Why are there more believers than atheists or agnostics?

[samsungxoxo]

This has me wondering. You hear more about Christians, Catholics Budists, Muslims, etc. One thing in common is they believe a god and might go to church too but there are few of us atheists or agnostics.

 

Also, there are more marriages happening at churches than in a registrar's office/court house or friend's house.

 

Why do you think there are more believers than non-believers in the world?? They overpass us in population worldwidely and this has me wondering why is that.

 

Example: In my homecountry Peru, only about 3% are atheists or agnostics.

Edited June 12, 2012 by samsungxoxo

[thatone]

they sell a tempting bill of imaginary goods.

 

you don't need money, you don't need power, you don't need talent, you don't need intelligence. all you have to do is give them your mind and they will give you bliss on tap.

 

why did people in the USA in the early 2000s sign mortgages that they were never going to be able to repay?

 

"sure this will lead me to ruin, but they're gonna give me a house, i want a house!"

[Ross MwcFan]

It just goes to show, there are a lot of crazy people out there.

[TaraMaiden]

This has me wondering. You hear more about Christians, Catholics Budists, Muslims, etc. One thing in common is they believe a god and might go to church too but there are few of us atheists or agnostics.

 

Er....excuse me..?? 'Budists' (sic) have nothing in common with theists - we do not believe in God, and i haven't attended a church in over a decade. Been to a temple once or twice, but that's completely different.

 

Also, there are more marriages happening at churches than in a registrar's office/court house or friend's house.

 

Why do you think there are more believers than non-believers in the world?? They overpass us in population worldwidely and this has me wondering why is that.

 

Example: In my homecountry Peru, only about 3% are atheists or agnostics.

I think there are far more non-believers/atheists than Theists.

we just have nothing to preach or proselytise about, so we're just quieter.

[samsungxoxo]

It just goes to show, there are a lot of crazy people out there.

Yeah. Recalled many years ago (I'm talking about two centuries or more) who were the ones burning witches others at stakes (esp those who didn't comply with the rules of the church and they were convicted as heretics)? It's hard to believer but it was the believers applying such horrible punishments. In a way, this contradicts them because if forgiveness is important to them because god said so... then they were doing the opposite executing those people.

[denise_xo]

Because most people are socialised into believing that there is a God (or something equivalent).

[Nohbody]

Neil DeGrasse Tyson has a few great quotes:

“Is there a word for non-golf players?”

“Do non-skiers have a word and get together to talk about why they don’t ski?”

“I can’t gather round to discuss how everybody in the room doesn’t believe in god.”

“At the end of the day I would rather not be in any category at all.”

[M30USA]

Define "believer". There are many Christians, pastors and ministers included, who don't even believe Christ physically rose from the dead. Another contradiction is that close to 3/4 of the nation identifies itself as Christian, yet the majority of Americans believe that morality is subjective (ie, open to a persons own opinion and experience). The prophet Isaiah would say, "These people honor me [God] with their lips but their hearts are far from me."

 

Don't judge a Christian by labels and external appearance. Real believers might not even be people who are called Christians. The Bible says that God alone judges the heart.

[M30USA]

Morality is subjective, almost by definition alone.

 

Morality, maybe. But God's Law, as revealed through the 10 commandments and the prophets, isn't.

 

You will say, "Which God?"

 

And I will say, "Jehovah, the God of Israel, whose only begotten Son is Jesus Christ."

 

You will say something in response to that, I'm sure, because it's possible that the Holy Spirit has not revealed who God is to you in a way that cannot be created by your own thinking.

[TripLine]

Please show me your findings. I believe there are more atheist that you can count.

 

I believe in good, but that does not make me a good person even though I say I am.

Some people believe in God, but that does not make them faithful, even though they say they are.

 

There are atheists and non-believer. These are 2 different things.

[quickjoe]

Morality, maybe. But God's Law, as revealed through the 10 commandments and the prophets, isn't.

Actually, I will ask you what you think "objective" and "subjective" mean before we go any further with this. I am almost certain we are attributing different definitions to these words.

[Lil1]

Religion is for the feeble minded. It brings hope to the hopeless. To each his/her own.

[Trimmer]

... created by your own thinking.

That pretty much sums up my own thoughts about religion.

 

To the OP - I think you will find that there are lots more "non-believers" than you think. Take any believer, of any religion on the globe. To that person, it is abundantly and unambiguously clear that everyone who does not believe in his particular god is a non-believer - and that's a lot of people over on the other side of whatever line his religion defines (e.g. "hell".)

 

Everybody is a non-believer in a whole bunch of the gods that are available out there for our consideration. To paraphrase the cliche: I just non-believe in one more than you do.

Edited June 12, 2012 by Trimmer

[betterdeal]

Conciousness leads to spiritualism. We have thoughts. We experience them. And feelings. These don't fit with a purely physical world. We all experience the metaphysical very personally, so it's pretty understandable that most people are spiritual, and many of those are theistic.

[TaraMaiden]

. You hear more about Christians, Catholics Budists, Muslims, etc. One thing in common is they believe a god and might go to church too....

 

Er....excuse me..?? 'Budists' (sic) have nothing in common with theists - we do not believe in God, and i haven't attended a church in over a decade. Been to a temple once or twice, but that's completely different.

 

samsungxoxo, I take it you've read my comment?

