Atheism and white males

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Richard Dawkins
Rebecca Watson wrote about new atheist Richard Dawkins during the time of his Elevatorgate controversy: "Well, PZ Myers, Jen McCreight, Phil Plait, Amanda Marcotte, Greg Laden, Melissa McEwan and others have all already said it, but I figured I should post this for the record: yes, Richard Dawkins believes I should be a good girl and just shut up about being sexually objectified because it doesn’t bother him. Thanks, wealthy old heterosexual white man!"[1]

In the Western World, the atheist population has a far higher percentage of white males compared to the general public.[2]

Atheism and men

Surveys throughout the world and other data indicate that men are more inclined to be atheists than women.[3] [4]

In 2016, Atheist Alliance International (AAI) conducted an annually reoccurring atheist census project and found:

At the time of writing, the Atheist Census Project recorded that on average worldwide 73.2% of respondents were male. The result is consistent with other research... As such, the focus of many scholarly papers has been on seeking to explain this persistent observation."[5]

Recent studies concerning atheism and men

See also: Atheism and diversity

Surveys by country

In November 2010, Discover Magazine published survey results published by the World Values Survey which showed significant differences between the percentage of men and women who are atheists for various countries with men outnumbering women in terms of adopting an atheist worldview.[6]

United States surveys

In 2014, Sam Harris said that atheist activism lacks an “estrogen vibe” and was “to some degree intrinsically male”. [7]

In 2015, BloombergView reported concerning the United States: "According to a much-discussed 2012 report from the Pew Research Center on Religion and Public Life, ...women are 52 percent of the U.S. population but only 36 percent of atheists and agnostics.[8]

A 2009 article in LiveScience.com entitled Women More Religious Than Men reported: "A new analysis of survey data finds women pray more often then men, are more likely to believe in God, and are more religious than men in a variety of other ways...The latest findings, released Friday, are no surprise, only confirming what other studies have found for decades.[9] In 2007, the Pew Research Center found that American women were more religious than American men.[9]

Other Atheist Alliance International analysis

Oxford University Press reports about a previous study done by AAI:

...atheism remains a male-dominated affair. Data collected by the Atheist Alliance International (2011) show that in Britain, women account for 21.6% of atheists (as opposed to 77.9% men). In the United States men make up 70% of Americans who identify as atheist. In Poland, 32% of atheists are female, and similarly in Australia it is 31.5%[10]

Reason Rally 2016 and a lack of gender diversity among attendants

The YouTube atheist Thunderf00t estimates that there was a 2 to 1 ration as far as men to women attending Reason Rally 2016.[11]

Atheist meetings and women according to prominent atheists

The atheist PZ Myers giving a talk at George Mason University. In June 2010, PZ Myers commented that atheist meetings tend to be significantly more attended by males.[4]

In June 2010, the atheist PZ Myers commented that atheist meetings tend to be significantly more attended by males.[4] In October 2012, the atheist Susan Jacoby wrote in The Humanist concerning atheist meetings: "When I speak before non-college audiences — that is, audiences in which no one is required to be there to get credit for a college course — 75 percent of the people in the seats are men."[12]

For more information, please see:

New York Times: Atheist meeting attendees

See also: Western atheism and race

In October 2010, an atheists' meeting was organized in the United States concerning the future direction of the atheist movement and 370 people attended. The New York Times described the attendees as "The largely white and male crowd — imagine a Star Trek convention, but older...".[13]

Atheists' group membership and demographic makeup of meetings

In 2011, Beliefnetnews reported concerning the race and gender of American atheist:

From the smallest local meetings to the largest conferences, the vast majority of speakers and attendees are almost always white men. Leading figures of the atheist movement - Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens and Daniel Dennett -- are all white men.

But making atheism more diverse is proving to be no easy task.

Surveys suggest most atheists are white men. A recent survey of 4,000 members of the Freedom from Religion Foundation found that 95 percent were white, and men comprised a majority.[14]

Women and Freethought Blogs.com web traffic

The website Freethought Blogs has significantly less women visiting their website than men according to the web traffic tracking company Quantcast.[15]

Summary

The above data suggest that atheism in general and the New Atheism movement is significantly less appealing to women in the Western World.

