I’m sure by now some of you have run across the Pew Report on the U.S. Religious Landscape. I first heard about Pharyngula, where there is an awesome breakdown & discussion of it. According to him, the number of atheists in the country has quadrupled! (From 0.4% to 1.6%…) [NB. to PZM if he drops by, I know you didn’t say that, you only noted the numbers, and that statistically speaking, the number of atheists could have remained constant, since we’re talking percentages.]
What is most interesting to me is that this is all self-reported:
Catholics, for instance, are defined as all respondents who said they are Catholic, regardless of their specific beliefs and whether or not they attend Mass regularly. Similarly, atheists and agnostics are defined here as all respondents who described themselves as being atheist or agnostic, even though some of them may believe in some notion of God.
In a different interpretation of the same study, the NYT finds that people have been bouncing around amongst religions, eventually ending up in atheism/agnosticism. (
So here’s a brief survey: how many religions have you gone through before seeing the (un)holy light of atheism (or wherever you are now)?
Secondary question: can I get an “Amen”…?
4 responses so far ↓
1 Elaine // Mar 2, 2008 at 11:09 am
Let’s see…started out in the Methodist Sunday School, where my parents started taking me at age 3. Then, sometime in the middle of elementary school I started going to the Baptist Sunday School (First Baptist, not Southern Baptist) with a neighbor girl. Got started with the Mormons in high schook and was baptized LDS at age 16, again through a friend. Left that for good four or five years ago.
There were some other vistis to other churches in between all of that, and read about a lot of others, but those were the ones that I attended with regularity. So, three I guess.
2 Elaine // Mar 2, 2008 at 11:11 am
High “schook”? Clearly, that should be “school”. Equally clearly, I can’t keyboard this morning.
3 wren // Mar 3, 2008 at 11:13 pm
-How many religions have you gone through before seeing the (un)holy light of atheism (or wherever you are now)?
Started out as a marginal Lutheran, searched for awhile and visited and read up on numerous Christian sects, became a mega-church sorta non-denom Christian for awhile, searched for awhile again, became a Mormon. Had some bouts of inactivity but for the most part subscribed to the basic lds belief system for 11 years before the curtain was pulled back (quite literally actually, as I was in an initiatory session at the temple) and I realized my faith in God and Christianity may well have been built on sand.
These days, I have affection for some Buddhist teachings but consider that a philosophy. I have affection for the Unity teachings that God is the divine within each of us. So as for a specific deity, I have no belief in one anymore. I appreciate the value myths can hold as parables for our own journeys. For that reason I do have some little statues of gods and goddesses. I dunno… sometimes I think I should throw a post out there again reflecting in this journey of the last 2+ years. I’m at peace about it now. But man, I still remember the pain in the beginning. Feeling a mix of betrayal, anger at self, sorrow, grief, sadness, and loss. Eventually, there was peace and liberation and freedom. Every now and then I miss the insulation of the (perceived) security. But that doesn’t last long. Something soon reminds me why life’s better over here.
-Hmm, where does that leave me? I guess around 3 decades (if I include school years) as mostly a believer in God with an emphasis on Christian interpretations. During that run: Lutheran, non-denom, and Mormon. It’s worth nothing I suppose that when I was in seeking mode I went to many, many different Christian churches. I still find some sects, like the various Anabaptists, fascinating.
Secondary question: can I get an “Amen”…?
Amen, hallelujah.
Oh, and regarding long distance companies… in the 90s: MCI, Sprint, AT&T, and Cox. Remember getting those checks all you had to do was sign and deposit? I remember getting $75 to switch once. Hells, yeah!
I’ve been loyal to Verizon as a wireless provider for the last 6 years. I think wireless all but killed the long distance market for land lines.
PS: Sorry this is so long! I probably should have just written a post and linked to it. :^/ It’s late and I’m tired and rambling.
4 xJane abroad // Mar 4, 2008 at 10:59 am
There’s a story here:
& I want it!
Incidentally, I spent a brief amount of time with Verizon as a cell carrier before returning to my one true love, AT&T (I just love that they’re the Telephone & Telegraph company), which became Cingular, so that doesn’t count, then back to AT&T…
Leave a Comment