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Are there successful atheist countries?

Spiderman

Spiderman

Veteran Member
What I mean by atheist, is the majority of the population identifies as atheist. I'm asking only about the 21st century.

I would argue China, but China is arguably not atheist majority:
"According to a 2012 Gallup poll, 47% of Chinese people were convinced atheists"
Irreligion in China - Wikipedia

It seems to me that Chinese folk religion has a lot similar to Japanese Shintoism. They even have an entire month dedicated to ghosts:

"In Chinese folk legend, the seventh lunar month is the Ghost Month. It is said that every year on the first day of the seventh lunar month, the gate of hell will be wide open and the ghosts will come out until the gate is closed on the 30th day of the month.

Chinese people would hold sacrifice ceremony and burn money at the roadside in the month to worship the ghosts

, people who die unexpectedly during this period are regarded "have been taken away by ghosts".
Ghost Month: Meaning, 2018 Dates, Do's and Don'ts, History

Some doctors do not perform surgeries on Chinese ghost month.

North Korea doesn't count unless somehow you can convince me that it is a successful Nation. I don't count a nation where so many people are starving to death and brutalized by the government to be successful.
 
Rival

Rival

Diex Aie
Staff member
Premium Member
Iceland? I think that's one.

Many English people are atheists. It's much harder to find a Christian here, among all the atheists.
 
Valjean

Valjean

Veteran Member
Premium Member
Government imposed atheism doesn't count, so China and the old USSR are all out.

If by "atheist countries" you include those where the majority of the population may not declare themselves atheist, but are nevertheless indifferent to or 'non believers' in religion, you get most of Western Europe.
Scandinavia, particularly, comes to mind.

Religiosity is inversely proportionate to security and, to some degree, to prosperity.
 
Spiderman

Spiderman

Veteran Member
ChristineM said:
China has more none religious than any single religion.
Click to expand...
Non-religious doesn't mean atheist though. I am arguably non-religious, but I spend hours a day in prayer. There is simply no religion I feel I belong to.

Back when I used to be very anti religious, and even hate religion, I still said prayers now and then for good luck just in case.
 
Altfish

Altfish

Veteran Member
PopeADope said:
Are any of those countries with an atheist majority?
Click to expand...
Most European countries have a non-belief majority or are fast approaching it. In the UK many Christians (or at least that's what they call themselves) don't believe in god. Figure that one out.
 
Anthem

Anthem

Active Member
ChristineM said:
China has more none religious than any single religion.
Click to expand...
Interesting enough:

"As explained in the following speech by the renowned scholar of Chinese religion John Lagerwey (whom is a true expert of religion in China, not like the Christian propagandist Fenggang Yang wildly promoted in recent years by American media), and well expressed by the title of one of his works,[1] China is a “religious state”: The traditional worship of gods and ancestors constitutes the fabric of Chinese society and the foundation of the Chinese state itself. It is one of the big lies of the Western media to present China as an “atheist state”. Even the Communist Party is no (or no longer) “atheist”, but embedded in the tradition of cultivating the roots of the Chinese civilisation, its “characteristics”, which are its forefather-gods and its ways to approach the gods of the broader cosmos."

https://www.quora.com/Is-China-a-religious-country
 
Spiderman

Spiderman

Veteran Member
Anthem said:
Interesting enough:

"As explained in the following speech by the renowned scholar of Chinese religion John Lagerwey (whom is a true expert of religion in China, not like the Christian propagandist Fenggang Yang wildly promoted in recent years by American media), and well expressed by the title of one of his works,[1] China is a “religious state”: The traditional worship of gods and ancestors constitutes the fabric of Chinese society and the foundation of the Chinese state itself. It is one of the big lies of the Western media to present China as an “atheist state”. Even the Communist Party is no (or no longer) “atheist”, but embedded in the tradition of cultivating the roots of the Chinese civilisation, its “characteristics”, which are its forefather-gods and its ways to approach the gods of the broader cosmos."

https://www.quora.com/Is-China-a-religious-country
Click to expand...
The "Atheist" Chinese government has its own church and appoints the Bishops.
 
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