See also this post about religion and social issues.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Most and least religious countries in the world
Here's an interesting Gallup survey listing up which countries are most and least religious, and comparison to US states. Always nice to keep around when there are discussions about how important religion is for your well-being. (The poll data is based upon interviews from 2006, 2007 and 2008, the article seems to be brand new: February 9, 2009.)
See also this post about religion and social issues.
See also this post about religion and social issues.
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28 comments:
This is AWESOME! Thank you! I didn't know about this poll, but I'll link you to my blog (my story about religion, ignorance, and the Prop. 8 debate in California).
I just have to say, I work as a teacher and it's hard to hear 19-year-olds who won't can't comprehend a newspaper article try to tell me about the subtleties of the Bible.
Just between us and everyone else who reads this posting, it makes me sick.
Hey! A decent atheist blog.
Not sure if it's the same survey but last year I did a correlation of this one or similar with WHO data on homicides.
Shows that, contrary to what the religious tell you about society being improved by more faith, it does not help one iota. If anything the correlation appeared more in the other direction, although I think that is down to both religion and crime diminishing with prosperity and stable society.
Here is a survey that brings good news to atheist is:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2009-03-09-american-religion-ARIS_N.htm
The ARIS is the American Religious Identification Survey. To summarize, from 1990 - 2008 there was an increase of the population of people who are not religious by6.8%, meanwhile the major religions saw signfificant drops. Atheism now makes up 15% of the population.
I discuss it further in my blog:
http://whygod.weebly.com/1/post/2009/03/religion-is-showin-weaknes-in-america.html
- Rafael
I love when people who claim to be so rational require logical fallacies to defend their arguments.
I find it interesting in the "Top 10 Least Religious States in the US", with Vermont being the least religious with 44%. Almost half of a state says that religion is important in their lives. Is it just me, or is that appalling?
That is appaling, but what is more is the fact that the ten most are all southern states(former confederacy is what it looks like) that just lack some serious education platforms, us atheist need to remember that ignorance is more rampant than anything us that hurts our cause.
The US states that are the most religious are also the poorest states in the country, starting with Mississippi. For countries the most religious countries are also among the poorest in the world
Interesting. Most religious countries in the world are the poorest, most fascist, and has the most censorships in the world.
Yess we are winning! ESTONIA!! FTW
1 place haha suck it losers
Great, I'll be packing up for Estonia tonight, then. :)
Bye, Mum!
why are you talking about religion on an athiets blos?
i mean it's like a vegitarian making a blog about nothing but meat
This isn't merely an Atheist blog, I'm also against religion and therefore religion is an important subject.
hi guys,
i'm an estonian and it's nice to be high in this rank, especially as the countries following to us in the list are sweden and denmark, that are both very succesful countries, with strong knowledge-based economies. (hope you see the ovious connection between knowlegde and non-religiousness.)
Considering, that the majority of those few in estonia, who believe in god, are russian immigrants, one could think that we, as a nation, believe in nothing. That is not true.
As christianity was during the complex history of our counrty always the religion of occupants, slave owners and other bad guys, the majority of people kept believing in nature and spirits for hundreds of years after the babtisin of our region. People were going to church only coz they were forced to. Adding to that the 50 years of soviet occupation, when all religions were forbidden and deemed evil, its normal, that there are not many christians left in the country.
However, people still believe in some kind of "higher power", refusing to give it any face or name. People believe in nature(ex. biofields of body, trees having energy) and in alternative medicine (btw WHO's studies show that 80%of patients using traditional medicine actually imporve their condition- maybe its just Placebo effect, but as long as it helps, who cares). Going to healers is a very common thing in Estonia, everybody knows somebody who has visited a healer(ex. my mother got cured of asthma by one). As god is not there to take the honor for those healings(miracles!!!wow, has to be god, doesnt it), and science doesnt prove the belief in such methods, we are in a kind of weird situation, where our experiences are not explained. I guess most people agree, that science simply hasnt arrived to the level to explain some things- like acupuncture, that no doubt works, or hypnosis. Some things simply work without us knowing why. It doesnt mean we have to turn to god to find an explination.
