Irreligion in the United States
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Encompassing atheism, agnosticism, deism, skepticism, freethought, secular humanism or general secularism, various polls have put the population of "non-religious" North Americans at between 20 and 35 million. [1][2] An American Religious Identification Survey released in March of 2009 indicated that 15% of Americans – roughly 45-million – "say they have no religion" (up from 8.2 in 1990), while 1.6-million self-identified as atheists (up from 900,000 in 2001). [3][4] Several groups promoting no religious faith or opposing religious faith altogether – including the Freedom From Religion Foundation, American Atheists, Camp Quest, and the Rational Response Squad – have also witnessed large increases in membership numbers in recent years.[1]
Contents |
[edit] Demographics
A Barna group poll found that about 20 million people say they are atheist, have no religious faith or are agnostic, with 5 million of that number claiming to be atheists. The study also found that "[t]hey tend to be more educated, more affluent and more likely to be male and unmarried than those with active faith" and that "only 6 percent of people over 60 have no faith in God, and one in four adults ages 18 to 22 describe themselves as having no faith."[1]
A 2007 Gallup poll which asked the question
"Which of the following statements comes closest to your belief about God: you believe in God, you don't believe in God but you do believe in a universal spirit or higher power, or you don't believe in either?"
showed that 78% believed in god, 14% in "A universal spirit or higher power", 7% answering "neither", and 1% unsure.[5]
The 2008 American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) found that while 34.8 million U.S. Adults (15.2%) described themselves as "without religion", almost 90% of these answered "none" with no qualifications. Only 1.4 million positively claimed to be atheist, with another 2 million professing agnosticism.[6]
[edit] Irreligion in politics
Many voters in the United States are rather distrustful of those professing a lack of religious faith, with an "atheist" at the bottom of the list of presidential candidates that people would vote for. Over 90% of Americans are willing to vote for a Catholic, Jewish, female or black President, but the number willing to vote for an atheist is below 45%, lower than the result for homosexuals and Muslims.[7][8]
Exit polls suggest that whites without religion vote Democratic at roughly the same rates that white Evangelical Christians vote Republican. In 2008, 71% of non religious whites voted for Obama while 74% of white Evangelical Christians voted for McCain. [9]
[edit] Irreligion in popular culture
- "The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors" (1875), Kersey Graves book
- "The Fountainhead" (1943) and "Atlas Shrugged" (1957), Ayn Rand novels
- "Principia Discordia" (1965), Greg Hill & Kerry Thornley book
- Pete Stark, United State Congressman since 1973
- "Book of the SubGenius" (1983), J. R. "Bob" dobbes
- "Job: A Comedy of Justice" (1984), Robert A. Heinlein novel
- "The Secular Web (1995-present), Internet website
- "You Are All Diseased" (14 May 1999), George Carlin album
- "Shut Up You Fucking Baby!" (2002), David Cross album
- Pharyngula (2002-present), PZ Myers blog
- Penn & Teller: Bullshit!: episodes "End of the World" (21 February 2003), "Creationism" (14 March 2003), and "The Bible: Fact or Fiction?" (6 May 2004)
- "The End of Faith" (2004), Sam Harris book
- "Atheist Universe" (2004), David Mills book
- The God Who Wasn't There (2005), Brian Flemming documentary
- Penn & Teller: Bullshit!: "Holier Than Thou" (23 May 2005)
- Penn & Teller: Bullshit!: "Signs From Heaven" (25 July 2005)
- "Breaking the Spell" (2006), Daniel Dennett book
- "The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster" (28 March 2006), Bobby Henderson book
- "Letter to a Christian Nation" (2006), Sam Harris book
- Penn & Teller: Bullshit!: "Exorcism" (19 April 2007)
- Zeitgeist, the Movie (2007), Peter Joseph documentary
- Religulous (2008), Bill Maher documentary
- Several popular television characters including:
-
- Drs. Gregory House and Allison Cameron of House
- Dr. Perry Cox of Scrubs
- Dr. Cristina Yang of Grey's Anatomy
- Dr. Temperance Brennan of Bones
- Ronnie Gardocki of The Shield
- Brian Griffin of Family Guy, particularly "Not All Dogs Go to Heaven" (29 March 2009)
On 20 January 2009, Barack Obama became the first United States President to acknowledge non-believers in his inaugural address.[10]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b c In America, Nonbelievers Find Strength in Numbers
- ^ "American Religious Identification Survey". http://www.gc.cuny.edu/faculty/research_briefs/aris/key_findings.htm. Retrieved on 2008-03-29.
- ^ Catholics on the Move, Non-religious on the Rise
- ^ America Is Becoming Less Christian, Less Religious
- ^ "Polling Report - Religion". Various. http://www.pollingreport.com/religion.htm. Retrieved on 2008-03-29.
- ^ The No Religion Population of the U.S.
- ^ Atheists come in last - USA today
- ^ About.com Atheist Surveys
- ^ CNN Exit polls
- ^ An inaugural first: Obama acknowledges 'non-believers'
[edit] External links
|
|||||||||||
|
|||||
|
||||||||||||||
