Number of Atheists on MAP

So, I've noticed that the number of atheists on MAP (myself included) seems to outnumber the theists quite severely, considering the fact that atheists only make up 2.3% of the population (wikipedia says so) I find this immensely interesting,
Any theory on there being a correlation between doing MA and not having invisible friends, or is this just random chance?

 

I think it's just we are more vocal rather than more numerous.
I bet we're outnumbered by the people that would profess some sort of "spritual" belief (some weak, some quite strong) but keep quiet about it.

 

Population of where? Since most MAPers are from Britain, the US and Australia, I'd expect numbers to be more in line with the averages of those countries.

Plus I'd imagine there are various selection biases at work in the population of people who regularly post on an internet forum (particularly one that bans text speak and swearing).

 

i like to think that there's more atheists than the statistics say. simply because, there's a lot of societal and familial pressure on either believing or seemingly believing. i think that people go to church just because they think it's a good environment for their kids. i disagree personally, i think it's a horrible thing to do to a kid. but i do find myself going to church once or twice a year simply to make my mom happy. and nobody wants to give up christmas, to which my charge is that christmas is basically a secular holiday anyway.

 

It may be because most of us know there is no god because we get beaten up so hard regularly ....
=D

 

I'm not sure - I often get back from training saying Oh god that hurt !!!!

 

Maybe because atheists are trying to convince themselves more. And from experience, as to confrontations when discussing other possibilities of alternate realities on other forums that I have been.The closed to other possibility mentality people slam their little hammer down on me.

 

i don't understand what you're saying. are you lamenting the fact people are asking for evidence to 'other possibilities'? because if you're going to talk about other possibilities, you need to offer proof. if you're going to say 'god exists, created the world in six days' that's fine, i'm going to ask for evidence to suggest that there indeed is a god, that he/she did indeed create the world, and some proof as to how long it took.

see that's the point of living in the reality-based community. it's actually very humbling. there's a lot that we don't know, but what we do know, we can offer evidence to support it.

 

YES !!!!

 

I'm sure it was reported somewhere this week that Christianity has until 2025 in the UK if it's decline continues at the same rate as it is now. Personally I think it's decline will speed up

 

Just a personal observation, but the internet-using portion of the human race does seem to be more atheistic in general.

I'd also question the 2.3% figure. In fact, looking it up, the paragraph states:

"Nonreligious" is essentially atheistic. I suspect a good portion of that group would describe themselves as "agnostic" or "apathetic". All are essentially non-believers.

Plus you have people who would identify with a religious group out of habit or cultural identity but who, if they were to be more explicit, might be better described as "apathetic", "agnostic" or even "non-believers".

Like anything this complex, there's shades of grey, but I'd doubt there's much of a correlation, if any, between religious belief and MA practice.

 

cosmic...check out tactical hapkido. it's god AND martial arts.

regarding the figures...you have to remember that there's still countries around the world that actively promote religion with a threat of violence to unbelievers, or even believers that are not orthodox enough. i think that also skews the statistics to the religious.

 

Don't confuse alternate realities to just the main three religious belief systems. The ancients knew the mathematics of the pleiadian star system. And this was more of a major direction of thought and beliefs that religions took than is appreciated now and of what people of today are aware of.

 

greeks? huh...greeks also believed that lightning was caused because zeus was ****ed off. i like to think that zeus was just coming on some hot greek chick. "booom!"

see, my major problem with christianity.....boring. look at zeus. dude took the form of a 'golden shower' to hook up with one chick, a white bull to hook up with another, a swan to hook up with another. i've anyone's ever read the iliad...there's a scene where zeus gets all hot and wants to hook up with his wife, hera, for a change. it's hilarious..."remember when i took the form of <?> and i hooked up with <?>, i'm much more aroused now to hook up with you. and remember when.." and literally lists out like 10 greek chicks he's hooked up with, each time saying, "i'm way more aroused now to hook up with you". no one can deny homer had a sense of humor.

when i say these things about greeks, i say it with love, my family's from there.

 

I can speak only for myself, but I think the martial arts have made me a more religious person.

 

I'd be out of there like a shot as soon as I found out, personally. Hopefully there's not too many like that!

Yeah, that's true. Still, I'd have to wonder how many people in those countries are secretly non-believers. I'd suspect more than any official figures would claim but probably nowhere near as many as I'd hope, if I'm honest. Poor education tends to go hand in hand with oppression of any sort.

 

No one has ever provided me with conclusive proof that a god, or gods, exist. No one has ever proved to me that they don't, either. I find it hard to accept anything not backed up with evidence, so I suppose I'm essentially faithless, but I would class myself as agnostic since I don't actively believe that there are no gods.

Belief and faith are strange concepts. I live with an atheist, a non-religionist (he thinks atheism is a religion in itself) and a self-professed Randomist (apparently this means that he believes in "random stuff" but not gods - last week he was an atheist. I blame the school.).


The monotheistic religions seem to be rather cheerless - lots of rules and plenty of punishments for infringing those rules. The ancient Greek gods, on the other hand, really knew how to party (even though they might turn you into an inanimate object just for the fun of it - very capricious).


I still think the Wiccans have the best precept - "do as thou wilt, an it harm none". Religion per se is not a problem; organised religion can be, though. I couldn't care less what religion people choose to follow, as long as:
1) They don't try to convert me (proselytising REALLY bugs me)
2) They don't try to make me change my life to suit their idea of 'correct' behaviour (campaigning against plays, music etc that doesn't conform to their ideals, making women feel uncomfortable about wearing short skirts, trying to teach Creationism as scientific fact in schools etc etc)
3) They don't expect special treatment, from the legal system or from society in general.


As far as the figures go, there will always be cultural bias towards religions people have been brought up in. It is easier to stick with the same religious identity you were brought up in (fewer family conflicts, just plain inertia) than to actively stand up and say, 'I have changed my mind and am now an atheist'. Also (this applies to England, but something similar may apply elsewhere) it is still quite common when someone is asked questions for the purpose of form-filling, for the default setting on religion to be 'C of E' (Church of England). This has happened several times to me on admission to hospital, and I have had to point out the error and request that my reply of 'none' actually be recorded as 'none', not 'C of E'. :bang: The last couple of times, though, I was asked to fill out the form myself, so nothing was lost in translation........