Minority atheism

Why is it that atheism is so marginalised in global demographics? Apparently one study showed that only 2.5% of the worlds population would describe themselves as atheist.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheism

I'm bemused.

Everyday I come here (well most days) to the spirituality forum and find what must be a massive over-representation of atheist population telling us theists in sometimes quite abrupt language that we are irrational, deluded and weak. Why do atheists feel the need to come here and challenge theists on their beliefs when quite clearly, statistically speaking, atheism is abnormal?

Perhaps we should consider the minority opinion and petition the admins for an atheism forum although I think it would be very quiet:

Thread title: Atheism is logical and correct.
Opening post: Theists are deluded seekers of fairy tales.
All following posts: I agree, well said.

Originally posted by divegeester
Why is it that atheism is so marginalised in global demographics? Apparently one study showed that only 2.5% of the worlds population would describe themselves as atheist.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheism

I'm bemused.

Everyday I come here (well most days) to the spirituality forum and find what must be a massive over-representation of at ...[text shortened]... ng post: Theists are deluded seekers of fairy tales.
All following posts: I agree, well said.

Graced with nothing other than the information you present here, the naive reader may infer that if a study showed only 2.5% of the worlds population explicitly describe themselves as atheists (and this seems dubious) then 97.5% didn't and would therefore be theists.
Of course the majority splits a lot better than that however since some people are muslims, some jews, some scientologists, some christians, some ufo seekers, agnostic, and so on. So the sligtly less naive reader would not conclude 97.5% of all theists (or otherwise) adhere to one particular faith.
But then considering Chrisitanity (the majority theist voice on this forum), with just short of 2 billion subscibers making up somewhere in the vicinity of 30% the worlds population, we see that it itself can be broken down into further elements: catholicism protestantism, mormonism, and so on.
Then you have people who align themselves with these different divisions who interpret the Bible in their own unique and idiosyncratic ways. (Some are fundies, some are not). Also some of the ~2billion Christians call themselves such purely as a convention and could, for all their inclination towards the Bible is concerned, just as easily identify themselves with Islam were their circumstances different.

Indeed if we consider any one specific interpretation of the Bible, I say we atheists form the majority!

Originally posted by divegeester
Why is it that atheism is so marginalised in global demographics? Apparently one study showed that only 2.5% of the worlds population would describe themselves as atheist.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheism

I'm bemused.

Everyday I come here (well most days) to the spirituality forum and find what must be a massive over-representation of at ...[text shortened]... ng post: Theists are deluded seekers of fairy tales.
All following posts: I agree, well said.

This is a UK based website, so it's going to be predominantly used by English speaking people.

If we check for statistics on UK atheism, we see that two independent studies carried out in 2004 showed that the number of people who don't believe in God was 39% or 35%. A survey in 2007 showed that 15% of the UK population go to church once a month or more (incidentally a 2009 survey showed that 2/3rds of teenagers in the UK don't believe in God).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_atheism

Also it's worth bearing in mind that chess is an intellectual pursuit and studies have shown that atheists are statistically more likely to have a higher IQ than believers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religiosity_and_intelligence

Makes me smile when some theists resort to grasping at straws with appeals like this.

Originally posted by Proper Knob
This is a UK based website, so it's going to be predominantly used by English speaking people.

If we check for statistics on UK atheism, we see that two independent studies carried out in 2004 showed that the number of people who don't believe in God was 39% or 35%. A survey in 2007 showed that 15% of the UK population go to church once a month or mo ve a higher IQ than believers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religiosity_and_intelligence

mmm, Bobby Fischer must have been an anomaly then?

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
mmm, Bobby Fischer must have been an anomaly then?

Note what i wrote -

statistically more likely

Remember, i don't live in your black and white world.

Originally posted by divegeester
Why is it that atheism is so marginalised in global demographics? Apparently one study showed that only 2.5% of the worlds population would describe themselves as atheist.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheism

I'm bemused.

