Dec 19 2012

The Atheist Census is back up

Categories:

Go forth and be counted. It was offline for a while thanks to a denial of service attack — which, by the way, required spending a chunk of money to get better security installed, so compensatory donations would be appreciated.

This post has no tag

35 comments

Skip to comment form ↓

1

JohnnieCanuck

19 December 2012 at 1:09 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

It has been accumulating steadily for about a day now.

The US is far out in front, probably as much as the rest of the world combined. Maybe that explains how the Christian majority there are so oppressed.
2

Ichthyic

19 December 2012 at 1:14 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

taken offline because of a DDOS ..

ALREADY?

man. someone out there is really really desperate.
3

John Phillips, FCD

19 December 2012 at 2:02 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

It’s OK now. I noticed there was one (1) entry for the Vatican City. Atheist, Male, originally Catholic, over 65. I wonder if the pope entered :)
4

Draken

19 December 2012 at 2:04 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

20 entries from Sudan, 38 from Saudi-Arabia and 114 from Egypt. I hope nobody watched them visiting the website.
5

ibbica

19 December 2012 at 2:05 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

The US is far out in front, probably as much as the rest of the world combined. Maybe that explains how the Christian majority there are so oppressed.

*chortle*

Although I do wonder what each nation’s numbers will end up looking like, particularly as a proportion of the number of people in the population there with easy access to a computer.
6

ibbica

19 December 2012 at 2:11 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

20 entries from Sudan, 38 from Saudi-Arabia and 114 from Egypt. I hope nobody watched them visiting the website.

To be fair, the question is “what country are you from?”, not “what country do you live in?”. I hope that means that those folks are somewhere where it is (relatively) safe for them to answer.
7

Balstrome

19 December 2012 at 2:29 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Seriously guys, it’s been up for quite a while now. Ftb always seems to be lagging behind events.
8

lsamaknight

19 December 2012 at 2:53 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I noticed that the age results skew towards the younger brackets. I’m wondering how much of that is to do with the trend of younger people being less religious in general and how much is that of internet demographics pushing the results further that way.
9

alexanderz

19 December 2012 at 4:00 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

“25.7% female” – that’s pretty depressing.
On the plus side the “other” percentage (0.6%) is actually higher than some estimates of trans people’s share of the population.

John Phillips, FCD
Where did you see the Vatican entry? I haven’t even seen Vatican City in the country drop menu.
10

JohnnieCanuck

19 December 2012 at 5:07 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Alexanderz, it’s listed as Holy See (Vatican City).

Now a more suspicious man than myself might suppose that the entry was made by a comedian. An even more suspicious person might be casting a leery eye on a certain Friend of Charles Darwin, though I myself can’t see any fault in him.

Their email verification idea isn’t exactly perfect since most people have easy access to alternate addresses.
11

alexanderz

19 December 2012 at 6:16 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Thank you, JohnnieCanuck!
12

Bronze Dog

19 December 2012 at 8:32 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I’m in. Notice that they’ve got 3/4 of the people so far down as male, so looks like we’ll have to keep working to attract women to the ranks, unsurprisingly.
13

brasidas

19 December 2012 at 8:32 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

The fact that the US has a lot of entries, and that there is a tend towards lower ages shouldn’t surprise. Some of the main sites that are publicising the census are in the US and more younger people use the internet than older ones.

I am pleased that in the REAL census of the UK (well, England and Wales anyway), people who claimed they were non-religious are up from 15% in 2001 to 25% in 2011 (with Wales and the Southwest being more like 30%).

Now, with our Conservative Prime-Minister pushing for homosexual couples to be allowed to have real marriages (including religious weddings if those faiths so wish), the UK is starting to look a little better than it was.
14

apucalypso

19 December 2012 at 8:35 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

The one, self reported, atheist in the Vatican made me chuckle. Though I must admit that I’m a bit suspicious about that.
It would be downright hilarious, if they decided to display the ranking based on participating atheists vs. total population of their respective home countries, which should put Vatican City right a the top.
15

outeast

19 December 2012 at 8:37 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Heh, only two questions where I would have to give any consideration to the answers at all and I can’t settle on a response to either…
16

Doug Little

19 December 2012 at 8:38 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Done and done. I would have liked to see the Where are you from? question as Where were you born? and Where do you live now? for all the immigrants out there.
17

tomfrog

19 December 2012 at 8:43 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

@Balstrome, #7

Seriously guys, it’s been up for quite a while now. Ftb always seems to be lagging behind events.

