How prevalent is atheism?

[banesmabes 10]

I was wondering what proportion of people consider themselves to be atheist.

 

Is atheism growing in this country? If it is, then how does it's growth compare to growth/decline of other belief systems? If you are an atheist, do you think your beliefs receive as much respect/attention as religious beliefs?

[Cynic 10]

Initial response removed

[LordChaverly 10]

I was wondering what proportion of people consider themselves to be atheist.

 

Is atheism growing in this country? If it is, then how does it's growth compare to growth/decline of other belief systems? If you are an atheist, do you think your beliefs receive as much respect/attention as religious beliefs?

 

Yes, it probably is

[donkey 10]

I was wondering what proportion of people consider themselves to be atheist.

 

Is atheism growing in this country? If it is, then how does it's growth compare to growth/decline of other belief systems? If you are an atheist, do you think your beliefs receive as much respect/attention as religious beliefs?

 

Atheists don't want respect/attention for their beliefs, as they often don't have any concrete theories about why we're here. I would consider myself agnostic, in that I believe it possible that there is an intelligent creation force, but not one which is seperated from it's creation or demands respect, groveling, worship, and certain types of behaviour.

 

A lot of atheists and agnostics are quite vocal.

This isn't because they want others to believe exactly what they believe, but because they object to the militant spreading of ideas which demand blind belief (faith) in one thing, to the exclusion of all other possibilties.

 

Personally, I have no problem with other people believing in whatever they want, as long as they refrain from attempting to indoctrinate others - particularly children and the vulnerable - through scare tactics, such as fear of hell.

[banesmabes 10]

Atheists don't want respect/attention for their beliefs,

 

I suppose by respect I mean that it seems that society bends over backwards to accommodate people's religion, but non-belief doesn't seem to get the same treatment - like atheists are just expected to accept when religion is forced upon them and not complain. So for instance my employer will try to accommodate religious needs that conflict with work (e.g. prayer times), but when I objected to being told to attend a church service on the grounds of my non-belief they were flabbergasted and I got the response of "well can't you just pretend?" Would they have said this to a muslim?

 

I was also watching the news this morning about the Scouts' 100th anniversary and they had a load of scouts on re-affirming their promise - which of course includes a promise to "do your duty to god". It made me wonder if there was an atheist version of this promise, so I looked on their website and found a factsheet about variations to the 'god' part of the promise. They accommodate pretty much every belief system going, apart from atheism, which doesn't get a look in.

[Norbert 145]

There has been a steady decline of very roughly 5% per decade in christian belief for the last centaury, and the decline is mirrored in islam, in this country at least.

 

Being a believer strongly depends on what your parents believe. Having two believing parents means you are likely to believe, having only one believing parent makes it much less so. As there are now so few practicing religious couples religion must be in terminal decline. Within a couple of generations it may be seen as a quaint or historical thing.

 

As an atheist, it’s good news, so long as people don’t replace the traditional religions with new-age cobblers.

[donkey 10]

I suppose by respect I mean that it seems that society bends over backwards to accommodate people's religion, but non-belief doesn't seem to get the same treatment - like atheists are just expected to accept when religion is forced upon them and not complain. So for instance my employer will try to accommodate religious needs that conflict with work (e.g. prayer times), but when I objected to being told to attend a church service on the grounds of my non-belief they were flabbergasted and I got the response of "well can't you just pretend?" Would they have said this to a muslim?

 

I was also watching the news this morning about the Scouts' 100th anniversary and they had a load of scouts on re-affirming their promise - which of course includes a promise to "do your duty to god". It made me wonder if there was an atheist version of this promise, so I looked on their website and found a factsheet about variations to the 'god' part of the promise. They accommodate pretty much every belief system going, apart from atheism, which doesn't get a look in.

 

I know what you mean. Some people are so outraged that their religious views will be challenged when they express them on a public forum, that myself and others on here have been accused of trying to 'suppress freedom of religious belief.'

The irony of this charge obviously escapes them, given that non-believers are still persecuted and discriminated against in many countries today, and were here until quite recent times.

[Fingers 10]

I was wondering what proportion of people consider themselves to be atheist.

 

According to the 2001 census 15.1 percent of the population of Great Britain (or nearly 8.6 million people) classified themselves as having "no religion".

 

A further 7.8% (over 4.4 million people) did not state their religion on the census form (although that doesn't mean they are all atheists).

 

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=954

[Alastair 12]

The percentage of atheists is much higher amongst the the educated and more intelligent.

[Moon Maiden 10]

If you are a practising *insert choice here* what is it you are practising for?

 

I don't see why an atheist's feelings should be ignored over someone who has a faith. Why would attending a church service be compulsory for work?

[Crayfish 10]

The percentage of atheists is much higher amongst the the educated and more intelligent.

 

That's actually been remarkably difficult to show - it has been studied and except for the absolute scientific elite (world class professors and nobel prize winners, who were more likely to be atheist), there isn't a definite correlation between IQ or education and religious belief. I reckon that they just haven't looked hard enough, but I think that purely from anecdotal observations.

 

The UK are one of the most secular countries in the world, with little social pressure to be religious or otherwise. Worldwide, I've heard that around 85% of people follow a religion*.

 

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_religious_groups

[Blade1983 10]

I'm not sure whether I believe in a god or not (no one really knows why we're all here).

 

But if there is a god, I'm pretty sure he couldn't give a flying f*** if we go to church on a Sunday morning and sing some songs!

 

I'm pretty sure he'd rather us just live our lives in a generally 'good' way, trying our best not to harm others etc.

 

Who knows, we may all just be an experiment in a Petri dish in some lab somewhere!