So what i wanted to explain was that we are not unspiritual. Estonians believe in other things than science too, but our spirituality has nothing to do with religion, which is a word with bad history and negative subtone for us. Nobody doubts any scientific facts, they just believe science is not able to explain everything yet. And something not being explained, doesnt mean its not there.
hope you at least try to understand our way of thinking, before deeming us a primitive people who believe in forest spirits(coz we rather the opposite- an IT country where one can pay taxes and vote in elections online). I know its difficult for people from the countries with strong chistian background, where the pre-christian beliefs have been eridicated throughout the centuries and the choice is purely between science and Jesus, to believe in things that are unexplained by both of them.
so you can say we are pretty supersticious afterall. but we are not imprisoned by our beliefs as many people in the world
hi guys,
i'm an estonian and it's nice to be high in this rank, especially as the countries following to us in the list are sweden and denmark, that are both very succesful countries, with strong knowledge-based economies. (hope you see the ovious connection between knowlegde and non-religiousness.)
Considering, that the majority of those few in estonia, who believe in god, are russian immigrants, one could think that we, as a nation, believe in nothing. That is not true.
As christianity was during the complex history of our counrty always the religion of occupants, slave owners and other bad guys, the majority of people kept believing in nature and spirits for hundreds of years after the babtisin of our region. People were going to church only coz they were forced to. Adding to that the 50 years of soviet occupation, when all religions were forbidden and deemed evil, its normal, that there are not many christians left in the country.
However, people still believe in some kind of "higher power", refusing to give it any face or name. People believe in nature(ex. biofields of body, trees having energy) and in alternative medicine (btw WHO's studies show that 80%of patients using traditional medicine actually imporve their condition- maybe its just Placebo effect, but as long as it helps, who cares). Going to healers is a very common thing in Estonia, everybody knows somebody who has visited a healer(ex. my mother got cured of asthma by one). As god is not there to take the honor for those healings(miracles!!!wow, has to be god, doesnt it), and science doesnt prove the belief in such methods, we are in a kind of weird situation, where our experiences are not explained. I guess most people agree, that science simply hasnt arrived to the level to explain some things- like acupuncture, that no doubt works, or hypnosis. Some things simply work without us knowing why. It doesnt mean we have to turn to god to find an explination.
..continued
So what i wanted to explain was that we are not unspiritual. Estonians believe in other things than science too, but our spirituality has nothing to do with religion, which is a word with bad history and negative subtone for us. Nobody doubts any scientific facts, they just believe science is not able to explain everything yet. And something not being explained, doesnt mean its not there.
hope you at least try to understand our way of thinking, before deeming us a primitive people who believe in forest spirits(coz we rather the opposite- an IT country where one can pay taxes and vote in elections online). I know its difficult for people from the countries with strong chistian background, where the pre-christian beliefs have been eridicated throughout the centuries and the choice is purely between science and Jesus, to believe in things that are unexplained by both of them.
so you can say we are pretty supersticious afterall. but we are not imprisoned by our beliefs as many people in the world
never really thought our world is that evil till now!!!
I don't care cause when the day of the lord comes atheist will freak the HELL out and I really mean hell...
u only have to wait , deep inside everybody know there is an end to our life or world and it's getting closer everyday...
it might be tommorow ! just imagine that only then u'll know there is a god but it'll be too late!!! very very late and there is nothing u can do! ur screwed and gone... bye bye ,enjoy the hell... u DESERVE IT!!!
Yes treating an atheist with hell, burning, and torment will almost always make on spot conversion.
god is a loving god thats why your going to burn for eternity.
Thats like saying be my friend or ill tie you up and put you in my closet forever and ill torture you.
People who don't believe in your god make the world so so evil while you drool on the idea of people burning in hell. They certainly deserve it when your loving christian heart says so.
People in Estonia will get a smirk on their face if you talk about religion.
Raphael posted above that Atheists now represent 15% of America up 6.8%. No wonder this country is going down the toilet!
Like I said, Raphael posted about how Atheists now represent 15% of the American population up by 6.8%. No wonder this country is going down the toilet, decadence has been rearing its ugly head for many years in America!
