Why do we have more Atheists then the General Population ?

[isaone]

Thinkerman who has joined us here recently commented to me that he was surprised at the number of Atheists posting on these forums. It does seem obvious that we have way more than the average in the population. Why ?

[Rog]

I don't know, maybe something to do with being safe.

[Jack]

This forum is one of the few that doesn't automatically exempt religion from being challenged and debated. That encourages atheists to be more open about their position.

[nerdvincent]

Quote by: isaone Thinkerman who has joined us here recently commented to me that he was surprised at the number of Atheists posting on these forums. It does seem obvious that we have way more than the average in the population. Why ?

1/ Almost every fundamentalist christian leave after two weeks of preaching because they just appear not to know how to have a serious debate.
2/ Many church-on-sunday christian entering volconvo either quit because they feel their faith falling apart, or stay and become atheist. Serious debating is just incompatible with faith.
3/ A good part of the theists do not seek to have their faith challenged, while a greater percentage of non-theist are looking for the cheap thrill of pwnage and doubt.

[Rog]

Quote by: nerdvincent 1/ Almost every fundamentalist christian leave after two weeks of preaching because they just appear not to know how to have a serious debate. 2/ Many church-on-sunday christian entering volconvo either quit because they feel their faith falling apart, or stay and become atheist. Serious debating is just incompatible with faith. 3/ A good part of the theists do not seek to have their faith challenged, while a greater percentage of non-theist are looking for the cheap thrill of pwnage and doubt.

They dont leave, they get BANNED.

[45flight]

Also, the majority of internet-goers tend to be atheists.

[rez]

Quote by: isaone Thinkerman who has joined us here recently commented to me that he was surprised at the number of Atheists posting on these forums. It does seem obvious that we have way more than the average in the population. Why ?

In my opinion it has to do with the same reason conservative republicans flock to the radio to obtain many of their opinions. This works perfectly with the fact that most Christians are Republicans as well.

We live in an age where it is now possible to directly counter another persons arguments. Social networks are growing more and more (myspace/facebook, blogging, wikis, and forums) and those who take advantage of these applications are progressive minded folk who try and learn new approaches to the growing world.

Conservatives tend to stick with the old way of communicating and creating networks with others (the radio has to be the oldest way of creating a network between people).

In order to actually critically think about the issues being discussed on the radio, the individual has to call up. Well in the internet world of blogging and forums, people don' have to dial numbers and wait for a ring. They simply type in their response and click a button.

And to address Rog misguided opinion....

theists on this board get booted because they think Volconvo is a church audience here to just listen to the word of god. They don't understand that citing the Bible as a way of proving the validity of the Bible is wrong. Quite frankly they are not accustomed to a rebuttal because they are use to an environment where everybody agrees.

[rez]

Quote by: isaone Thinkerman who has joined us here recently commented to me that he was surprised at the number of Atheists posting on these forums. It does seem obvious that we have way more than the average in the population. Why ?

And to add to my post.

It actually doesn't matter how many atheists are on this board because at the end of the day most of these arguments on this board have absolutely nothing to do with me being an atheist.

Since when does someone have to be an atheist to understand what Biology is and how it works? Since when does someone have to be an atheist to understand the scientific definition of theory?

Most of the time I am not even debating from the standpoint of atheism in these threads. I am mostly correcting the theists who simply can not understand the basic definitions of Biology.....

[isaone]

Thanks for the replies. I can't say I have anything of value to add to what has been said.

I would be very interested to hear the opinion of some of our Theists, any takers out there ?

[Jinei]

Quote by: Rog They dont leave, they get BANNED.

Is that indicative of the theist's inability to debate without insult and other infractions?

[grandpa]

Quote by: Jinei Is that indicative of the theist's inability to debate without insult and other infractions?

Well, they do have an inability to refute atheism because, ultimately, atheism and naturalism go together like two peas in a pod.

Grandpa h.

[shawmutt]

Quote by: 45flight Also, the majority of internet-goers tend to be atheists.

I doubt that. There's tons of religion out there in webland.

I won't be labeled an atheist, but a logical and critical thinking mind keeps me from believing in zombie Jesus or any other "supernatural" nonsense. First and foremost I am agnostic, literally, I do not claim empirical knowledge of a supernatural God. I don't believe we can ever "know God", at least not in the sense that we can write about it in a book or claim there is no God. I said it many times before: we are a speck on this Earth, within a speck in our solar system, within a speck in our galaxy, within a speck in our universe. In time, we are mere milliseconds among millennia. We are not the center of any time or space, nor are we the pinnacle of evolution. In short--we just aren't that damn important.

