I absolutely agree with your first sentence. If only people acted like academic theories all the time. My work would be much easier! (Although, perhaps a bit boring)
Thank you for your insights. They help a lot.
Thank you for participating. And thank you for the feedback!
From my own experience as a child in a very theist family, I came to the conclusion that the participation was motivated more for social reasons. My father was a Mason, my mother Eastern Star. Each had their own weekly meetings to attend, and they were active within this community. At church there was the expected Sunday morning service, where great attention was devoted to deportment and dress. There were monthly group church dinners, the women each donated a large amount of food.
I have duly surveyed myself.
Good luck.
Seriously: How is it you can start a survey without doing the very basics of research into the topic you are researching. Your very first question indicates you are completely ignorant of the topic in question. These two responses to question #1 are identical. [I donāt know and there is now way to find out, I am an atheist.] Atheists are people who do not believe in gods.
The statement "I donāt know and there is no way to find out, but I believe in god anyway.] is an equally valid response.
You have created a false dichotomy between atheism and agnosticism and another between religiosity and agnosticism. Agnosticism is about what you can know to be true. Atheism and theism are about what one believes to be true. We hold many beliefs to be true without actually knowing whether or not they are true. Pascalās Wager is designed for the non-knowing theist. (After all, isnāt it better to believe and avoid the risk of hell, whether or not you know, than it is to risk eternal damnation and the wrath of God?"
You can throw the first question away, and if the rest of the test is as poorly prepared as the first question, junk the whole thing. You do not have a valid working definition of āAtheistā or āTheistā and you do not know the distinction between āKnowledgeā and āBelief.ā Not sure what sort of university you are attending, but this shit is pretty fucking basic. Agnosticism and theism are NOT mutually exclusive. Atheism and Agnosticism ARE NOT mutually exclusive. Go back to the drawing board and try again, or just fucking stay ignorant. Itās your study and your life. Sound like a complete idiot if you want to.
Awwww, fuick, you are a real twat arenāt you. Can you define an āAtheist World Viewā for me. (Question #2) What in the fuck are you talking about. There is no āAtheist world view.ā There are liberal atheists, conservative atheists, On any given social issue you are going to find atheists sitting on all sides of the camp fire. There are atheists that believe in souls and spirits and evil and chakras, and good luck, reincarnation, and all sorts of superstitious nonsense. There are atheists that are more skeptical and eschew all supernatural beliefs and explanations. (You just do not have a fucking clue, do you?) Atheism is a position on ONE TOPIC and ONE TOPIC ONLY. (THE EXISTENCE OF GODS) Atheists are people who do not buy into the stories about magical creator Gods. THATāS IT. NOTHING MOREā¦ That alone tells you NOTHING AT ALL ā¦ NOTHINGā¦ about a personās WORLD VIEW. You are a bigot and an idiot if you think it does.
FUCK! At this point, do I even dare to move on to question #3. You call this shit a survey? Really? Itās like making a shit pie and calling it a cookie. Are you merely trying to post as many fallacious assertions as you possibly can to see what sort of reaction you get?
So far, we know that you know nothing at all about Atheism, belief, knowledge, agnosticism, or what a world view actually is. How much more ignorant do you imagine you can appear? On to question 3.
What in the fuck is an agnostic group? The answer to the question, āDo you believe in a god?ā is āYesā or āNo.ā No one asked about whether or not you āKnowā a god exists. Either you believe it is a real possibility and you respond āYes.ā (REGARDKESS OF WHAT YOU THINK YOU KNOW.) Or you feel that you have looked at all the facts, found the god hypothesis wanting and respond, āNo.ā Of course you have no knowledge. There is no knowledge beyond personal conviction and woo woo feelings imagined love and peace that are available. If there were, we would all believe in god, We might not worship the asshole, but we would certainly believe in him.
Your survey is shit. You have not properly identified the groups you are referencing.
There areā¦
Gnostic -Antitheists: Atheists who assert, āNo Godās exist.ā They āKNOWā that God and gods are made up, false, mythical constructs and not real. They accept the burden of proof and feel they can prove their position. One of the most noted was the late, great Mr. Hitchens.
Agnostic -Atheists: Most common group of atheists. They can range from completely apathetic to (as in my own case) antitheist with regards to specific god claims.
With no good reason to believe in god or gods and no one coming forward with useful, empirical evidence to support a god claim. this group sees no reason to support the idea of a god. The God claim has not met its burden of proof and that which is asserted without proof can be rejected without proof.
Natural -Atheists by virtue of the fact they are born atheist, without a belief in god, raised in an atheist country, never being exposed to the Christian god.
Gnostic-Theists: Theists who āKNOWā there is a God and feel that they can prove it, at least to themselves. Their belief in this magical universe creating deity is unwavering. Nothing said will convince them otherwise.
