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→Closet atheism in Islamic countries
The number of atheists is growing in [[Islam]]ic countries, but statistics on the number of atheists is hazy due due to the fact that atheists are very often closet atheists in Islamic countries.<ref>[https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/aug/1/atheists-in-muslim-world-growing-silent-minority/ Atheists in Muslim world: Silent, resentful and growing in number], ''Washington Times''</ref> See also: [[Persecution of atheists]]
The number of atheists is growing in [[Islam]]ic countries, but statistics on the number of atheists is hazy due due to the fact that atheists are very often closet atheists in Islamic countries.<ref>[https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/aug/1/atheists-in-muslim-world-growing-silent-minority/ Atheists in Muslim world: Silent, resentful and growing in number], ''Washington Times''</ref> See also: [[Persecution of atheists]]
== Richard Dawkins' claim that Lincoln and Kennedy were probably closet atheists ==
''See also:'' [[Atheism and historical revisionism]]
It is common for atheist activists to exaggerate the number of people who are atheists. The atheist Georgetown professor [[Jacques Berlinerblau]] declared about American movement atheists: "They wildly overestimate their numbers. They tend to overestimate the efficacy of their activism." <ref>[http://www.christiancentury.org/article/2012-09/professor-jacques-berlinerblau-tells-atheists-stop-whining Professor Jacques Berlinerblau tells atheists: Stop whining!], Christian Century, Sep 14, 2012 by Kimberly Winston</ref>
One tactic that is used by atheist/agnostic activists to artificially inflate their numbers is to claim that a great number of people are closet atheists/agnostics.
[[File:Richard Dawkins at Royal Dublin Society Concert Hall.jpg|alt=Richard Dawkins|thumbnail|200px|right|[[Richard Dawkins]] ]]
The ''Times of India'' has a quote from [[Richard Dawkins]] about the closet atheist issue:
{{Cquote|When will we see the first atheist President of the US? "I suspect we have already seen several atheist US presidents, they just didn't admit it," responded Dawkins. "I suspect Lincoln was an atheist, probably so was Kennedy. Obama is an intelligent man, so I wouldn't be surprised if he's a closet atheist". Does that make them all hypocrites? "You can't be an American politician without being a hypocrite," signed off the renowned biologist and ardent Darwinian.<ref>[http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/jaipur/Look-forward-to-the-death-of-organized-religion-Richard-Dawkins/articleshow/11609561.cms Look forward to the death of organized religion: Richard Dawkins], Iimes of India</ref>}}
The book ''[[Abraham Lincoln]]: From Skeptic to Prophet'' by Wayne C. Temple is a well-research book which demonstrates that although Lincoln was somewhat of a [[freethinker]]/skeptic as a young man, he did become very religious later in life.<ref>[http://quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jala/2629860.0017.206/--inner-world-of-abraham-lincoln?rgn=main;view=fulltext The Inner World of Abraham Lincoln, by Michael Burlingame and Abraham Lincoln: From Skeptic to Prophet, by Wayne C. Temple] by ROBERT McCOLLEY</ref>
''Christianity Today'' says of Abraham Lincoln's religious beliefs:
{{Cquote|Confusion about Lincoln’s religion arises from the multiple ambiguities of his life. On the one hand, Lincoln was, in the words of biographers James Randall and Richard Current, “a man of more intense religiosity than any other President the United States has ever had.” On the other hand, Lincoln’s faith was not conventional...
The greatest difficulty in coming to a clearer picture of Lincoln’s faith is the fact that his religion does not fit into modern categories. He was not an orthodox, evangelical, “born-again” Christian striving toward the “higher life” (as these terms have been used since the 1870s). But neither was he a skeptical “modernist” with a prejudice against the supernatural and an aversion to the Bible.<ref>[http://www.christianitytoday.com/history/issues/issue-33/puzzling-faith-of-abraham-lincoln.html The Puzzling Faith of Abraham Lincoln], Christianity Today</ref>}}
CNN says of [[John Kennedy]]:
{{cquote|He was famously unfaithful to his wife but fiercely loyal to his church, even when it threatened his quest for the presidency...
As president, Kennedy continued to say his daily prayers, morning and night, his sister Eunice told historians. But “that doesn’t mean he was terribly religious,” she said.
“He was always a little less convinced” than the rest of the Kennedy clan, Eunice continued, especially his brother Robert Kennedy, who took after Rose.
Still, Eunice said John always hustled off to Mass on Sundays, even while traveling. Maier, the Kennedy biographer who called him Mr. Saturday Night and Mr. Sunday Morning, said The New York Times’ index of the president’s travels show him faithfully attending Mass once a week, wherever he happened to be.
“The popular perception is that he wasn’t all that religious,” Maier said, “but by today’s standards he would be called a traditional Catholic.”
Dallek said he believes Kennedy attended religious rituals more out of duty than desire. “This is the faith he was reared in, and something his parents expected him to do,” the historian said.
“As president it was kind of mandatory to go to church, to show that he was a man of good Christian faith. But was it something that informed his daily life and decisions as president? I don’t think so.”
Others, however, see echoes of Kennedy’s Catholic upbringing in his most famous speech, the 1961 inaugural address. In it, the new president urged Americans to “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”
“The words chosen seem to spring from a sacramental background,” the Rev. Daniel Coughlin, first Catholic chaplain in the U.S. House of Representatives, wrote in a recent blog post.
“In fact, the whole speech was framed by his belief in a living and ever-present God both at its beginning and in the end,” Coughlin wrote.
Two months later, in a move that may have harkened back to meeting the Catholic missionary, Kennedy founded the Peace Corps.
<ref>[http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2013/11/23/how-catholic-was-john-f-kennedy/comment-page-5/ How Catholic was John Kenney], CNN</ref>}}
== See also ==
== See also ==