However, I do have a sacred cow, and that is I still believe there is a God, regardless of what my logical, rational mind tells me. I'm a simple man--I have about 16 colors in my vocabulary (salmon, taupe, and beige aren't in there), I enjoy the little things in life, I have the little simple rituals that I've developed over the years. When I consider all the science I've learned in my lifetime, all the wonderful things we can experience, all the chains of events that took place in order for me to be sitting here and typing, I think of one word--God. God to me is the collective being of our natural world. I don't pray, I'm not religious in the most common meaning of the word, I'm not "spiritual", I'm just a simple man with a tendency to group complex issues into a collective concept--and a small vocabulary

But, getting back the the topic, I don't try to debate my belief or claim any divine knowledge. It is, admittedly, my sacred cow. Any debate about it eventually boils down to "because I said so", and is just a waste of time for all parties involved. I used to get into the religious debates here, but I've since moved on to other topics that I feel I know more about and can be more useful. Perhaps the theists here are more interested in politics

[isaone]

Shawmut, congratulations you are the second Theist in all of the years I have done this to simply admit that you have no evidence which can be discussed. You simply believe because you do. That is actualy the only defensible theistic position.

Now on to my hot point I must mention that the vast majority of Atheists are also Agnostic and do not state that they know God does not exist.

Lastly what is your opinion on the OP ? Are you stating that most Theists feel as you do and therefore avoid debates such as these since they know that their only answer is "because"?

[Gods_Mercenary]

Those who self identify as faithful rarely care to debate their faith. Non-beleivers are probably more likely to like the belief challenging style of debate. Of course, anyone who adheres to an ideology will shy away from situations that challenge it, but faith tends to be a common target around here.

[shawmutt]

Quote by: isaone Lastly what is your opinion on the OP ? Are you stating that most Theists feel as you do and therefore avoid debates such as these since they know that their only answer is "because"?

I can't speak for anyone else, but that's why I avoid the faith debates. I can say there are likely more theists here than the OP believes. Didn't we have a poll at one time?

[inri]

Quote by: shawmutt I can't speak for anyone else, but that's why I avoid the faith debates. I can say there are likely more theists here than the OP believes. Didn't we have a poll at one time?

Yes, I'd have to agree. Although I have some very strong personal beliefs regarding sprituality, it quickly became clear to me that to debate them would be pointless and actually quite impossible as these beliefs are not based upon anything that can be scientifically or concretely proven.

Regarding the population here appearing to be higher in atheists than general population..This does seem to be the case... generally people who enjoy debating are critical/logical thinkers by nature..and critical/logical thought generally does not lend itself to acceptance of unproveable/unscientific belief...but then again, perhaps those of us who have spiritual beliefs, simply used our logical sides to figure out we didn't have a leg to stand on in a faith debate, and therefore avoid the whole issue....yes, there could be far more of us lurking about here than anyone realizes.

[Jack]

there could be far more of us lurking about here than anyone realizes

I think it's reasonable to say the majority of members here are theists of one stripe or another. The premise of the OP wasn't that there are fewer theists here than we might expect, but rather that there are more (outspoken) atheists here than one might expect, given our relative insignificant percentage in the overall population.

I've also encountered more Orthodox Christians, libertarians, conspiracy theorists and those who unquestioningly follow the government line here than I've ever met in one place in the real world.

[goodeone]

Quote by: isaone Thinkerman who has joined us here recently commented to me that he was surprised at the number of Atheists posting on these forums. It does seem obvious that we have way more than the average in the population. Why ?

easy to have a say on a forum?
safety in numbers?
society no longer having respect the views of christians or those of any faith.
mostly younger people on the internet who have no interest/ respect/ knowlege of faith and have been taught evolution as a fact.
christians are given a hard time

[Kamehameha34]

Interest in belief without evidence? Correct, I have none.
Respect of belief without evidence? See above.
Knowledge of belief without evidence? That's where you're wrong.

I know exactly how faith works, probably better than most christians. Because they *want* something to be true, they're willing to forsake all they know of the natural world to believe it. That is faith.

Faith is not a good thing. Faith is gullibility, pure and simple.

That's why I, and the entire academic world subscribes to the theory of evolution. No faith required.

[isaone]

Quote by: Jack {more} Orthodox Christians, libertarians, conspiracy theorists and those who unquestioningly follow the government line here

Jack you must not live in the South, with the exception of the libertarians from you remark above I must say the percentages here are much less than those I meet with where I work (a mid sized manufacturing company) or have worked (mostly mid sized manufacturing in the South)