Agnostic Theists - The majority of theists are agnostics. Any time you hear the expression, āWell, you gotta have faith,ā or āIt just takes faith.ā You are talking to an agnostic theist. They have no evidence, no facts, no foundation upon which to base their belief outside of āWell, it just takes faith.ā There is nothing at all, nothingā¦ about which I can not believe , based on faith. Faith is not a path to knowledge nor understanding. Itās certainly not evidence of any kind. Faith is what theists use to describe their position when they have run out of arguments that they once believed were convincing.
Ignorant Theists: These theists have been raised in Theist communities, surrounded by theists their entire lives, and they have adopted a theistic world view. The very concept of atheism is one that they have never entertained. The idea has not entered their existence.
YOU REALLY SHOULD DO JUST A LITTLE RESEARCH ON A TOPIC PRIOR TO CONSTRUCTING A SURVEY TO EXPLORE IT. YOU DONāT EVEN HAVE THE BASICS DOWN YET.
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umā¦That would be the very definition of a pilot survey.
Here is what I suggest. It is not that religion is necessary to from some sort of group. This thesis is fallacious at its core. I would suggest to you that any group of people that forms, becomes āreligious.ā
This will take a bit of tweaking on the definition of religion.
āReligion is a system of beliefs and practices by means of which a group of people struggle with the ultimate problem of human life.ā So Capitalism, Socialism, Communism, Scientific Method, and moreā¦ all qualify as religions.
āBelief in and reverence for a supernatural power recognized as the creator and governor of the universe; A particular integrated system of this expression; The spiritual or emotional attitude of one who recognizes the existence of a superhuman power or powers.ā (This eliminates Buddhism, Taoism, and Turtles all the way down, among others.
http://web.pdx.edu/~tothm/religion/Definitions.htm#:~:text=āReligion%20is%20a%20system%20of,ultimate%20problem%20of%20human%20life.ā&text=āReligion%20is%20that%20system%20of,sacred%20value%20and%20transforming%20power.ā
Itās interesting that when groups of people come together over any issue, belief systems are formed. Religion, throughout history, has been one huge experiment in Hegelian dialectics, thesis - antithesis - synthesis - thesis ā¦ Judaism a response to Zoroastrianism, Catholicism a response to Judaism, Protestantism, a response to Catholicism, and each new Protestant faith a response to the one before it.
Is there something about human nature that causes us to form religions? Biologically we survive because we are herd animals, Our ability to form groups is essential to our survival, (Or has been essential until recently and it may be argued the quality of survival is enhanced by our ability to cooperate and get along with others,)
So rather than āReligionā being the reason. Human nature is the reason and the formation of groups, religious in nature, is the outcome,ā¦
From here, I would look more closely at the big secular organizations and how their characteristics closely fit into religious ideology. These organizations have dogma, they have mission statements, they have belief systems clearly defined. The ACA for example, rallies around separation of Church and State and the rights of the gay community. There are several secular Churches that you can look intoā¦ as well as secular organizations. To become organized is to create dogma.
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The cri de coeur of social scientists everywhere. 
I was a joiner of clubs and associations when I was in my late teens to about 30ā¦ Then I became far too busy. ( newly married, full time job, part time university)
These days, Iām with Groucho Marx; āI refuse to join any club that would have me as a member.ā
All humansā¦
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Much appreciated. Thank you for your participation.
This forum is the only place I gather with fellow atheists. For me, it is just like my bowling or curling team. We all share the same interests, we get together and compete or exchange opinions. And try to have fun.
What a fascinatingly Victorian attitude.
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I couldnāt complete the survey, as the first question made no sense to me, and it requires an answer.
For example:
Which statement best describes your personal beliefs about God? *
I am an atheist, and I have no beliefs about any deity. Atheism is not a belief.
I donāt know and there is now way to find out
I am an atheist
Both those options apply, as generic god claims are generally unfalsifiable. I am therefore an agnostic and an atheist.
why?..
Hey there, Jim. Wouldnāt hold my breath waiting for a reply. In case you missed it, this thread was started almost a year ago. I imagine olā dude has moved on since then. Par for course around here.
Anyway, welcome to the AR. Always good to see new faces here. Hang around and get to know everybody. Check out some of the more recent threads. We like to have fun whenever we can.
No idea at all where you got that idea fromā¦ Just start a thread and post. Whatās probably not okay is whining about the opinions you get.
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In the interest of being a rebellious bastard asshole and breaking some unspoken rule, I just have to askā¦ Hey, Cog, what are your beliefs? THERE! Ha! Thatās right! I did it! I asked his beliefs! James Dean aināt got nothinā on me! I even cross the street without waiting on the āWalkā signal.
Oh. Okay. That actually makes more sense. You are not objecting to the question itself. You are suggesting the question be asked in a more āaccurateā manner. Is that correct?
Oh I donāt know, I kind of like it when they blubā¦
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