Study on atheists. It’s a 10-question survey.
After you complete the survey, could you please tell me if there’s any way it could be improved?
I hope that the study is not too complicated or anything.
The first question only allows the selection of a single answer; but many of the choices are not mutually exclusive.
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Atheists do not have “a religious identity” so those questions are meaningless in their current form.
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Questionn 1: It’s all over the place… You do not understand distinctions.
Atheists are people that do not believe in a god.
Agnostics are people who have no Kowledge (information/evidence of god or gods). Both theists and Atheists are Agnostics.
A person who goes to church but does not believe in a god is an Atheist.
A person who is spiritual but does not believe in a god is an Atheist.
Your categories are non-specific, boundaries are blurred, and you can gain nothing at all from this “Lack of Grouping.”
Questions 5 and 6: Have nothing to do with atheism so why put the questions on an atheist site. Atheism is not a religion and it is not a belief system. Still people without a belief in God or gods are pressured by the theists to go along with their silly belief systems all the time. The social pressure to go along to get along is intense. The consequences of not doing so may also be intense.
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It’s probably a good idea to have a grasp of statistics before beginning to design surveys. Plus also worth being aware that a single survey is not usually accepted as being conclusive.
The YouTube clip linked below is satire, but also pretty much on the money imo.
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It only allows one answer per question, and some of them overlap, for example atheism and agnosticism are not mutually exclusive.
Edit I see Nyarl has beaten me to that one…
Well, to be honest, I only allowed one answer choice because I (mainly) did not know you could technically choose multiple. As I am still confused, could you please tell me what are some possible ways that this could happen?
I put that up mainly because some people are atheist (don’t believe in god/gods), but practice the religion. It doesn’t seem to be that common, but it does exist.
What do you mean?
How are atheists and theists both agnostics? I am an atheist (obviously), but I am not an agnostic in any way. I believe that there is no god/gods, and that there is proof for that. While there is a chance that I am wrong (obviously), I do not believe that.
Yes.
Perhaps “religious atheist”? There’s no name for that.
No. They could believe in some kind of divine entity, not necessarily a god or gods, but some kind.
How so? (I am actually confused)
I am also trying to study what discrimination has happened against atheists. Is there something wrong with that?
Yes, I shall look at it soon.
And you are right, there are problems like that.
But this is merely to add to the discussion, not frame it.
Ah. I am still confused on that.
There is no “proof” for that. The “non-existence” of a god is a nonfalsifiable claim, as is the claim for the existence of a god. You are wrong.
“Proof” is a mathmatical concept, you mean “evidence.” There is no good evidence for the non-existence of a god unless you define what god you are talking about. Once you define the god, you have built a “strawman.” Some gods may not exist and you can use facts, argument, and evidence to demonstrate this. You can not do it until the god thing is clearly defined. A pantheist’s god or a deist god are gods that simply don’t matter. You don’t pray to them and they no longer have any affect on the world. It is the same as if they are not here at all. But you aren’t going to prove they are not there. It can’t be done.
You are shifting the burden of proof onto yourself unnecessarily. It’s enough to simply not believe and waith for the theist to demonstrate his or her position.
Obviously… you do not know what you are talking about. My comments are perfectly clear. (Questions 5 and 6 reference “RELIGIOUS IDENTITY.” not Atheism)
I think I clearly explained the distinction between Agnosticism and Atheism. Everyone is basically agnostic. Theists and Atheists. Agnosticism is about KNOWLEDGE. What do you think you know about God and how do you know it? From the Bible? What makes you think the bible is true? It is not a sourse of Knowledge. It is a bunch of stories. Where is this Knowledge of God that you think you have?
Atheists are people who do not believe in God or gods. Generally, they do not believe specifically because of the lack of knowledge. That makes most atheists, Agnostic-Atheists.
I just said that DWEEB. Atheists can believe in seouls, demons, spirits, ghosts, reincarnation or whatever. The criteria for being an atheist is NOT BELIEVING IN A GOD OR GODS.
Answers to Question 10 will depend on where in the world you are. For me as a european, both US parties are “Very conservative”. So what I mean by Liberal, Moderate, Centrist, etc. does not necessarily map sensibly to the US political climate.
10. What are you?
Very liberal
Liberal
Very conservative
Conservative
Moderate
Centrist
Other
None
Atheist
Agnostic: A person with no knowledge of God and believes god can not be known. Any Christian who asserts “I can’t prove god.” Any Atheist who asserts, 'There is no evidence for God." Any person who admits to having ‘NO KNOWLEDGE OF GOD.’ Anyone at all.
Spiritual but not religious. Anyone who believes in souls, after life, past life regression, OBE, NDE, ghosts, chakras, magic, karma, etc… Buddhists, who do not believe in gods but bleieve in a reincarnating soul. They are atheist but spiritual. Sam Harris is an excellent example.
Belongs to a religion, but doesn’t believe in God or gods. Many Jews and Catholics fall into this category. Being a Jew or a Catholic is as much a cultural identity as it is a religious identity. Many belong, do the rituals, stay in the community, but do not believe in the spiritual woo woo., They are atheists. If you do not believe in a God of gods, by definition you are an Atheist whether or not you attend religious services or belong to a religious community. Atheists are people that do not believe in God.
