Proportion of theists and atheists in HL (poll)

[Dragonfly Jones]

Every religious poll always says that black Americans are most religious of all the ethnic groups


and this site claims to be majority black


Something ain't adding up, unless all the black atheist just so happen to post on Thecoli

 

[acri1]

Every religious poll always says that black Americans are most religious of all the ethnic groups


and this site claims to be majority black


Something ain't adding up, unless all the black atheist just so happen to post on Thecoli

It's probably a couple of things -

1. Younger people in general (black or not) tend to be a lot less religious, and most people on the coli are under 40
2. The types of people to post in HL all the time (educated, have a job where they're at a computer all day, like to discuss current events and politics) are probably more educated than average, and people who are more educated tend to be less religious. I remember a while back I made a poll about the educational attainment level in HL and most posters say they have Bachelor's degrees or higher
3. It's probably more even on other subforums. I remember seeing a poll like this in TLR and it was pretty evenly split between Christians and nonreligious people

My two cent.

 

[NkrumahWasRight Is Wrong]

I exist, therefore I am

Descartes was a boss but i think he sold out as the meditations went on

 

[NoMayo15]

That's stupid if you ask me.

Okay, well no one asked you.

then why agnostic atheist? I mean why you think the OP didn't outright put Atheist on there??

Atheist just addresses what someone doesn't BELIEVE, not what they assert as absolute truth. Atheism is the non-acceptance of god claims as true, not necessarily a belief that no gods exist.

I was wondering why the OP formed those poll options that way myself.

 

[CHL]

Okay, well no one asked you.



Atheist just addresses what someone doesn't BELIEVE, not what they assert as absolute truth. Atheism is the non-acceptance of god claims as true, not necessarily a belief that no gods exist.

I was wondering why the OP formed those poll options that way myself.

Perhaps I should have just left it at "atheist". agnostic atheist is just being more specific. @gho3st no It doesn't imply that we are "half atheists"

I labeled another option just as "agnostic" to describe people who literally just say "I don't know" or "I"m not sure". I couldn't think of a better name to characterise that group

 

[CHL]

What the hell is Jediism ? Does it have to do with Star Wars ?

EDIT : I think I believe in Dyslexism therefore I'd have to change my vote to Agnositc.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jediism

 

[Fervid]

Agnostic Atheist is I mean how can you say you dont believe in god but you also dont know whether god exists or not. It's like saying " i'm an atheist...but not really..."

agnostic atheist: I am not certain there is no "creator" of the universe, but I have no evidence to believe there is. (This will open a new can of words that beg the question)

"Agnostic atheist" has taken hold recently due to apologists accusing "atheists" of making a positive claim.

 

[tru_m.a.c]

@Melbournelad you should've broken the christian category up by: protestant / catholic

would've made for some good fukkery.

Same with Islam and Judaism

 

[badhat]

I never read him as an Atheist. I do realize he was basically kicked out of the Jewish community though and am aware of the problems he had and how controversial he was at the time. Ill have to go back and read more carefully another time and take note of the deterministic attitude vs finite mode although either way I dont think itd be inaccurate to describe his philosophy as pantheistic, particularly to the layman who isnt big into philosophy. Philosophy heads may dispute the nuances a bit more..but even many of those would at least say his conception of God/Nature has many common characteristics to pantheism.

I'm pretty sure we're essentially saying the same thing, just with slightly different definitions, so I don't want to give the impression that I'm totally disagreeing with you, there are tons of books by guys smarter than me backing up your claim.

I think that it's more useful to describe him as an atheist, since his God isn't transcendent at all. Plenty of atheists have justified true belief in logic preserving truth value and gravity exerting a force on massive objects, and these are overarching truths that don't necessarily conflict with their self-identification as atheists. Spinoza's God seems (to me) to be a carefully worded version of these conceptions.

But, yeah, I'm just a guy on the internet that's done a little bit of reading, not a philosopher. I would recommend Steven Nadler's book on Spinoza if anyone's interested in working through the Ethics.

 

[badhat]

We need more prolific posting like this around these parts.

I'm white, so I think it's better that I don't post too frequently and overstay my welcome.

 

[No1]

@Melbournelad you should've broken the christian category up by: protestant / catholic

would've made for some good fukkery.

Same with Islam and Judaism

Too difficult., would've had to cut some shyt out.I will also say that I have to disagree with @acri1 about why this poll is like this. While young black people are less religious than older people that just means we're not as strict about. LIke you're LIB trumac and I never met an African parent who didn't give a to the idea of gay marriage. Kids be like Not following religious norms is different than outright being an atheist and that is even among college-educated black people. This poll is definitely not reflective of black people at large, educated or not. Then again, atheists in HL are not like typical atheists either so...

 

[NkrumahWasRight Is Wrong]

I cant lie..when I saw Agnostic Atheist as an option I 'd

 

[Won Won]

Whole lotta open chests in here

"I crumpled the kid"

 

[Delicious]

"Agnostic atheist" has taken hold recently due to apologists accusing "atheists" of making a positive claim.

Kind of a rough territory. It's the "radical" sort of mindset of "No. There is no creator" that forced this little splinter group. From what I can tell, the Ag. Ath. group is just a "I'm not convinced" status, vs Agnostic being an "I don't know."

And honestly, "I don't know" is the same thing as "I'm not convinced" in my estimation.

Seems like either a great or absolutely horrible topic the HL podcast.

 

[NkrumahWasRight Is Wrong]

Kind of a rough territory. It's the "radical" sort of mindset of "No. There is no creator" that forced this little splinter group. From what I can tell, the Ag. Ath. group is just a "I'm not convinced" status, vs Agnostic being an "I don't know."

And honestly, "I don't know" is the same thing as "I'm not convinced" in my estimation.

Seems like either a great or absolutely horrible topic the HL podcast.

Seems like a nuanced cop-out to me as well