• Global Study Finds One in Six People Follow No Religion.
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[quote] A global study of religious adherence released on Tuesday by the Pew Research Center found that about one of every six people worldwide has no religious affiliation. This makes the “unaffiliated,” as the study calls them, the third-largest group worldwide, with 16 percent of the global population — about equal to Catholics. The study also found a wide disparity in the median age of religious populations, with Muslims and Hindus the youngest, and Buddhists and Jews the oldest. The median age of the youngest group, Muslims, was 23, while the median for Jews was 36. Over all, Christians (including Catholics) are the largest religious group, with 2.2 billion people, about 32 percent of the world’s population. They are followed by Muslims, with 1.6 billion, about 23 percent. There are about one billion Hindus, about 15 percent of the global population, and nearly half a billion Buddhists, about 7 percent. The study, “The Global Religious Landscape,” is a snapshot of the size and distribution of religious groups as of 2010, and does not show trends over time. “Something that may surprise a lot of people,” said Conrad Hackett, a primary researcher on the report, “is that the third-largest religious group, after Christians and Muslims, is the religiously unaffiliated. There may have been some guesses floating out there before, but this is the first time there are numbers based on survey data analyzed in a rigorous and scientific way.” More than three-quarters of the religiously unaffiliated live in Asia, the majority in China. Many of the people in this group do hold some religious or spiritual beliefs and may even believe in a deity, but they do not identify with a particular faith. People who practice folk or tribal religions, like African, Chinese, American Indian and Australian aboriginal traditional religions, make up another 6 percent of the world’s population. Smaller faith groups — like Bahais, Jains, Sikhs, Shintoists, Taoists, Wiccans and Zoroastrians — combined make up less than one percent of the global population. Jews, with about 14 million, make up only 0.2 percent of the global population. The study is based on analysis of 2,500 different data sources, including censuses and demographic surveys of children and adults in 232 countries. It relies on self-identification, so it includes people who are not regular practitioners or orthodox believers of the religion they claim. The religious groups with the youngest median ages have the highest levels of fertility and poverty and the lowest levels of female education, Jack A. Goldstone, director of the Center for Global Policy at George Mason University, in Virginia, said in an interview by e-mail. He noted that in predominantly Muslim countries where the government supports the education of women and girls, like Tunisia, Iran and Indonesia, the median age is higher than for Muslims in Africa and the Middle East. The study also shows that about one-fourth of the world’s population lives in countries where they are a religious minority. But 97 percent of Hindus and 87 percent of Christians live in countries where they are the majority faith, said Alan Cooperman, associate director for research at the Pew Forum. “Christians are the most evenly dispersed — except in one place, and that’s the Middle East and North Africa, which happens to be the place where Christianity originated,” Mr. Cooperman said. [/quote] [url]http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/18/world/pew-study-finds-one-in-6-follows-no-religion.html?src=twr&_r=0[/url]
Cool information :quagmire:
Hopefully in ten years it'll be Six in Six.
i give it 200 years before the religious are the minority
As much as this joys me as an atheist; don't get too excited as there are many who claim no religion, yet are still theists, deists, pantheists, spiritualists, pagan, etc..
religious traditions in China seem pretty humble to me..
[QUOTE=AK'z;38883463]religious traditions in China seem pretty humble to me..[/QUOTE] They are, it's nice. I like how they instantly adopt you into their culture when you go there.
[QUOTE=SCopE5000;38883283]Hopefully in ten years it'll be Six in Six.[/QUOTE] ten years what
Yeah, it doesn't specify whether these are specifically atheists or people who just don't care. As Bradyns said, there are a lot of different beliefs that can be labelled as "unaffiliated".
[QUOTE=SCopE5000;38883283]Hopefully in ten years it'll be Six in Six.[/QUOTE] What if I told you that being an atheist makes you no more special than a theist.
[QUOTE=Mike42012;38883474]They are, it's nice. I like how they instantly adopt you into their culture when you go there.[/QUOTE] so many people yet so calm.. went to a train station there, at least 300 people in a space, yet it felt so serine.
[QUOTE=AK'z;38883520]so many people yet so calm.. went to a train station there, at least 300 people in a space, yet it felt so serine.[/QUOTE] That sounds slightly disturbing. Are you sure they didn't have the [I]slightest[/I] of depression on their faces?
I certainly hope none of you are treating this like a competition.
[QUOTE=Bobie;38883319]i give it 200 years before the religious are the minority[/QUOTE] I see the developed parts of the world becoming mainly non-religious within 100 years, but the developing world might take longer.
[QUOTE=Zillamaster55;38883494]What if I told you that being an atheist makes you no more special than a theist.[/QUOTE] [quote]spe·cial /ˈspeSHəl/ Adjective Better, greater, [I]or otherwise different from what is usual[/I]: "a special effort".[/quote] Aha! I've beat you with my semantic prowess!
This may only count for organized religion. People with batshit cray things that only they follow or entirely unorganized cults may not have been taken into consideration.
[QUOTE=Zillamaster55;38883494]What if I told you that being an atheist makes you no more special than a theist.[/QUOTE] I would respectfully disagree. Not a better human being per se, just better at applying logic.
