Rising Atheism In America Puts 'Religious Right On The Defensive' [12%-20% Atheists!]

Guardian (UK) ^ | October 01, 2011 | Paul Harris

[Steelfish]

Rising Atheism In America Puts 'Religious Right On The Defensive' High profile of faith-based politicians such as Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry masks a steady growth in secularism

Paul Harris in New York 1 October 2011

About 400 people are preparing to gather for a conference in Hartford, Connecticut, to promote the end of religion in the US and their vision of a secular future for the country.

Those travelling to the meeting will pass two huge roadside billboards displaying quotes from two of the country's most famous non-believers: Katharine Hepburn and Mark Twain. "Faith is believing what you know ain't so," reads the one featuring Twain. "I'm an atheist and that's it," says the one quoting Hepburn.

At the meeting, members of the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) will hear speakers celebrate successes they have had in removing religion from US public life and see awards being presented to noted secularist activists.

The US is increasingly portrayed as a hotbed of religious fervour. Yet in the homeland of ostentatiously religious politicians such as Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry, agnostics and atheists are actually part of one of the fastest-growing demographics in the US: the godless. Far from being in thrall to its religious leaders, the US is in fact becoming a more secular country, some experts say. "It has never been better to be a free-thinker or an agnostic in America," says Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the FFRF.

The exact number of faithless is unclear. One study by the Pew Research Centre puts them at about 12% of the population, but another by the Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society and Culture at Trinity College in Hartford puts that figure at around 20%.

[LeGrande]

That is good news. At least 12% of the population is waking up : )

[FlingWingFlyer]

I don’t care that these godless bastards don’t have any faith. That misunderstanding will eventually be settled between them and God. My problem is, why do they feel the need to ram their atheism down everyone else’s throat? Must be a “gay” thing.

[ari-freedom]

I bet they won’t be happy Bob Turner won because of the religious Jewish and Christian vote :)

[ari-freedom]

“My problem is, why do they feel the need to ram their atheism down everyone else’s throat? Must be a “gay” thing.”

Exactly. It’s all about the sex and abortion.

[jz638]

Twain was critical of organized religion, but he was no atheist.

[Bryanw92]

The faithless are becoming more openly faithless. The faithful are becoming more faithful. The majority of Americans are in the middle, stating that they are Christian, but not really even knowing what that means. They are drifting into both camps.

The separation of wheat from chaff and sheep from goats is proceeding as planned.

[Publius]

My problem is, why do they feel the need to ram their atheism down everyone else’s throat?

I'm an atheist, and I have that same problem. When they talk about getting religion out of public life, I ask, "Why? Why does it offend you? Why does it matter?"

I have no interest in pulling down Ten Commandments monuments or crosses. I have no interest in getting people to believe in my non-belief. Quite honestly, I lost patience with these idiots years ago.

[Mechanicos]

Its no coincidence that the number of Atheists matches the number of homosexuals: 1-2% of population.

“The teaching that only male-female sexual activity within the bounds and constraints of marriage is the only acceptable form should be reason enough for any homosexual to denounce the Christian religion” Advocate, 1985.

[Mach9]

I wouldn’t bet the farm on that. Read Letters from Earth.

[ottbmare]

You make me wish FR had a “like” button, as Facebook does.

[GAB-1955]

It sounds that their goal is to compel the end of religious practice and teaching in the United States. Am I wrong? If I am right, I will not stop witnessing for Christ.

[13Sisters76]

A whole 400?

This is what happens when the majority allow a tiny minority to bully them.

[Ulysse]

Hummm your argument seems to be short and poor !
So you can go on sleeping .

I will not argue with you and such a poor point since it’s late in Europe where i live. Many smart people in the world believe or have “believed” in God by a specific religion or only and also as a philosophical rational view.

In addition ,and above all, speaking generally of “religion” is completly out of touch and irrelevant when this concerns specially christianism in “developped” countries with cynical dellusional crowds brainwashed by medias,marketing, and sometimes ideology....
Then this is the consequence of the relativist western countries’ disease and doesn’t concern islam(shamefully)

I fear that you are sleeping awoken like a somnanbule....
Or you should assume that communists were awoken atheists....

[stubernx98]

My problem is, why do they feel the need to ram their atheism down everyone else’s throat?
I'm an atheist, and I have that same problem. When they talk about getting religion out of public life, I ask, “Why? Why does it offend you? Why does it matter?”

I am with you. If the “Creator” exists, it is why beyond the understanding of animals walking the earth. I do believe in the Judo-Chritian ethic, plus some other philosophies that have helped civilize humanity.

Unfortunately the “influencers” (that portion of society((about 17%) that gets its ego satisfaction by controlling others) have used organized religion for nefarious reasons. i.e. Islam -

I did have an experience many years ago that indicated that there may be life after death(I am in my third life).

[Billthedrill]

The entire "religious right" boogeyman is well past its sell-by date. One of the funniest notions popular on the Left is that there's a ravening horde of cross-bearing zealots trying to turn the country into The Handmaid's Tale - one need only visit a certain DUbious website to encounter this as a religious canon more fervently held than any snake-handler in a church basement ever grasped to his perforated bosom. It is for this reason that I give the stereotypical thinkers at The Guardian a bit of a pass in wanting to posit an equally fictional atheist surge in opposition. A lot of liberal Americans appear to be laboring under the same illusion.

There are certain atheist social activists who have been publicly belligerent of late, to be sure, but these are far more representative of social activists than they are atheists as a whole, at least as far as I can tell. Anti-religion lawsuits have been features of American politics dating back to and further than the late, unlamented Madelyn Murray O'Hare. None of this is new.

It is, to be sure, an age where an aggressive minority can abuse the court system in pursuit of changing other people's lives for purposes of ego. It is, as well, an age where an individual enjoys greater access to public expression of opinion than ever before. These two things do not a movement make.

[Publius]

I was Alexander Hamilton in a recent past life.

(ducking for cover)

[Ulysse]

Worse !

Atheism is often militant, activist, and looks like a failed and fake “religion” or rather ideology.
Honest agnostics are , most of the times, people you can speak with sharing sensible arguments

[GeronL]

They are war with us, we should be defensive

[GeronL]

They are called ‘Obama Voters’