Apparently I agreed to do another charity this weekend. I really need to keep a marker and a calendar next to each other.
I’ll be joining this Rad Romanian to promote American Atheists this Saturday, December 22nd, immediately following the previously scheduled end of days.
On that note, I would also like to point out that I am #88,062 in the Atheist Census.
At this moment, atheists dominate humanists, agnostics, freethinkers, rationalists, secularists and all those other squishy sub-categories who are still squirming at the ‘A’ label. If you’re not convinced that any actual deity really exists, then you’re an atheist. It’s that easy. My demographic is 65%.
73.6% of respondents are male
59.6% college students
35.6% non-Catholic Christians
and 8.8% in my age group of creepy old bastiches.
There are tens of thousands more replies coming from the US than anywhere else, so c’mon all you limeys and kiwis and assorted foreigners. Hey, we got 1,511 atheists in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Way to go, guys!
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Psychopomp Gecko
December 20, 2012 at 6:17 am (UTC 0) Link to this comment
Yes, but how many atheists are also viking warriors who survived to creepy old bastich age?
Ant (@antallan)
December 20, 2012 at 8:39 am (UTC 0) Link to this comment
As someone in one of those squishy subcategories (humanist; 7.6% globally, 8.5% in the UK), I don’t squirm at the “A” label, and I’ll happily say that I am an atheist — I am an atheist!
(see?) — but I think it says far less about me (“I don’t believe in any god”) than the “H” label (a raft of things along the lines set out here).
/@
aronra
December 20, 2012 at 11:49 am (UTC 0) Link to this comment
A fair point. Then you don’t have the problem I had. I called myself an agnostic for years, because I didn’t know what the words ‘atheist’ or ‘agnostic’ actually meant.
Lofty
December 20, 2012 at 11:16 am (UTC 0) Link to this comment
Did you see that there’s an atheist reporting from the Holy See? I wonder if it’s Benny The Rat.
Anyway I’m counted as an Aussie without any religious background whatever. Mum at 77 still chortles at the concept of god(s).
Psycho Gecko
December 20, 2012 at 8:25 pm (UTC 0) Link to this comment
And I have now been counted! Hoorah! I don’t consider the label all that big a deal. Living where I do, I suspect it’s actually a pretty good way to get around answering if someone asks if you’re an atheist. “I’m a humanist, I’m a skeptic, I’m a rationalist, I’m a mighty viking warrior like AronRa who will hear the lamentation of your women.”
I’m not even comfortable being publicly out where I live. Good thing hardly anyone knows. I’d rather not test if someone’s being told to Stand Their Ground by the magical sky voice.
I’m curious about if there was a state by state breakdown, but this is an international deal and they may not want to put that effort into it. Or just to keep it vague enough given the potential for discrimination.
If you’re ever in Florida again, AronRa…well, probably just leave. I’d have said look me up, but I live in a town with two churches across the street from the high school and a gun store across the street from the middle school.
Rambling over…for now.
DaveC
December 24, 2012 at 2:57 pm (UTC 0) Link to this comment
Saaay Gecko – I think I went to high school there. One of the interesting statistics on the census is the age demographics. Atheism is clearly not a “middle-aged” phenomenon. Unfortunately, the male/female division is far from even.
TxSkeptic
December 27, 2012 at 6:05 am (UTC 0) Link to this comment
I definitely identify as atheist. However, if I hope to be identified as such by like minded folks in public, without being hassled by believers, nothing works better than a freethinker t-shirt. Believers have no idea what it means, and if they comment at all, they just confirm their cluelessness.
What is really astonishing and encouraging is the age statistics. I thought we used to be dominated by older white guys, but being in the 50+ set, I’m thrilled to see <15% in 45+. Go kids, go!