There are 300 FEWER ATHEISTS today than there were yesterday.

[IR5FORMUMSIE 850]

I am so confused by this gender bending!

Amby, maybe it's best if you don't look when Sofiyya bends over. :help:

Edited November 1, 2011 by IR5FORMUMSIE

[Sofiyya 1,687]

Amby, maybe it's best if you don't look when Sofiyya bends over. :help:

OOOO, IR5, you're soooooo funny!

[Amby 490]

[Sofiyya 1,687]

Don't worry, Amby. We can both rest assured that you won't be around to watch me bend over. It's a thing of beauty, nonetheless

[Amby 490]

Don't worry, Amby. We can both rest assured that you won't be around to watch me bend over. It's a thing of beauty, nonetheless

Lol trannies and bums sounds like a fun time to me!

[Sofiyya 1,687]

Lol trannies and bums sounds like a fun time to me!

You're so easy to please

[Captain Oates 911]

The source seems to be a christian organization

Jersey Shore is exploding in popularity too - probably for the same reason - the spread of stupidity and lack of education caused by fewer teachers and increasing poverty

REAL statistics show atheism is the fastest growing religious stance in the world and in America

Religious people are gullible and that is why Nigerian scam letters always go on about god all the way through

Religiosity is inverse proportion to education and income - look anywhere in the world and see that correlation

[웃 910]

Sorry Danno - You FAIL! But if it makes you feel better you can still pretend your stats are true!

A recent article (OCT 1, 2011):

Rising atheism in America puts 'religious right on the defensive'

Yet in the homeland of ostentatiously religious politicians such as Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry, agnostics and atheists are actually part of one of the fastest-growing demographics in the US: the godless.

The exact number of faithless is unclear. One study by the Pew Research Centre puts them at about 12% of the population, but another by the Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society and Culture at Trinity College in Hartford puts that figure at around 20%.

Most experts agree that the number of secular Americans has probably doubled in the past three decades – growing especially fast among the young. It is thought to be the fastest-growing major "religious" demographic in the country.

Professor Barry Kosmin of Trinity College, who conducts the national Religious Identification Survey, believes up to a quarter of young people in the US now have no specific faith, and scoffs at the idea, prevalent in so much US media and culture, that the country is highly religious or becoming more so. "The trending in American history is towards secularisation," Kosmin said.

He cites the example of the changing face of Sunday in the country. It was not too long ago when many sporting events were banned on Sundays and most shops were closed too. Now the opposite is largely true.

As in Britain, Sunday in the US has become a normal shopping day for many, or a day to watch big football or baseball games. "The great secular holiday in America is Super Bowl Sunday. Even in the deep south, the biggest mega-church changes its schedule to suit the Super Bowl," Kosmin said.

He also pointed to social trends – greater divorce rates, gay marriage and much higher percentages of people having children out of wedlock – as other signs that the religious grip on society has loosened.

There are other indications, too. For a long time studies have shown that about 40% of US adults attend a church service weekly. However, other studies that actually counted those at church – rather than just asking people if they went – have shown the true number to be about half to two-thirds of that figure.

More Americans are now choosing to get married or be buried without any form of religious ceremony. At universities, departments devoted to the study of secularism are starting to appear. Books by atheist authors are bestsellers. National groups, such as the Secular Coalition of America (SCA), have opened branches across the country.

Herb Silverman, president of the Washington-based SCA, lives in Charleston, South Carolina. His local secularist group was founded in 1994 with 10 people, but now has 150 members. "I've been living here in the buckle of the Bible belt since 1976 and things are getting a lot better," Silverman said.

Yet there is little doubt that religious groups still wield enormous influence in US politics and public life, especially through the rightwing of the Republican party. Groups such as Focus on the Family are well-funded and skilful lobbyists.

Kosmin said the attention paid by politicians and the media to religious groups was not necessarily a sign of strength. "When religion was doing well, it did not need to go into politics. Secularity of our population and culture is obviously growing and so religion is on the defensive," he said.

However, it is still a brave US politician who openly declares a lack of faith. So far just one member of Congress, Californian Democrat Pete Stark, has admitted that he does not believe in God.

"Privately, we know that there are 27 other members of Congress that have no belief in God. But we don't 'out' people," said Silverman.