Atheism, men, history and the Western world

According to the Chronicle of Higher Education:

Beyond the risk of social stigma, atheists have been subject to violence, imprisonment, and the denial of political rights. True, they are not exactly like other persecuted religious minorities in American history. For one thing, they have not been powerless. Contemporary surveys indicate that they tend toward the white, male, and educated, and that is not a new trend. Even in the 19th century, the self-consciously irreverent edge of so much atheist rhetoric came from a place of relative privilege. Compared with the violence wrought along lines of race, gender, and class, the challenges faced by atheists can seem minor, or quaint, or even funny. Schmidt recounts the story of a one-armed Kansan named Jacob B. Wise who was prosecuted in 1895, under the Comstock obscenity laws, for mailing a minister a postcard with a single line on it about eating and drinking human waste. The joke was that the line was from the Bible (Isaiah 36:12).[16]

Western atheism and race

See also: Western atheism and race

In 2015, BloombergView reported concerning the United States:

According to a much-discussed 2012 report from the Pew Research Center on Religion and Public Life, only 3 percent of U.S. atheists and agnostics are black, 6 percent are Hispanic, and 4 percent are Asian. Some 82 percent are white. (The relevant figures for the population at large at the time of the survey were 66 percent white, 11 percent black, 15 percent Hispanic, 5 percent Asian.)

...Craig Keener, in his huge review of claims of miracles in a wide variety of cultures, concludes that routine rejection of the possibility of the supernatural represents an impulse that is deeply Eurocentric.[17]

See also: European desecularization in the 21st century

In the United States, blacks have the highest rate of religiosity.[18] Among Hispanics, religion has traditionally played a significant role in daily activity.[19]

At the same time, due to immigration, Europe is expected to become more desecularized in the 21st century (See also: Global atheism and Atheist population).

Richard Dawkins and atheist feminists

Rebecca Watson wrote about new atheist Richard Dawkins during the time of his Elevatorgate controversy:

Well, PZ Myers, Jen McCreight, Phil Plait, Amanda Marcotte, Greg Laden, Melissa McEwan and others have all already said it, but I figured I should post this for the record: yes, Richard Dawkins believes I should be a good girl and just shut up about being sexually objectified because it doesn’t bother him. Thanks, wealthy old heterosexual white man![20]

Richard Dawkins' quote on Twitter about social justice warriors

"Learned a useful new phrase this week: Social Justice Warrior. SJWs can't forgive Shakespeare for having the temerity to be white and male." - Richard Dawkins' quote on Twitter[21]

Richard Dawkins' recent attempts to have better relations with women. feminists and Muslims

See also: Richard Dawkins and Islamophobia accusations

In 2017, Sputnik News reported:

Robyn Blumner, Executive Director of the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason & Science, said that to suggest that atheists are narrow-minded, prejudiced or supportive of white, male privilege is to ignore the evidence.

Mr. Blumner said that the pro-atheist organization does tremendous good for women's equality and the civil rights of Muslims, as well as spreads humanist values in the United States and abroad.

"In just the last handful of years we have been at the forefront of the major civil justice causes of our time. It is why in 2015 we were the only secularist group to be invited to join the Know Your Neighbor interfaith coalition, launched at the White House. It is why we were a proud and welcome participant in the Women's March on Washington in January," Mr. Blumner told Sputnik.[22]

See also

References

  1. The Privilege Delusion
  2. Devout Atheists, Chronicle of Higher Education
  3. Khan, Razib (November 18, 2010). "Gene expression; Sex differences in global atheism, part N". Discover magazine website.
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 Myers, P.Z. (June 29, 2010). "The woman problem". Pharyngula [blog].
  5. AAI Position Statement - Gender Balance
  6. Khan, Razib (November 18, 2010). "Gene expression; Sex differences in global atheism, part N". Discover magazine website.
  7. Atheist writer Sam Harris faces backlash over 'estrogen vibe' comments by Heather Tomlinson, Christianity Today, September 17, 2014
  8. Carter, Stephen L. (March 27, 2015). "The atheism gap". BloombergView.
  9. 9.0 9.1 Britt, Robert Roy (February 28, 2009). "Women more religious than men". Live Science website.
  10. Atheism and Feminism, Oxford University Press blog
  11. Even atheists bash 'Reason Rally', See the video on the web page
  12. Jacoby, Susan (August 16, 2012). "A woman’s place? The dearth of women in the secular movement". The Humanist website.
  13. Oppenheimer, Mark (October 15, 2010). "Atheists debate how pushy to be". Nytimes.com.
  14. MacDonald, G. Jeffrey (2011). "Atheists’ diversity woes have no black-and-white answers". Beliefnet.
  15. "Freethoughtblogs.com" [demographics] Quαntcast.
  16. Devout Atheists, Chronicle of Higher Education
  17. The Atheism Gap By Stephen L. Carter, BloombergView, Mar 27, 2015 4:26 PM EDT
  18. Gallup: Blacks Most Religious Group in U.S.
  19. Understanding Hispanic culture
  20. The Privilege Delusion
  21. Richard Dawkins' quote on Twitter
  22. Dawkins and Movement 'Lost the Heart of the Cause'