Difference between revisions of "Atheism statistics"

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*[[Atheist Population|Atheist population]]
 
*[[Atheist Population|Atheist population]]
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*[[Homosexuality statistics]]
  
 
== Notes ==
 
== Notes ==

Revision as of 11:05, January 22, 2015

In 2012, a Georgetown University study was published indicating that only about 30 percent of those who grow up in an atheist household remain atheists as adults.[1]

Below are some atheism statistics covering a number of different areas relative to atheism:

  • It is estimated that in the past 100 years, governments under the banner of atheistic communism have caused the death of somewhere between 40,472,000 to 259,432,000 human lives.[2] Dr. R. J. Rummel, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Hawaii, is the scholar who first coined the term democide (death by government). Dr. R. J. Rummel's mid estimate regarding the loss of life due to communism is that communism caused the death of approximately 110,286,000 people between 1917 and 1987.[3]
  • On January 1, 2011, CNN reported:
“ People unaffiliated with organized religion, atheists and agnostics also report anger toward God either in the past, or anger focused on a hypothetical image - that is, what they imagined God might be like - said lead study author Julie Exline, Case Western Reserve University psychologist.

In studies on college students, atheists and agnostics reported more anger at God during their lifetimes than believers.[8]

”
  • Various studies found that traumatic events in people's lives has a positive correlation with "emotional atheism".[9] See: Atheism and anger
  • Using special text analysis software, the social psychologist Jonathan Haidt found that New Atheists very often wrote in dogmatic terms in their major works using words such as “always,” “never,” “certainly,” “every,” and “undeniable.”[10] Of the 75,000 words in Sam Harris's The End of Faith, 2.24% of them connote or are associated with certainty.[11] See: Atheism and arrogance The works of New Atheists often betray an amateurish knowledge of philosophy/religion. For example, atheist philosopher Dr. Michael Ruse declared concerning Richard Dawkins' book The God Delusion: "The God Delusion makes me embarrassed to be an atheist."[12] Vox Day's book The Irrational atheist found multiple errors in reasoning and factual errors when it came to the works of New Atheist authors.[13] See also: Richard Dawkins and pseudoscience
“ Dr. Martin urged that a great cause of suicide was atheism. It was, he said, a remarkable fact that where atheism prevailed most, there suicides were most numerous. In Paris, a recent census showed one suicide to every 2,700 of the population. After the publication of Paine's "Age of Reason" suicides increased.[14] ”

In 2004, the American Journal of Psychiatry reported:

“ Religiously unaffiliated subjects had significantly more lifetime suicide attempts and more first-degree relatives who committed suicide than subjects who endorsed a religious affiliation. Unaffiliated subjects were younger, less often married, less often had children, and had less contact with family members. Furthermore, subjects with no religious affiliation perceived fewer reasons for living, particularly fewer moral objections to suicide. In terms of clinical characteristics, religiously unaffiliated subjects had more lifetime impulsivity, aggression, and past substance use disorder. No differences in the level of subjective and objective depression, hopelessness, or stressful life events were found.[15][16] ”
The Rev. Dr. Robert Stuart MacArthur was an early proponent of atheism being a causal factor for suicide.[17][18][19]

The website Adherents.com reported the following in respect to atheism and suicide:

“ Pitzer College sociologist Phil Zuckerman compiled country-by-country survey, polling and census numbers relating to atheism, agnosticism, disbelief in God and people who state they are non-religious or have no religious preference. These data were published in the chapter titled "Atheism: Contemporary Rates and Patterns" in The Cambridge Companion to Atheism, ed. by Michael Martin, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK (2005). In examining various indicators of societal health, Zuckerman concludes about suicide:

"Concerning suicide rates, this is the one indicator of societal health in which religious nations fare much better than secular nations. According to the 2003 World Health Organization's report on international male suicides rates (which compared 100 countries), of the top ten nations with the highest male suicide rates, all but one (Sri Lanka) are strongly irreligious nations with high levels of atheism. It is interesting to note, however, that of the top remaining nine nations leading the world in male suicide rates, all are former Soviet/Communist nations, such as Belarus, Ukraine, and Latvia. Of the bottom ten nations with the lowest male suicide rates, all are highly religious nations with statistically insignificant levels of organic atheism."[20]