Others think that one day it will become politically mainstream to confess to a lack of faith as US political life lags behind the society that it represents. "Politicians have not yet caught up with the changing demographics of our society," said Gaylor.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/01/atheism-america-religious-right

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

All atheists should convert to being agnostic, as they are a paradox.

[Captain Oates 911]

The internet and television and open exchange of idea like this forum only increases the numbers of non believers. Ignorance and superstition and gullibility (which is what religion is), cannot survive the light of day and intelligent inquiry

When I was a kid, I did not dare let anyone know I was not a believer as I would not have got a job in that town and my friends would have been told they could not be my pals. That happened when my mother (a christian) told me I could not longer play with best friend as her sister had been abused by her father. I was devastated - typical harsh, judgmental, vindictive christian action.

That is what christians are like - vindictive and cruel and divisive and abusive and think they are superior

Since I discovered that in practice, christians are the opposite of what jesus preached, I give them no quarter - they wouldn't give me any mercy so I don't give them any

Christians don't do well as they get older, they realize they have tithed out of their retirement funds and been cheated by all the users - and they slowly realize it was all a big scam. I, on the other hand, grow fitter and richer and happier with every passing year. I don't have to worry about being 'judged' and all the uncertainty - I just go to sleep - forever

Its much nicer

Edited November 1, 2011 by Austin Devon

[scandal 951]

All atheists should convert to being agnostic, as they are a paradox.

huh?

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

huh?

An atheist rejects the notion of a greater power because there is no evidence that one exists. Yet, scientifically there is always a possibility that one does exist and therefore until it can proven otherwise, the person should remain open to the possibility that there may be a greater being.

[Captain Oates 911]

An atheist rejects the notion of a greater power because there is no evidence that one exists. Yet, scientifically there is always a possibility that one does exist and therefore until it can proven otherwise, the person should remain open to the possibility that there may be a greater being.

I am not open to the suggestion that cocoanuts migrate and then return to grocer's shelves each spring

I am not open to the idea that the queen is vampire and has lived for a hundred thousand years

I am not open to any idea that I find impossible although proving a negative is impossible

I find the idea of a benign spirit more impossible than either of those and therefore I dismiss it before I dismiss the others

If someone can scientifically prove that a golden hamster living in Ciudad Juarez is in fact the supreme being and creator of all, I am not going to believe it, and, in answer to your post, I am not going to remain agnostic on it either

One can only remain agnostic on a subject where one has doubt; even though one is, as a scientist, open to consider evidence to the contrary

Very intelligent people fall for the Nigerian scam as they have a high gullibility quotient. Very intelligent people are religious for exactly the same reason. I feel sorry for them but they cannot be helped.

My ex wife believed that a broken mirror meant 7 years bad luck and she will take that belief to her grave. She is christian - but she only became one shortly after divorcing me and becoming pregnant by an 18 year old boy when we were 36 with 2 children. She is a typical christian - trying to make up for her sins by crawling to god instead of crawling to her victims

[웃 910]

An atheist rejects the notion of a greater power because there is no evidence that one exists. Yet, scientifically there is always a possibility that one does exist and therefore until it can proven otherwise, the person should remain open to the possibility that there may be a greater being.

Um no.

I created my own religion. In short, I am your God. You must obey me and worship me. Should you remain open to the possibility that this is true?

[scandal 951]

An atheist rejects the notion of a greater power because there is no evidence that one exists. Yet, scientifically there is always a possibility that one does exist and therefore until it can proven otherwise, the person should remain open to the possibility that there may be a greater being.

1. You wrote "All atheists should convert to being agnostic, as they are a paradox". I'm still not seeing any paradox. Nor the grammatical structure of that sentence, but that's another matter.

2. An atheist is - literally - one without theology. Without religion. One can entertain concepts of a greater power while being firmly irreligious and subscribing to no form of organized religion, and hence an atheist. That's me, by the way.

3. Scientifically there is always a possibility that monkeys will type the Complete Works of Shakespeare. But that isn't a topic that merits much consideration. All you've stated is that inductive logic can't prove a thing true or false. So what. If that were the standard for science we'd be in heap big trouble.

I think I can judge for myself what possibilities I should realistically remain open to, and which I can safely say are outside the realm of my needing to entertain. I don't tell you what to believe in or what to call yourself, and don't particularly feel I need anyone to tell me whether I can be an atheist or not.