i was just looking around some websites, telgraph, times, gurdian etc to see what the newspapers think of atheism. and it seems we may be more unpopular in the UK than in the US.
every article featured something along the lines of "Dawkins and his ilk blah blah blah are stupid because god exits blah blah blah"
they are very focused on errors. "there probably is no god" PROBABLY?"
8.6 million people ticked the 'no religion' box in the 2001 census - some 15.1% of the population. A further 4.4 million opted not to answer the religion question (it was the only voluntary question). If non-respondents distribute in the same way as respondents the real 'no religion' figure is perhaps 18%. There is also a further caveat since these figures are not adjusted (as the population figures are) to account for undercounting.Originally Posted by newatheist
2005 church attendance figures are slightly above 3 million (5.5. million on the Easter count). We can roughly double this to account for other faiths
Thus there are probably around 10 million atheists/agnostics and about 11 million practicising one religion or another. The other 40 million are, to varying degees believers or non-believers, but might be defined as either 'passive believers' or 'passive agnostics' with the former making up the larger group.
Finally, the only growing Christian denominations are the pentecostalists and the house church movements. I would expect in thirty years time for practicing christians to number around 1.5 million with 1 million of those being from what we might dub the 'sarah palin' wing of the church.
strange how hostile the british press are towards atheists considering that so many britions are agnostic/athiest. ???
Most of the British press see it as their job to stir things up against as many people as possible.
Good News don't sell papers like a good disaster if none have murrrrrder if all else fails make it up.
Most athiest want a quite life so would not admit to being one because the converters would be on your back singing badly at you.
Lost Thought.
WW
A few of my few friends are Christian, and know I don't believe. They seem to respect me enough not to try to "convert" me. In fact they tolerate my rants against certain beliefs rather well.Good News don't sell papers like a good disaster if none have murrrrrder if all else fails make it up.
Most athiest want a quite life so would not admit to being one because the converters would be on your back singing badly at you.
Lost Thought.
WW
Rant Bindeweede, NEVER!
The media are heavily aligned with the strongest cultural memes. You should expect anything outside that area to be (a) considered eccentric and also (b) for journalists to have little or no knowledge of the subject. The media is all about cultural cliches (consider headlines!). Just my observation from decades of experience ...
I would hope that anyone is sensible enough to use the 'probably' qualifier. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.
I don't believe there is a God. I can't prove it either way, though.
<soapbox>
Yes it is. It just isn't proof of absence!
</soapbox>
Can I borrow your soapbox... thanks.
Not always! Absense of evidence may equally be evidence of no effort being made to find evidence.
Cheers
It's evident that some evidence is absent!
Absence of absence is not evidence of evidence.
Evidence of absinthe is absense of abstinence.
Absinthe makes the tart grow fonder.
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