[QUOTE=Falubii;38885332]I would respectfully disagree. Not a better human being per se, just better at applying logic.[/QUOTE] Religious people can use logic, too. We aren't all Catholics or whatever sect of Islam doesn't let them out of the motherfucking Dark Ages.
[QUOTE=CoolCorky;38883489]Yeah, it doesn't specify whether these are specifically atheists or people who just don't care. As Bradyns said, there are a lot of different beliefs that can be labelled as "unaffiliated".[/QUOTE] I don't give a shit what they believe in as long as they are not part of some gigantic organized cult that will (inevitably) murder tens of millions.
[QUOTE=Moustacheman;38885389]Religious people can use logic, too. We aren't all Catholics or whatever sect of Islam doesn't let them out of the motherfucking Dark Ages.[/QUOTE] I didn't say they couldn't apply logic in other situations, I'm just saying on many fundamental beliefs of many religions, there is a requirement to believe some pretty illogical things.
[QUOTE=Falubii;38885415]I didn't say they couldn't apply logic in other situations, I'm just saying on many fundamental beliefs of many religions, there is a requirement to believe some pretty illogical things.[/QUOTE] I just think of them as being primarily metaphorical. Such as the flood in Noah's Arc. It probably didn't cover the whole world. Just the known world to Noah and his neighbors.
[QUOTE=Moustacheman;38885438]I just think of them as being primarily metaphorical. Such as the flood in Noah's Arc. It probably didn't cover the whole world. Just the known world to Noah and his neighbors.[/QUOTE]The thing is, you are supposed to take it all literally. When people can start saying "Well, that's not actually what this means!" and applying their own interpretations to it, then its just shows that they are capable of making conclusions without the religion to begin with.
[QUOTE=Doctor Zedacon;38885496]The thing is, you are supposed to take it all literally. When people can start saying "Well, that's not actually what this means!" and applying their own interpretations to it, then its just shows that they are capable of making conclusions without the religion to begin with.[/QUOTE] Well, you do remember how much Christianity was fucked with and abused during the Crusades. A lot of things were dropped from and added to the Bible, and a whole lot more of it sticks around. We Protestants have a bit more freedom of how we want to take the Bible.
[QUOTE=Moustacheman;38885523]Well, you do remember how much Christianity was fucked with and abused during the Crusades. A lot of things were dropped from and added to the Bible, and a whole lot more of it sticks around. We Protestants have a bit more freedom of how we want to take the Bible.[/QUOTE]That just raises a separate issue. If people can just change your holy texts based on their own interpretations, then how do you know which one is true? And this further proves my previous point that, if you can pick and choose what to believe at will, then the religion was ultimately irrelevant to begin with. You're entirely capable of forming your own values and ideals.
[QUOTE=Doctor Zedacon;38885597]That just raises a separate issue. If people can just change your holy texts based on their own interpretations, then how do you know which one is true? And this further proves my previous point that, if you can pick and choose what to believe at will, then the religion was ultimately irrelevant to begin with. You're entirely capable of forming your own values and ideals.[/QUOTE] A religion is irrelevant because it's one of many options?
i'm catholic and I'm proud to say fuck the rules I'll determine what I want and don't want to believe in. fucking rules and regulations suck. I support the LGBT movement yet I'm still affiliated with the catholic church. im a rebel.
Religion is fine as long as it's a peaceful one and doesn't shove itself in others faces. Although, I think it would be better if religious people were a minority, but that won't happen for hundreds of years.
[img]http://www.facepunch.com/fp/ratings/winner.png[/img][img]http://www.facepunch.com/fp/ratings/winner.png[/img][img]http://www.facepunch.com/fp/ratings/winner.png[/img][img]http://www.facepunch.com/fp/ratings/winner.png[/img][img]http://www.facepunch.com/fp/ratings/winner.png[/img] HELL YEAH ATHEISM GUYS!!! I've never understood why this was considered winner.
[QUOTE=Doctor Zedacon;38885496]The thing is, you are supposed to take it all literally. When people can start saying "Well, that's not actually what this means!" and applying their own interpretations to it, then its just shows that they are capable of making conclusions without the religion to begin with.[/QUOTE] You're actually not. Even the Catholic Church teaches that Noah's Ark, the Creation Stories, and a few other things in the Bible are suppose to be taken metaphorically. I could go into so much detail about this if I had the time or energy, maybe I'll write up a response if you really want. [QUOTE=Doctor Zedacon;38885496]And this further proves my previous point that, if you can pick and choose what to believe at will, then the religion was ultimately irrelevant to begin with. You're entirely capable of forming your own values and ideals.[/QUOTE] I might not be understanding too well, but how does this make the religion irrelevant? It's not specific people, as in individuals, coming up with these interpretations. It's the religion itself, you're just choosing to agree with the interpretations that the religion sets. Now if you do individually believe something different, then yeah you could argue that following a certain religion is irrelevant to an extent.
[QUOTE=SCopE5000;38883283]Hopefully in ten years it'll be Six in Six.[/QUOTE] Oh my god. Over the top Atheists manage to piss me off more than overly-religious people nowadays.
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