I bet this doesn't get posted!
bcloud27:
You want decadence? Check out this map from the CDC of poverty in the South:
http://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2007/oct/07_0091e.htm
Note that in the North, poverty and prosperity are pretty even, but in the South, full of fine Christians, there are huge swaths of poverty with tiny little enclaves of the very rich. I'll bring my needle, you bring your camel, let's see how it works out.
it amazes me how there's always a bible thumping atheist basher poking their head in to these blogs to say hell-o. atheists or non-religious people have perfectly rational conversations about the correlation between religion and ignorance, and it always seems to draw them out from behind their bible to condemn us all to hell. love thy neighbor, unless they're gay, islamic, jewish, atheist, etc.... i live in missouri where chaplains hand out scripture at my warehouse job, which i prompltly avoid or shred. extreme christians seem to be posess the worst of the worst of the dark human qualities, above and beyond the other faiths of the world. I was raised extreme christian and they believe that they have the inside track with their god over all others, and everyone else is dead wrong. If I had to wager a guess, I'd say that the christian faith is made up of about 50% extremists while other world faiths such as muslims would be made up of probably 1-2% extremist crazies and they just look worse because of their sheer mass numbers vs others. the bottom line is that religious people are basing their entire lives and point of existence off of ancient mythological text written by other people in the middle east, or wherever. that's fine if they keep it private within their homes and churches but i dont want it involved in law making decisions like condemning gay people from being able to have basic civil rights like any other citizen. even death row inmates and molesters can get married with no issue, see how irrational that is? people and animals are attracted to whatever sex they see as being suitable for them and that's all their is to it, period. black people and woman have always had to fight for their equality over the centuries due to the ignorance of bible thumpers and now the same with gay people, ridiculous, and this is coming from a straight guy here, even i get it! look it up religious people, homosexuality exists regularly in virtually every species of animal on the earth and is highly documented by nature experts, are the chimps and penguins gonna burn too?
it amazes me how there's always a bible thumping atheist basher poking their head in to these blogs to say hell-o. atheists or non-religious people have perfectly rational conversations about the correlation between religion and ignorance, and it always seems to draw them out from behind their bible to condemn us all to hell. love thy neighbor, unless they're gay, islamic, jewish, atheist, etc.... i live in missouri where chaplains hand out scripture at my warehouse job, which i prompltly avoid or shred. extreme christians seem to be posess the worst of the worst of the dark human qualities, above and beyond the other faiths of the world. I was raised extreme christian and they believe that they have the inside track with their god over all others, and everyone else is dead wrong. If I had to wager a guess, I'd say that the christian faith is made up of about 50% extremists while other world faiths such as muslims would be made up of probably 1-2% extremist crazies and they just look worse because of their sheer mass numbers vs others. the bottom line is that religious people are basing their entire lives and point of existence off of ancient mythological text written by other people in the middle east, or wherever. that's fine if they keep it private within their homes and churches but i dont want it involved in law making decisions like condemning gay people from being able to have basic civil rights like any other citizen. even death row inmates and molesters can get married with no issue, see how irrational that is? people and animals are attracted to whatever sex they see as being suitable for them and that's all their is to it, period. black people and woman have always had to fight for their equality over the centuries due to the ignorance of bible thumpers and now the same with gay people, ridiculous, and this is coming from a straight guy here, even i get it! look it up religious people, homosexuality exists regularly in virtually every species of animal on the earth and is highly documented by nature experts, are the chimps and penguins gonna burn too?
i realize that as a christian, my comments may be taken as onerous or even audacious, however, i mean no disrespect to anyone of any opinion or belief. i do see the damage inflicted by the church at large, damage inflicted under the pretense of religion. please know there are people in all groups who will abuse and misinterpret even the best of things. when the bible says love thy neighbor, it means it. Gay, straight, atheist, Buddhist,it is immaterial. any true christian will know God loves every last person on this planet. Love should be what drives a christian's life, not religion. if you choose not to believe in a God, that is your own conviction. i cannot say i blame anyone who feels this way. i have been damaged myself by religion; religion hurts and imprisons. just know that there are intelligent and loving people out there who do very much love their neighbors and still live their lives as Christians. proudly, i claim Christianity, as proudly as you claim what you believe. i am deeply sorry for the hurt, damage and ignorance inflicted in the name of Jesus or Christianity. those things are not of Christ.
This is like the beginning of the atheist jihad, war on everyone who don't believe or disbelieve what they disbelieve.
They even have t-shirts
"Militant Atheist"
O man, the atheists have t-shirts so they must be plotting to overthrow all religion. Next thing you know we will be gathering in masses weekly and condemning people that don't think the same way we do. I do hope the rapture comes so that the only people left on the world are the ones with common sense.
Die atheist scum.
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