Religious "Nones" now 15% of population

[xer0s]

Kracus knows religion...

[R00k]

I am an atheist who dislikes most atheists. I just have a strong dislike of self-righteous, rude assholes in general.

lol, you sound like a self-righteous, rude asshole in that post.

[Κracus]

Kracus, the "None" is what peopled answered when asked their religious identity. So what if it had read something like this:

What religion do you identify with? (or How would you describe your religious identity?)
A. Christianity
B. Islam
C. Judaism
D. Atheism

I'm an atheist, and if I saw a poll like that I would scratch out Atheism and write in "None," specifically BECAUSE atheism is a lack of religion - not a religion in itself.

How hard is this to understand?

Yeah I see what you're saying, I just think the headlines they use after they made the poll is idiotic because they're calling us "nones" which sounds lot like nuns you know? Calling us nones is stupid because really, we're atheists for the most part. Except maybe buddhists and pantheists and so on.

My gripe I guess is that they should encompass an I'm not sure option (agnosticism) which although I find rather moronic I can accept as it's the basic idea that I don't know, which really applies to everything, I don't even know you're real you know?

[R00k]

Oh yea, I'm fully aware of how much you don't know.

[Κracus]

Also, in regards to the question, it's not phrased properly. If they're asking, what religion do you identify with then none shouldn't be an awnser as none is not a religion.

The question should be: What form of theism do you beleive in or are you an atheist?

I'm not sure if it'd make sense to put agnosticism as a form of theism though...

[bitWISE]

Oh yea, I'm fully aware of how much you don't know.

[bikkeldesnikkel]

I don't see where I'm contradicting what you're saying. In fact I agree with you for the most part.

no I'm saying if you have no religion you're either an atheist or an agnostic.

There

Also, in regards to the question, it's not phrased properly. If they're asking, what religion do you identify with then none shouldn't be an awnser as none is not a religion.

The question should be: What form of theism do you beleive in or are you an atheist?

It's fine the way it is.

I'm not sure if it'd make sense to put agnosticism as a form of theism though...

No, agnosticism has nothing to do with the actual beliefs, it has to do with the logical truth value you assess on those beliefs, i.e. you believe this but think the answer is unknowable, or the truth value isn't 1. Pretty much useless, since you'd have to be a total retard if you've thought about that and still proclaim it to be 1.

Which brings me to the strong/weak atheism distinction. Why does it even exist? I mean, how many strong atheists can there really be? I've never heard anything from an actual strong atheist.

[Scourge]

PUT THE PIPE DOWN!!!

[Transient]

Also, in regards to the question, it's not phrased properly. If they're asking, what religion do you identify with then none shouldn't be an awnser as none is not a religion.

Don't be pedantic. Answering "none" to that question is a short way of saying "I don't identify with any religion," and you know it.

[Κracus]

I was being pedantic cause they were doing the same by labeling atheism as a "religion".

[R00k]

They didn't, Kracus. Remember, that's what you're trying to do in this thread.

[Transient]

No they didn't, Kracus. If they somehow made the question too vaguely worded, everyone answering it still clearly knew what was meant and nobody misinterpreted it as you imply.

[Lieutenant Dan]

The times they are changing.

[Tsakali]

agnostic = is a 'on the fence' answer, plus could very well be confusing to some people
atheist = is just an ugly derogatory word to begin with, as it assumes strong emotions against religion.

none = the best choice .

[Chupacabra]

it assumes strong emotions?

[Fender]

s/assumes/implies/

[Tsakali]

lol I knew someone was going to raise the flag on that remark.

It is often used as a euphemism, that's my experience

[Tsakali]

I agree to one small point Krakus made about the 'nones' thing... it sounds silly the way they put it, almost as if they were trying to ridicule that percentage. Play on words.

[bikkeldesnikkel]

agnostic = is a 'on the fence' answer, plus could very well be confusing to some people
atheist = is just an ugly derogatory word to begin with, as it assumes strong emotions against religion.

none = the best choice .

Agnosticism isn't an answer at all and atheism isn't derogatory and doesn't imply any emotion. According to their definitions that is. Alas, people (intentionally most of the time) misrepresent these words, which are the cause of your interpretations.

[Grudge]

There is also a difference between being on the fence regarding the truth of the existance of a god, and between regarding the question itself as contradictory, logically unsound or irrelevant. Lumping everything together under "agnosticism" does not provide the whole picture.

[Massive Quasars]

Let's take a break from the fart sniffing and navel gazing over semantics for a moment and gain some perspective.

Psychotics are slowly losing ground in their final precious footholds in the developed world, for reasons too numerous to cover.

However, if only superficially, the value of one's cognition and the recognition of the amenability of age-related damage to repair/prevention is directing an increasing lot towards life extension. Much of this creep is implicit to these individuals, with no general philosophy or conscious coherent thrust, but the result is the nonetheless similar.

Here's a hyperbolic over-reach of my point:
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packa ... 58,00.html

Here's Simon Cowell inspiring a generation:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ ... ility.html

[kôrupt]

In other news, 85% of the population still stupid

[DTS]

I didn't read most of this thread or most of the article but...

You are morons for not realising that "nones" sounds exactly the same as "nuns", which is why it's stupid to call them that.

[Κracus]

Well shit DTS agrees with me so I must be wrong.

Seriously though it does sound stupid and it would be more intelligent to actualy use the words that define the beleifs if they're going to put a "none" option there. Or at the very least, "none of the above"

[4days]

without seeing it, it's hard to say - but there was probably an "other" box.