seen as "unAmerican" by christians but this survey shows that there is an underground revolution going on.