Other nonreligious: Many Christians these days claim no religion. There is this free floating “I follow the words of Jesus” BS going on. I don’t believe in religion but I am a Christian. This is extremely common in the world today. I Believe in God, But Not Religion. Why People Say, “I Believe in God, But Not Religion” | Grotto Network
Religious: A bit obvious.
None: People who could be anything and are refusing to comment.
Moved post as it’s in the wrong thread by mistake.
Perhaps “evidence” is a better term.
Some evidence is evolution.
That also works. However, I like to also be able to disprove something at the same time. While it was not necessary, it still adds onto the level that the other must prove. (Sorry if it’s worded confusedly.)
Questions 5 and 6 were about discrimination. I took a look.
If God is real, then it would probably come from the Bible. It makes the most sense, and it would be the most consistent (especially since it has outlived others). While the Bible is often contradictory (it WAS written in many different cultures with many different needs), it still has the best possible explanation for it. At least stories/myth provide better explanations than personal, different beliefs.
That is also another reason why I am not an agnostic - I found a focused point, and used certain evidence (i.e. evolution) to disprove it.
Otherwise, there is nothing to disprove, because there is nothing that is defined.
“Dweeb.” XD
I already know that atheists can believe in demons or whatever - if I remember correctly, a YouGov survey from a couple years back found that about 10% of male atheists and a little over 20% of female atheists believe in demons (or was it ghosts?). I do not know why it’s such a big gender difference, but still.
However, spiritual but not religious can also believe in a god or gods, as well as the fact that they tend to embrace many aspects of religion that atheists do not - so while there is a chance that they are atheist, there is a chance that they are not. That was all I was saying.
Yes, some people (such as a friend in the UK) pointed this out to me. Which I find to be quite interesting.
You’re not going to put a defintion for that? You did for everything else.
Not me, then.
Yes, there is that.
Yes, which I call religious atheists. (I do not know of any official name.)
Hm, interesting.
Yes.
My sister is one of those. Even I don’t know what she actually is - sometimes it seems like atheist, other times religious.
Evolution is evidence of evolution. It is not evidence of the non-existence of a god. If you are going to assert “God does not exist, you must provide evidence for “THAT” claim.” Half the Christian population believes in evolution and asserts that their god put shit here and then it began to evolve. Your “evidence” gets you nowhere. You have no good evidence for the non-existence of god. It is a NON-FALSIFIABLE claim.
Yes you: You just don’t know it yet. Demonstrate that God does not exist. You can’t do it. You can’t do it without 1. building a strawman god. 2. Engaging in some form of fallacious logic. “God does not exist” is a non-falsifiable claim.
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Sorry Drew,
Like the rest of us, you are going to find out that you are an Agnostic-Atheist. The good thing about this is that once you get this, you will no longer allow people to tell you they are Agnostic when you ask them what they believe. ATHEISM is about belief. You are either a THEIST or an ATHEIST. You either believe a god exists or you don’t believe a god exists. (This is not the same thing as believing no god exists. Believing no God exists is your point of confusion. It is not the same thing as not believing in a god.)
When you ask, do you believe in a god, and a person responds “I’m agnostic” they are being slippery. They are not telling you what they believe but rather what they know. You don’t need to know anything about a God to believe in a god. In fact, most believers know nothing at all about God and believe anyway.
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So you believe in all of the Grimm Fairy tales?
I will answer for you. Most likely, not.
And that is my point, stories and/or myths have nothing to substantiate themselves. They are just stories.
And if you applied the standards of a court of law, personal stories carry more weight (still, not much) because the person with the beliefs can be cross-examined, while the stories can not be validated in any way.
Do you believe there is a real Spiderman? Because it is an interesting story set against a real world backdrop.
True enough… I wish more people would understand that.
It may be claimed that myths are important because they are used to explain a lot of things, from relatively minor things such as rain, thunder and lightning to
what happens when we die.
People accept myths on faith, as say in every religion on earth. People have no problem accepting other peoples’ myths are not true, but tend to have a blind spot when it comes to their own myths.
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Off topic: This is niggling me: On another post someone ( I forget who) posted a screed comparing Horus and Isis. Because that’s lifted directly from the risible
“Zeitgeist” book and alleged documentaries, I’m hoping it was tongue in cheek.
Just in case it was serious: The author of that tripe conflates correlation and causation. They are not the same.
More egregious are the amount of bald faced factual errors.
I’ll just deal with one: ISIS was not a virgin mother. She had three siblings; brothers Osiris and Seth and a sister Nephthys. She was married to her brother Osiris. Seth murdered his brother and scattered his body all over the Nile Delta. Isis found all of the pieces except for Osiris’s penis. She made one from wood. Isis then magically reanimated her Brother’s body and used his magical penis to impregnate herself. She gave birth to Horus, a multi layered god who may be a syncretic figure . IMO it’s a bit simplistic to claim he was Christ-like. ****
Just saying. Apologies if the OP was just taking the piss.
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***Of course there is the similarity in that Jesus may also be syncretic figure. Carrier suggests Jesus/Christianity is a synthesis of Judaism and Greek Mystery Religions . Not convinced, but it’s an interesting idea.