Everyday I come here (well most days) to the spirituality forum and find what must be a massive over-representation of at ...[text shortened]... ng post: Theists are deluded seekers of fairy tales.
All following posts: I agree, well said.

Perhaps we should consider the minority opinion and petition the admins for an atheism forum although I think it would be very quiet:

Thread title: Atheism is logical and correct.
Opening post: Theists are deluded seekers of fairy tales.
All following posts: I agree, well said.

Perhaps we should consider the minority opinion and petition the admins for a fundamentalist Christian forum although I think it would be very quiet:

Thread title: 100% Literal interpretation of the Bible is logical and correct.
Opening post: Atheists are deluded god-hating infidels.
All following posts: I agree, well said.[/b]

Originally posted by divegeester
Why is it that atheism is so marginalised in global demographics? Apparently one study showed that only 2.5% of the worlds population would describe themselves as atheist.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheism

I'm bemused.

Everyday I come here (well most days) to the spirituality forum and find what must be a massive over-representation of at ...[text shortened]... ng post: Theists are deluded seekers of fairy tales.
All following posts: I agree, well said.

“...atheist population telling us theists in sometimes quite abrupt language that we are irrational, deluded and weak. ...”

Many theists do the same thing against atheists on these forums. Why do THEY do that?

Originally posted by divegeester
Why is it that atheism is so marginalised in global demographics? Apparently one study showed that only 2.5% of the worlds population would describe themselves as atheist.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheism

I'm bemused.

Everyday I come here (well most days) to the spirituality forum and find what must be a massive over-representation of at ...[text shortened]... ng post: Theists are deluded seekers of fairy tales.
All following posts: I agree, well said.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-religious

As many as 1.1 billion people, or 16% of the world's population are considered non-religious. That's more than any religious group other than Christianity and Islam. The number who self-identify as atheists is small, true, but there is good reason to think that number is under-reported and is likely quite a bit higher.

Originally posted by rwingett
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-religious

As many as 1.1 billion people, or 16% of the world's population are considered non-religious. That's more than any religious group other than Christianity and Islam. The number who self-identify as atheists is small, true, but there is good reason to think that number is under-reported and is likely quite a bit higher.

The number is irrelevant. The notion that atheists should shut up because they are in a minority is just plain stupid.

Originally posted by Palynka
The number is irrelevant. The notion that atheists should shut up because they are in a minority is just plain stupid.

True.

Originally posted by divegeester
Everyday I come here (well most days) to the spirituality forum and find what must be a massive over-representation of atheist population telling us theists in sometimes quite abrupt language that we are irrational, deluded and weak. Why do atheists feel the need to come here and challenge theists on their beliefs when quite clearly, statistically speaking, atheism is abnormal?

Because you are irrational, and deluded.
Your post shows us very good examples of this.
1. You cite a study (and do not give a reference so we can verify it), which even you probably know is far from accurate. (Irrational)
2. You create two groups (those professing to be atheist in a study, and those who don't) and essentially assume that each group is a coherent group of people who all have similar views - when in reality it is well known that both groups have widely divergent views on every topic except one (what to say in studies regarding their beliefs). (irrational)
3. You then ask why a minority should criticize the majority as if this behavior is somehow wrong. (irrational)
4. You then suggest a forum for debate in which everyone supposedly agrees on the single topic of debate - something they don't believe in. (delusional).

Originally posted by Palynka
The number is irrelevant. The notion that atheists should shut up because they are in a minority is just plain stupid.

you misrepresent the post; in no way would I ever suggest atheists should "shut up"; I'm surprised at you.

Originally posted by rwingett
True.

Only if you believe that the OP was telling you to shut up. I'm surprised at you too.

Looking holistically at the evidence in the OP link, I think it is clear that atheism is very much in the extreme minority (irrespective of some posts claiming dilution of the statistic through segmentation of theist denomination). Atheism is not the (statistically) normal state for the contemporary human. I'll accept your so called logic if you will accept the humanistic evidence...