PZ posted about it when it first came online and then the DOS attack ruined it. Now he waited 3 (or 4 days) before reposting about it and you’re here complaining.
What’s your point? I’m even surprised you’re still around FTP since they always seem to be lagging behind events…

@PZ: why can’t we use Comic Sans anymore?
18

jaybee

19 December 2012 at 10:02 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Sure, it is all fun and games until Obama’s Muslim gestapo forces arrive to round up all the non-believers.
19

F [disappearing]

19 December 2012 at 10:37 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Yeah, Atheist Census sent me a confirmation email 5 days after I registered (like, you know, when I wasn’t looking for their time-sensitive email any longer) , but since I didn’t find it that day, it is no good. So whatever. Pfft.

alexanderz

“25.7% female” – that’s pretty depressing.

Registering with stuff online is more of a Guy Thing™. :p
20

quintus

19 December 2012 at 12:36 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Not a lot of women but plenty of youngsters
21

machintelligence

19 December 2012 at 1:35 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Also look at the education level: 78.6% college or post graduate. Being smart might not make you an atheist, but it sure helps.
22

Ichthyic

19 December 2012 at 1:46 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Registering with stuff online is more of a Guy Thing™. :p

Hey, I laughed.
23

madscientist

19 December 2012 at 3:10 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I wonder if it’s really the Ministry of Information gathering the data so they know where to send the Thought Police …

Ah, brava – there is someone from San Marino!
24

footface

19 December 2012 at 3:47 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I now prefer to be known as #85,525
25

anathema2

19 December 2012 at 4:40 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

@ alexanderz (#9):

Given that a lot of transgender people are going to identify as either male or female, I assume that the total percentage of transgender people who’ve taken the census is larger than 0.6%. So, yeah, I think that we’re doing fairly well there.
26

usingreason

19 December 2012 at 4:42 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

@21 That’s not about being smart, it’s more about making a 4 year commitment, working hard and following through. And the parties are awesome.
27

usingreason

19 December 2012 at 4:45 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

*Sigh* I was looking at my age group and feeling a bit disappointed in the low number, until I realized I am not 44; I am 45. Damn it, time to get a penis car and a deep-v t-shirt.
28

Dutchgirl

19 December 2012 at 5:06 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I was surprised by the low % of women. Of course the sample is self selected from people who 1) read blogs/science news on-line, and 2) are willing to provide an e-mail for validation and go click it. But still… that is a very wide spread.
29

Zeno

19 December 2012 at 5:29 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Off topic: Judge Bork is dead. I believe I’m okay with that.
30

Acolyte of Sagan

19 December 2012 at 5:53 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

lsamaknight
19 December 2012 at 2:53 am

I noticed that the age results skew towards the younger brackets. I’m wondering how much of that is to do with the trend of younger people being less religious in general and how much is that of internet demographics pushing the results further that way.

Probably more to do with us old gits not using interwebs as much as you whipper-snappers.
Fortunately, I’ve got grandsons to teach me, so I’ve registered; I’m one of those in the UK.
31

Sili

19 December 2012 at 5:53 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

The Swedish chef is gonna be so sad. He was the biggest fan of Bork Bork Bork.
32

rocksci

19 December 2012 at 7:26 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Not sure if you have any control over the advertising PZ, but there’s an ad just below this post on the main page, and in the sidebar now, for ‘Bad Idea T-shirts’ featuring a young woman in a vest top emblazoned with “Admit it – you’d go to jail for this”. Creepy. Just a heads up as I have a feeling that might not be a product you’d endorse…
33

John Phillips, FCD

19 December 2012 at 8:40 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

JohnnieCanuck, nothing to do with this friend of Charles, like you, I just thought it amusing that some comedian had probably been playing around.
34

Tony ∞The Queer Shoop∞

19 December 2012 at 8:48 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

There is a lack of women because DUH atheism “is a guy thing”.

(Really want my comic sans back)
35

Tony ∞The Queer Shoop∞

19 December 2012 at 8:50 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

@31:
FtB uses 3rd party advertisers and have no control over the ads.