One in five Americans has no religion

PostmodernProphet said:
abortion isn't a religious issue....there are lots of folks who don't attend churches who think its a bad idea to kill unborn children......some of them post here......if you're looking for people who've forced their beliefs on others, look to the ones who've kicked smokers out of bars, lightbulbs out of houses, gasoline out of cars, 32 oz soft drinks out of cities......
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and the ONLY person who should be deciding this is the persons whos body is involved.

Next time you get pregnant you can decide for yourself
 
PostmodernProphet said:
liberals on parade......still unable to step up to their own idiosyncrasies......
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You are still ignoring the Republican/Conservative idiosyncrasies. Those issues only matter to you guys when you are trying to apologize for the GOP's favorite forms of big government. I am sorry, but the many freedom of inquiry issues and FUNDAMENTAL rights brought up by Rana and Haiku resonate a bit more than do concerns over whether REPUBLICANS and Democrats deny me the right to choose a light bulb. It's fing stupid to even compare these things.
 
TheJanitor said:
It's a survey. People will lie or refuse to answer based on perceived social stigma. I would bet the numbers of atheists and agnostics are higher than represented.
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Eh, it really depends on where you draw the line. Christians who are drifting away from their church, agnostics who are leaning church ways. Religion isn't a gene, people may go back and forth between several religions throughout their life and often don't really know what they believe at any one time.


That being said... WOOHOO MORE ATHEISTS.
 
TheJanitor said:
It's a survey. People will lie or refuse to answer based on perceived social stigma. I would bet the numbers of atheists and agnostics are higher than represented.
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And I would bet they are lower. Many so-called and self-proclaimed "Atheists" are people in denial of their own spirituality. Some "Atheists" believe in God more than some Christians. They are angry at God over some perception of injustice or misconception of God's role in their life, and they rationalize the only way to really "punish" God is to deny God and claim God doesn't exist. Kind of like an angry child might claim they "have no Mother or Father" when obviously they do.

There have been numerous studies over the years, and only about 5% of the population worldwide, are Nihilists. This means they honestly believe in absolutely nothing, the other 95% believe in something greater than self.
 
This is what's happening and why the religious zealots are putting the petal to the metal.

For the first time in American history Protestants are no longer in the majority. Also worth noting that secular numbers are growing rapidly ultimately to the benefits of Democrats.

The percentage of Protestant adults in the U.S. has reached a low of 48 percent, the first time that Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life has reported with certainty that the number has fallen below 50 percent. The drop has long been anticipated and comes at a time when no Protestants are on the U.S. Supreme Court and the Republicans have their first presidential ticket with no Protestant nominees.

Among the reasons for the change are the growth in nondenominational Christians who can no longer be categorized as Protestant, and a spike in the number of American adults who say they have no religion. The Pew study, released Tuesday, found that about 20 percent of Americans say they have no religious affiliation, an increase from 15 percent in the last five years.

Scholars have long debated whether people who say they no longer belong to a religious group should be considered secular. While the category as defined by Pew researchers includes atheists, it also encompasses majorities of people who say they believe in God, and a notable minority who pray daily or consider themselves "spiritual" but not "religious." Still, Pew found overall that most of the unaffiliated aren't actively seeking another religious home, indicating that their ties with organized religion are permanently broken.

Growth among those with no religion has been a major preoccupation of American faith leaders who worry that the United States, a highly religious country, would go the way of Western Europe, where church attendance has plummeted. Pope Benedict XVI has partly dedicated his pontificate to combating secularism in the West. This week in Rome, he is convening a three-week synod, or assembly, of bishops from around the world aimed at bringing back Roman Catholics who have left the church.

The trend also has political implications. American voters who describe themselves as having no religion vote overwhelmingly for Democrats. Pew found Americans with no religion support abortion rights and gay marriage at a much higher-rate than the U.S. public at large. These "nones" are an increasing segment of voters who are registered as Democrats or lean toward the party, growing from 17 percent to 24 percent over the last five years. The religiously unaffiliated are becoming as important a constituency to Democrats as evangelicals are to Republicans, Pew said.

Obviously as you can imagine I personally find this to be a good thing. And if the trend continues we will see a rather dramatic shift in our political spectrum and the long overdue end to the current attacks on education and science.

Just imagine a country whee people do not claim to have been chosen by God to run for office and where policy decision are based on evidence and intelligence instead of ignorance and superstition.

In a country like that there would be NO war on women, Mitt Romney would have no chance of being elected President, and our scientific research would be second to none.

Simply cannot happen fast enough in my opinion.
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http://theimmoralminority.blogspot.com/2012/10/for-first-time-in-american-history.html
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After witnessing the pedophile activities of the Catholic priests, the attempts by the Vatican to get the American nuns back in line, the churches who are rejecting and condemning gays, the tea party evangelicals who were voted into congress even though they are among the most intellectually inferior people on earth, and the war against women, I am convinced that the only purpose of religion is to frighten and control people, not to help them. All the wars in the world including terrorism were caused by religious zealots who want power for their own gain.
 
evince said:
and the ONLY person who should be deciding this is the persons whos body is involved.