”
  • In November of 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. [21] 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. [22] In 2007, the Pew Research Center found that American women were more religious than American men.[23] See: Atheism and women
  • Studies indicate that atheists engage in more profanity than Christians/theists and are more likely to believe that obscene language is acceptable to engage in.[24] Use of profanity by individuals is negatively correlated with conscientiousness and agreeableness.[25] For more information, please see: Atheism and profanity
  • During the period of 2008 to 2012, the atheist community made a concerted effort to spread atheism through means of the internet. However, leading atheist websites saw plunges in web traffic during this same period and during the first half of 2012.[26] In January of 2015, it was shown that Google trends data indicated a recent downward trend for various Google searches related to atheism such as the keywords atheist, atheism, Richard Dawkins and PZ Myers.[27] See: Internet atheism
  • 3 out of 5 of the leaders of the New Atheism movement have had issues with being overweight as can be seen HERE and HERE and HERE. The ex-atheist Richard Dawkins has publicly indicated that he is an agnostic (see: Richard Dawkins and agnosticism). Since Dawkins is an an agnostic and not an atheist, this would mean that 3 out of 4 of the atheist founders of the New Atheism movement had excess weight issues. At a 75% of individuals overweight population, this would make the atheist founders of the New Atheist movement one of the most overweight populations in world history in terms of the percentage of people overweight.[28][29] See: New Atheism leadership's problem with excess weight According to the Gallup Inc., "Very religious Americans are more likely to practice healthy behaviors than those who are moderately religious or nonreligious."[30] See: Atheism and obesity

Global atheism statistics

See also: Global atheism

Eric Kaufmann, a professor at Birkbeck College, University of London, using a a wealth of demographic studies argues the decline of atheism in terms of its global adherents is an established trend that will persist for the foreseeable future and the rate of decline will accelerate.[31]

A survey published in the 2005 Encyclopedia Britannica stated that 2.3% of the world's population consists of individuals who profess "atheism, skepticism, disbelief, or irreligion, including the militantly antireligious."[32]

In respect to the 2.3% figure just mentioned, the 2005 survey cited by Encyclopedia Britannica survey did not include Buddhist in regards to the 2.3% figure and Buddhism can be theistic or atheistic.[33][34] Ipsos, a major global market research company, published a report on report on religious belief/skepticism from a worlwide perspective and the report provides various statistics gained from survey results. See also: Atheist Population.

Atheists as a percentage of the world's population have declined since 1970 and global atheism is expected to face long term decline.[35]

On July 24, 2013, CNS News reported:

“ Atheism is in decline worldwide, with the number of atheists falling from 4.5% of the world’s population in 1970 to 2.0% in 2010 and projected to drop to 1.8% by 2020, according to a new report by the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Mass."[36] ”

On December 23, 2012, Professor Eric Kaufmann who teaches at Birbeck College, University of London wrote:

“ I argue that 97% of the world's population growth is taking place in the developing world, where 95% of people are religious.

On the other hand, the secular West and East Asia has very low fertility and a rapidly aging population... In the coming decades, the developed world's demand for workers to pay its pensions and work in its service sector will soar alongside the booming supply of young people in the third world. Ergo, we can expect significant immigration to the secular West which will import religious revival on the back of ethnic change. In addition, those with religious beliefs tend to have higher birth rates than the secular population, with fundamentalists having far larger families. The epicentre of these trends will be in immigration gateway cities like New York (a third white), Amsterdam (half Dutch), Los Angeles (28% white), and London, 45% white British. [37]

”

Statistics about the collapse of atheism in the area of the former Soviet Union

A Soviet propaganda poster disseminated in the Bezbozhnik (Atheist) magazine depicting Jesus being dumped from a wheelbarrow by an industrial worker as well as a smashed church bell; the text advocates Industrialisation Day as an alternative replacement to the Christian Transfiguration Day. see: Militant atheism

See also: Collapse of atheism in the former Soviet Union

In 2003, the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard published a paper by Assaf Moghadam entitled A Global Resurgence of Religion? which declared:

“ As the indications leave little doubt, Russia is showing clear signs of a religious resurgence. In fact, all seven criteria by which change in religious behavior and values are measured here confirmed that Russia is experiencing what could be called a religious revival. Since 1970, the nonreligious/atheist population has been on steady decline, from 52% in 1970 to 33% in 2000. Further, the percentage of this population is projected to decrease even further, possibly reaching the 20% mark in 2025. Between 1990 and 1997, belief in God has risen from 35% to a whopping 60%, while belief in the importance of God has climbed to 43% in 1997, up from 25% in 1990. More people have been raised religious in Russia in 1997 (20%) than at the beginning of the decade (18%), and 8.39% more Russians believed religion to be important toward the end of the 1990s, when compared to 1990. “Comfort in Religion” has also sharply increased within this time period, from less than 27% to over 46%. Finally, more and more Russians attend church services more regularly in 1997 than they did in 1990.

