Defiance 01
"You are entitled to your own opinions, but you are NOT entitled to your own facts."

    
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Original: 2/10/2007 7:41 PM
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Saturday, February 10, 2007
 

Little-known Statistics about Religion.
The wheels are turning, and the truth is coming out. 

  • In America, secularism (atheism, agnosticism, freethought, universalism, deism, humanism, etc) is now the second largest religious group at 15%, behind Christianity at 77%.

  • Worldwide, secularism ranks 3rd at 16%, behind Islam at 21% and Christianity at 33%. (See graphic below).

  • Secularism saw a 110% increase between 1990 and 2000. Christianity saw nearly a 10% decline.

  • According to another poll, as much as 9% of America is purely atheistic, while another 12% is unsure of the existence of a deity (agnostic), putting the total percent of secular Americans at 21%, even higher than the 15% in the other poll.

  • Atheists, as a group and by percentage, have the lowest divorce rate in America. Christians have the highest. Atheists also only make up 1-2% of criminals in America's prison system.

  • 49% of America believes in evolution, 44% believe in Biblical Creationism. 65% of people without of high school diploma believe in Biblical Creationism, while only 25% of college graduates do. 95% of scientists believe in evolution.

And finally, my favorite statistic of them all:
2042
Based on current trends, this is the year that secularism will surpass Christianity as the majority religion in America.
I fully intend to play a role in that.

rel_pie

Main Sources:
http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html
http://www.adherents.com/rel_USA.html
http://harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/index.asp?PID=408
http://www.religioustolerance.org/ev_publi.htm


And now, to clear up a few things. One of the questions I get asked most often is, "Why are you bashing Christianity?" Well, let's get this straight: I am not "bashing" Christianity, Christianity is bashing me. Christianity has bashed, insulted, mocked, persecuted and murdered secularists (or should I say, "heathens") for two-thousand years. It continues to this day (albeit with less murdering and more harassment and persecution).

I've lived in the middle of the Bible Belt for the past 20 years, so I'm extremely familiar with the prevalent attitude of "this is a Christian nation that generously allows you freaks to live with us". Funny how the Bible speaks so lovingly of persecuted peoples, while the people who are most often doing the persecuting in modern America are those who follow the Bible.

What I do is defend secularism from its attackers, and push for a clearer understanding of reality to take precedence over religiously-induced ignorance. Do I "hate" Christians? No. They follow (or at least claim to follow) the rule of "hate the sin, not the sinner". Exactly what I do: I hate the religion, not the followers of the religion. (After all, between the fact that they were raised to believe this stuff and the psychologically addictive nature of religion, they really can't help it. But more on that in a later post.)

And why do I do it? The answer is simple: because we're on the verge of another Renaissance period. The Renaissance was a period when humanity as a whole gave the finger to organized religion, and it ushered in an era of art, music, philosophy, science, and reason. All because people rejected Christianity. I believe we can do the same in the modern era.


One final point: for future reference, posting the same irrational crap over and over again until the person you're debating gets sick of debunking you does not constitute civilized debate, and to declare victory after doing so is the pinnacle of mindless immaturity. Have a nice day


--Kryss864 (My personal blog)
--Little-known statistics about religion (A reason to hope)
--The Day the Democrats took back Congress
--Save Roe v. Wade!
--Atheists in Foxholes
--Beautiful stories of deconversion from Christianity

 Posted 2/10/2007 7:41 PM - 30 views - 8 comments

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8 Comments

Visit peacockthefish's Xanga Site!
Sweet.
Posted 2/11/2007 1:07 AM by peacockthefish - reply

Visit basesonballs's Xanga Site!

as always you speak truth to power. I would like to add a few more statistics and facts.

1) Abraham Lincoln was the last US president not to be affiliated with any particular Christian denomination.

2) 34 nations in 2005 were polled to determine what percentage of its population vouched for evolution. The US was second-to-last. Only Turkey had fewer people who supported evolution.

For your reading pleasure:

Sam Harris: Letter to a Christian Nation

Susan Jacoby: Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism.

Posted 2/12/2007 10:26 AM by basesonballs - reply

Visit BurkeW's Xanga Site!
Rather than waste the energy writing a long response which you'll delete or will do no good (and i do have plenty of logical responses), I'll just remind you the first rule of a statistics class "statistics can be made to say anything" :)
Posted 2/12/2007 9:55 PM by BurkeW Xanga True Member - reply

Visit Defiance_01's Xanga Site!
1) I only delete comments that are completely devoid of rationality, common sense, or substance.
2) And the second rule of a statistics class: "If someone else's statistics aren't what you want them to be, assume they're completely wrong and regurgitate rule #1 to justify it."

\m/ O_o
Posted 2/12/2007 11:02 PM by Defiance_01 - reply

Visit annamarie21's Xanga Site!

you make me happy... :) i like your new hybrid blogs.

peace

Posted 2/13/2007 6:23 PM by annamarie21 - reply

Visit annamarie21's Xanga Site!
yo. i have to give a speech about the lack of religious freedoms in my debate class and i was wondering where you got your statistics. gracias.
Posted 2/21/2007 9:50 AM by annamarie21 - reply

Visit annamarie21's Xanga Site!
ah now i see. nevermind. :)
Posted 2/21/2007 9:52 AM by annamarie21 - reply

Visit themediocracy's Xanga Site!
Where have you and your site been all my life?! haha. Good stuff.
Posted 3/20/2007 10:43 AM by themediocracy - reply


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