Next time you get pregnant you can decide for yourself
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Like Like said:
So, no more judges and juries, then?
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No matter what you try to explain to these one issue women about abortion, its clear they believe this particular right is somehow absolute and can
never have any restraints....while all other rights in the Constitution must have limits to further the goals they think must met in all the others aspects of our lives...
including freedom of speech, religion, gun ownership, association, etc....the list is endless....
 
bravo said:
No matter what you try to explain to these one issue women about abortion, its clear they believe this particular right is somehow absolute and can
never have any restraints....while all other rights in the Constitution must have limits to further the goals they think must met in all the others aspects of our lives...
including freedom of speech, religion, gun ownership, association, etc....the list is endless....
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What are you talking about. Post something about access to abortion that shows your statement is based in fact. There are regulations at every level these days to the point that they are being used intentionally to curtail womens access to abortion. So rather than deal with that fact you want to argue what you 'believe' prochoice women think? Typical.
 
To be an atheist is to not understand what God is.

To subscribe to organized religion is to not understand what God is.
 
Dixie said:
And I would bet they are lower. Many so-called and self-proclaimed "Atheists" are people in denial of their own spirituality. Some "Atheists" believe in God more than some Christians. They are angry at God over some perception of injustice or misconception of God's role in their life, and they rationalize the only way to really "punish" God is to deny God and claim God doesn't exist. Kind of like an angry child might claim they "have no Mother or Father" when obviously they do.

There have been numerous studies over the years, and only about 5% of the population worldwide, are Nihilists. This means they honestly believe in absolutely nothing, the other 95% believe in something greater than self.
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Are you projecting? And here you go again making the association with nihilism.

Most people are not as thoroughly dishonest as you. You are not in flux, as disillusioned's post argues many are. You are not growing as I would counter disillusioned's post as many are, because you have been all over the map on EVERYTHING.

You are a LIAR who hides his true opinions because you know they will be rejected or ridiculed. You are an angry child who demands that your horribly ignorant understanding of the world is just as valid as any educated persons.
 
Jarod said:
To me atheism is about as silly a belief as any organized religion.
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Militant atheism certainly is. The people who go about throwing their "lack of religion" in people's faces as if it's as good as an actual belief. Go with easygoing Atheism, let people do their thing and you sleep in on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
 
TheJanitor said:
Are you projecting? And here you go again making the association with nihilism.
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What would I be projecting? I am a spiritualist who subscribes to no particular "religious" belief. I make the association which is relevant. Nihilism is belief in nothing, and that is what Atheists claim, belief in nothing, correct? Why do you want to distance yourself from Nihilism, if you truly don't believe in something? Obviously, you believe in something, or you would welcome the association.

Most people are not as thoroughly dishonest as you.
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What have I been dishonest about?

You are not in flux, as disillusioned's post argues many are. You are not growing as I would counter disillusioned's post as many are, because you have been all over the map on EVERYTHING.
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Really? Such as?

You are a LIAR who hides his true opinions because you know they will be rejected or ridiculed. You are an angry child who demands that your horribly ignorant understanding of the world is just as valid as any educated persons.
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Again, I have no reason to lie here, and one thing I've never been accused of is hiding my opinions. I haven't "demanded" anything, I just stated some clear and concise factual information for your digestion, and it apparently disagreed with your constitution. How about stop lashing out in anger and hate, and start backing your points up or refuting mine? That's, after all, how "intelligent" people operate.
 
Disillusioned said:
Militant atheism certainly is. The people who go about throwing their "lack of religion" in people's faces as if it's as good as an actual belief. Go with easygoing Atheism, let people do their thing and you sleep in on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
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Just because you don't belong to a religion does not make you an atheist.
 
Dixie said:
What would I be projecting? I am a spiritualist who subscribes to no particular "religious" belief. I make the association which is relevant. Nihilism is belief in nothing, and that is what Atheists claim, belief in nothing, correct? Why do you want to distance yourself from Nihilism, if you truly don't believe in something? Obviously, you believe in something, or you would welcome the association.

What have I been dishonest about?

Really? Such as?

Again, I have no reason to lie here, and one thing I've never been accused of is hiding my opinions. I haven't "demanded" anything, I just stated some clear and concise factual information for your digestion, and it apparently disagreed with your constitution. How about stop lashing out in anger and hate, and start backing your points up or refuting mine? That's, after all, how "intelligent" people operate.
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I did refute your points. You just do your same old tricks of thinking you can change a few words, otherwise using the same vocabulary of those superior to you, employ some slanderous labels and...Tada... there are no equal thirds and all the rest.

No, a-theism means you don't profess a belief in god(s). It was actually first used to describe monotheistic faiths with the same sort of vulgar sophistry you employ here.

It seems you are doing some reading. But, you are not advancing in the pursuit of truth you are just learning new ways to lie.

You are dishonest about EVERYTHING. Even your questions are dishonest.

You hide the fact that the core of your beliefs is hate towards those that proudly express some sort of difference. You are doing it here.

It is is quite ridiculous for you to assert that I am lashing out in hate when your last tantrum is so fresh. It never takes long for you to return to it.
 
bravo said:
No matter what you try to explain to these one issue women about abortion, its clear they believe this particular right is somehow absolute and can
never have any restraints....while all other rights in the Constitution must have limits to further the goals they think must met in all the others aspects of our lives...
including freedom of speech, religion, gun ownership, association, etc....the list is endless....
Click to expand...

Right, because, regulations over a woman's body are equivalent to regulation of guns and light bulbs?

The restraints must serve a valid state interest. That's the standard. Is it absolute or with any hint of the arbitrary? No, but you are in the minority anyway. So quit whining and support something that at least offers SOME protection from complete mob rule instead of throwing your little fit and spitting prune juice on everybody.
 
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