 

I have to say - and I really truly do not mean this to be insulting or offensive - but it astonishes me that so many Americans actually know so little about other religions, or investigate them much....particularly Buddhism.

I mean, how many people here think of the Buddha as fat and jolly?

[Silly_Girl]

Dawkins spoke of this recently. He commissioned a poll by MORI in the UK

 

Ipsos MORI | Poll | Religious and Social Attitudes of UK Christians in 2011

 

 

 

Practice

 

When asked why they think of themselves as Christian, the research found that fewer than three in ten (28%) say one of the reasons is that they believe in the teachings of Christianity. People are much more likely to consider themselves to be Christian because they were christened or baptised into the religion (72%) or because their parents were members of the religion (38%) than because of personal belief.*

 

I haven't been through it but Dawkins' thrust was that a large proportion of people who would tick a religion box on a personal data form actually appear not to be religious in any tangible way. It's habit for many, apparently.

[anne1707]

Dawkins spoke of this recently. He commissioned a poll by MORI in the UK

 

Ipsos MORI | Poll | Religious and Social Attitudes of UK Christians in 2011

 

 

 

Practice

 

When asked why they think of themselves as Christian, the research found that fewer than three in ten (28%) say one of the reasons is that they believe in the teachings of Christianity. People are much more likely to consider themselves to be Christian because they were christened or baptised into the religion (72%) or because their parents were members of the religion (38%) than because of personal belief.*

 

I haven't been through it but Dawkins' thrust was that a large proportion of people who would tick a religion box on a personal data form actually appear not to be religious in any tangible way. It's habit for many, apparently.

 

I think my signature expresses how I feel

[wuggle]

Religion is for the feeble minded. It brings hope to the hopeless. To each his/her own.

 

Disagree. IMO religion is the shackles passed from generation to generation when one's parents do not have the strength to fight the stated beliefs of their peers even though often they know they make no sense. The desire to belong to a society or group is very human. The desire to see a sense of purpose in life and a desire to deny our mortality often too difficult to fight.

 

Thankfully some do.

 

But it's often a painful, thankless task.

 

Much easier to believe in an omnipotent god, life just feels much 'nicer' that way

[Silly_Girl]

I think my signature expresses how I feel

 

I've clocked that many times Anne. It's a powerful quote, I love it

[Trimmer]

Practice

 

When asked why they think of themselves as Christian, the research found that fewer than three in ten (28%) say one of the reasons is that they believe in the teachings of Christianity. People are much more likely to consider themselves to be Christian because they were christened or baptised into the religion (72%) or because their parents were members of the religion (38%) than because of personal belief.*

 

I haven't been through it but Dawkins' thrust was that a large proportion of people who would tick a religion box on a personal data form actually appear not to be religious in any tangible way. It's habit for many, apparently.

Although I don't have a speck of data to back it up, I also wonder whether Pascal's Wager is a big player in those figures.

[thatone]

there was a great study in the US a few years back, although i can't find the link, i'll look for it tomorrow.

 

the idea was, pollsters called people and asked them if they were religious, and if so if they attended church regularly. they did this in targetted areas, and then simply went to all of the churches in those areas for a few weeks thereafter and counted cars in parking lots and people in them.

 

the short answer was, well over 50% claim to attend church regularly but about 20% actually do.

 

thou shalt not bear false witness?

 

in two generations those people who lie about going to church will simply stop lying about it, as religion in the west continues to decline.

[TaraMaiden]

Dawkins spoke of this recently. He commissioned a poll by MORI in the UK

 

Practice

 

When asked why they think of themselves as Christian, the research found that fewer than three in ten (28%) say one of the reasons is that they believe in the teachings of Christianity. People are much more likely to consider themselves to be Christian because they were christened or baptised into the religion (72%) or because their parents were members of the religion (38%) than because of personal belief.*

 

I haven't been through it but Dawkins' thrust was that a large proportion of people who would tick a religion box on a personal data form actually appear not to be religious in any tangible way. It's habit for many, apparently.

 

I think my signature expresses how I feel

 

By RICHARDDAWKINS.NET

Added: Thursday, 13 December 2007 at 12:00 AM

 

Hinduism and Buddhism offer much more sophisticated worldviews (or philosophies) and I see nothing wrong with these religions.

 

Just thought I'd put that in there, to clarify my - and his - public PoV on the matter.

 

Thanks.

[zengirl]

Because in many societies, it's not socially acceptable to be atheist or especially agnostic. Even atheists give poor agnostics a hard time, like saying "I don't know or want to speculate" is some kind of bad thing. People have such hubris.

 

Because most people are simply what their parents were. And, as the Dawkins quote says, many people express they are "X religion" without REALLY believing it. They just are what they were raised to be. People believe what they are told as children quite often and identify with it.

 

At any rate, I don't see how you lump all those religions together, really. Many of them have nothing in common.

[samsungxoxo]

Please show me your findings. I believe there are more atheist that you can count.

Here is a link to Peru's religion statistics:

What are Peru's religion

 

Another link: http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html

[reboot]

I suspect most people, outside the hardcore atheists on one side and the hardcore religious people on the other, are actually agnostics, whether they admit it or not. I know lots of people who go to church regularly but don't really know what they believe. They were raised that way and so they live their life that way.

 

I don't really understand where the OP got "only 3%" of the people in his country were atheist or agnostic. How can you derive such a number? I suspect that 78% of statistics are made up on the spot.