In the three Eastern European countries that were included in the WVS survey on belief in God, a drastic rise could be witnessed of respondents who answered this question in the affirmative. In Hungary, the percentage of believers in God jumped from 44% to 58% from 1981 to 1990, even prior to the collapse of the former Soviet Union. In Belarus, the number of people who believe in God nearly doubled over the course of the 1990s, from 36% to 68%, while in Latvia this figure almost quadrupled, from 18% to 67% in the same time period. Similar trends held true when it came to the importance of God, where there was a sharp rise in all three countries.[38]

”

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ http://www.christianpost.com/news/study-atheists-have-lowest-retention-rate-compared-to-religious-groups-78029/ Study: Atheists Have Lowest 'Retention Rate' Compared to Religious Groups
  2. ↑
  3. ↑ http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/COM.ART.HTM
  4. ↑ http://www.barna.org/barna-update/article/5-barna-update/58-practical-outcomes-replace-biblical-principles-as-the-moral-standard
  5. ↑ [Everything Is Permitted? People Intuitively Judge Immorality as Representative of Atheists], Will M. Gervais, Journal: PlOS ONE, Published: April 09, 2014, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.009230
  6. ↑ http://www.christianpost.com/news/study-atheists-have-lowest-retention-rate-compared-to-religious-groups-78029/ Study: Atheists Have Lowest 'Retention Rate' Compared to Religious Groups
  7. ↑ Multiple references:
    • Pearson, Christopher (May 9, 2009). "Defectors to faith mark a growing trend". from theaustralian.com. Retrieved July 16, 2014.
    • Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life (February 2011). "Faith in Flux" from Faith in Flux: Changes in Religious Affiliation in the U. S. PewResearchCenter. Retrieved July 16, 2014.
  8. ↑ Anger at God common, even among atheists
  9. ↑ When atheists are angry at God by Joe Carter at FirstThings.com website
  10. ↑ Why Sam Harris is Unlikely to Change his Mind by JONATHAN HAIDT, February 3, 2014 8:36 pm
  11. ↑ Why Sam Harris is Unlikely to Change his Mind by JONATHAN HAIDT, February 3, 2014 8:36 pm
  12. ↑ http://www.alternet.org/media/47052?page=entire
  13. ↑ Excellent refutation of ‘new atheists’ flawed by heterodox open theism, A review of The Irrational Atheist: Dissecting the Unholy Trinity of Dawkins, Harris, and Hitchens by Vox Day, Benbella Books, Dallas, TX, 2008, reviewed by Lita Cosner
  14. ↑ NY Times, September 17, 1894, Atheism a Cause of Suicide.; Dr. MacArthur Preaches on the Sin and Cowardice of Self-Destruction
  15. ↑ Religious affiliation and suicide attempts
  16. ↑ Religious affiliation and suicide attempts
  17. ↑ http://www.adherents.com/misc/religion_suicide.html
  18. ↑ http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/161/12/2303
  19. ↑ NY Times, September 17, 1894, ATHEISM A CAUSE OF SUICIDE.; Dr. MacArthur Preaches on the Sin and Cowardice of Self-Destruction
  20. ↑ http://www.adherents.com/misc/religion_suicide.html
  21. ↑ Sex differences in global atheism, part N
  22. ↑ Women More Religious Than Men
  23. ↑ http://www.livescience.com/culture/090227-religion-men-women.html
  24. ↑ Multiple references:
  25. ↑ Jay, Timothy and Janschewitz, Kristin (May/June 2012). "The Science of Swearing". Observer, vol. 25, no. 5. Retrieved from The Association for Psychological Science website on October 25, 2014.
  26. ↑ Internet atheism: The thrill is gone!
  27. ↑ The numbers are in: 2014 was the WORST year in the history of Darwinism/atheism In addition, Creation.com breaks the Alexa 50,000 barrier
  28. ↑ Fattest Countries in the World
  29. ↑ The History Of Obesity Timeline
  30. ↑ http://www.gallup.com/poll/145379/Religious-Americans-Lead-Healthier-Lives.aspx
  31. ↑ Eric Kaufmann: Shall the Religious Inherit the Earth?, Australian Broadcasting Corporation
  32. ↑ http://search.eb.com/eb/article-9432620
  33. ↑ http://www.religionfacts.com/buddhism/beliefs/atheism.htm
  34. ↑ http://search.eb.com/eb/article-9432620
  35. ↑
  36. ↑ http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/global-study-atheists-decline-only-18-world-population-2020 Global Study: Atheists in Decline, Only 1.8% of World Population by 2020]
  37. ↑ 97% of the world's population growth is taking place in the developing world, where 95% of people are religious, Tuesday, April 30, 2013
  38. ↑ A Global Resurgence of Religion? by Assaf Moghadam, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University
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