Adam Lee has written an article in which he states: "The most fervent advocates of religion in the modern world are also the most deeply inculcated with the mindset of command and obedience, which has dangerous consequences." He goes on to describe how this demand for obedience keeps us in the Dark Ages. To read this article, click here.
However, some of us (even those of us not born in Missouri) need to understand and see for ourselves. The more we look, the more we see the man behind the curtain as in Oz. In order to be faithful to most religions, we need to ignore medical advances, refuse to accept the obvious evolutionary changes in our world, and, if we believe Catholicism, go forth and be fruitful whether we can afford to feed our children or help them grow up to deal with the demands of our current world in the 21st C. Churches ignore asthmatic congregants and pollute the environment with incense smoke. While the average person with curiosity grows and develops to adapt to this ever changing and challenging world, The celibate men who wear fancy dresses and silly costumes, hats and other presumably impressive and costly symbols of their station, surround themselves with myths which we are all supposed to believe.
Fortunately, not everyone believes we can abandon all out life responsibilities and just leave it all up to God. In 2009,Wikipedia reports the following on North American Atheism.
The percentage of people in North America by sub-national divisions (except Mexico) who identify with a religion, as opposed to having "no religion" (1991, 1998, 2000, 2001)A 2004 BBC poll showed the number of people in the US who don't believe in a god to be about 9%.[11] A 2008 Gallup poll showed that a smaller 6% of the US population believed that no god or universal spirit exists.[32] The most recent ARIS report, released March 9, 2009, found in 2008, 34.2 million Americans (15.0%) claim no religion, of which 1.6% explicitly describes itself as atheist (0.7%) or agnostic (0.9%), nearly double the previous 2001 ARIS survey figure of 0.9%.[33] The highest occurrence of "nones", according to the 2008 ARIS report, reside in Vermont, with 34% surveyed.[34]
The latest statistics show that a lack of religious identity increased in every US state between 1990 and 2008.[35] However less than 2% of the U.S. population describes itself as atheist.[36]
The exact number of atheists in Canada is disputed. (See the section "Statistical problems" above) The Canadian Ipsos Reid poll released September 12, 2011 entitled "Canadians Split On Whether Religion Does More Harm in the World than Good," sampled 1,129 Canadian adults and came up 43% who do not believe in a god.
An older poll shows 19–30% of the population holding an atheistic or agnostic viewpoint.[37] The 2001 Canadian Census states that 16.2% of the population holds no religious affiliation, though exact statistics on atheism are not recorded.[38] In urban centers this figure can be substantially higher; the 2001 census indicated that 42.2% of residents in Vancouver hold "no religious affiliation."[39] A recent survey in 2008 found that 23% of Canadians said they did not believe in a god.[40] The numbers do seem to suggest that the numbers of people in Canada who believe in a deity are dropping at a significant rate.
Separation of church and state is guaranteed by Article 130 of the Mexican Constitution, which also designates religious leaders as ineligible for public office, while the majority of the population identifies as Roman Catholic (89%).[41]
Although the demographics of atheism and irreligion in Mexico is hard to measure because many atheists are officially counted as Catholic, almost three million people in the 2000 National Census reported having no religion.[42] Recent surveys have shown that only around 3% of Catholics attend church daily[43] and, according to INEGI, the number of atheists grows annually by 5.2%, while the number of Catholics grows by 1.7%.[44][45]
In the U.S., 55 percent of atheists are under age 35, while 30 percent are 50 and over (compared to 37 percent of the total population). As a group agnostics are older than atheists, though still younger than the general population.[46] Comparing this 2001 data with the 1990 National Survey of Religious Identification (NSRI) provides evidence of a trend towards secularization among the younger American population.[46][47]
In the US men are more likely to be atheists than women, and also rate lower on various other measures of religiosity such as frequency of prayer.[48]
"The analyses of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Study 1) and the General Social Surveys (Study 2) show that adolescent and adult intelligence significantly increases adult liberalism, atheism, and men's (but not women's) value on sexual exclusivity."[49]
However, some of us (even those of us not born in Missouri) need to understand and see for ourselves. The more we look, the more we see the man behind the curtain as in Oz. In order to be faithful to most religions, we need to ignore medical advances, refuse to accept the obvious evolutionary changes in our world, and, if we believe Catholicism, go forth and be fruitful whether we can afford to feed our children or help them grow up to deal with the demands of our current world in the 21st C. Churches ignore asthmatic congregants and pollute the environment with incense smoke. While the average person with curiosity grows and develops to adapt to this ever changing and challenging world, The celibate men who wear fancy dresses and silly costumes, hats and other presumably impressive and costly symbols of their station, surround themselves with myths which we are all supposed to believe.
Fortunately, not everyone believes we can abandon all out life responsibilities and just leave it all up to God. In 2009,Wikipedia reports the following on North American Atheism.
North America
The latest statistics show that a lack of religious identity increased in every US state between 1990 and 2008.[35] However less than 2% of the U.S. population describes itself as atheist.[36]
The exact number of atheists in Canada is disputed. (See the section "Statistical problems" above) The Canadian Ipsos Reid poll released September 12, 2011 entitled "Canadians Split On Whether Religion Does More Harm in the World than Good," sampled 1,129 Canadian adults and came up 43% who do not believe in a god.
An older poll shows 19–30% of the population holding an atheistic or agnostic viewpoint.[37] The 2001 Canadian Census states that 16.2% of the population holds no religious affiliation, though exact statistics on atheism are not recorded.[38] In urban centers this figure can be substantially higher; the 2001 census indicated that 42.2% of residents in Vancouver hold "no religious affiliation."[39] A recent survey in 2008 found that 23% of Canadians said they did not believe in a god.[40] The numbers do seem to suggest that the numbers of people in Canada who believe in a deity are dropping at a significant rate.
Separation of church and state is guaranteed by Article 130 of the Mexican Constitution, which also designates religious leaders as ineligible for public office, while the majority of the population identifies as Roman Catholic (89%).[41]
Although the demographics of atheism and irreligion in Mexico is hard to measure because many atheists are officially counted as Catholic, almost three million people in the 2000 National Census reported having no religion.[42] Recent surveys have shown that only around 3% of Catholics attend church daily[43] and, according to INEGI, the number of atheists grows annually by 5.2%, while the number of Catholics grows by 1.7%.[44][45]
[edit] Population attributes of atheists in the US
Overall, U.S. Americans who profess no religion or self-identify as atheist or agnostic are more likely to be white, non-Hispanic, or Asian and less likely to be African American or Hispanic, as compared to the general adult population in U.S.[46]In the U.S., 55 percent of atheists are under age 35, while 30 percent are 50 and over (compared to 37 percent of the total population). As a group agnostics are older than atheists, though still younger than the general population.[46] Comparing this 2001 data with the 1990 National Survey of Religious Identification (NSRI) provides evidence of a trend towards secularization among the younger American population.[46][47]
In the US men are more likely to be atheists than women, and also rate lower on various other measures of religiosity such as frequency of prayer.[48]
"The analyses of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Study 1) and the General Social Surveys (Study 2) show that adolescent and adult intelligence significantly increases adult liberalism, atheism, and men's (but not women's) value on sexual exclusivity."[49]
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