Fewer People in The US Are Religious, But That Might Not Mean What We Think
The number of individuals in the United States who do not identify as being part of any religion has grown dramatically in recent years, and "the nones" are now larger than any single religious group.
www.sciencealert.com
The religiously unaffiliated are a diverse group. Some still attend services, say that they are at least somewhat religious, and express some level of belief in God – although they tend to do these things at a lower rate than individuals who do identify with a religion. There is even diversity in how religiously unaffiliated individuals identify themselves. When asked their religion on surveys, unaffiliated responses include "agnostic," "no religion," "nothing in particular," "none" and so on. Only about 17 percent of religiously unaffiliated people explicitly identify as "atheist" on surveys. For the most part, atheists more actively reject religion and religious concepts than other religiously unaffiliated individuals. Our recent research examines two questions related to atheism. First, what makes an individual more or less likely to identify as an atheist? Second, what makes someone more or less likely to adopt an atheistic worldview over time?
Perhaps just a sign that change is occurring though.
Our study found that there are a number of other social forces associated with the likelihood of an individual identifying as an atheist, above and beyond their disbelief in God – particularly stigma. Many Americans eye atheists with suspicion and distaste. Notably, some social science surveys in the US include questions asking about how much tolerance people have for atheists alongside questions about tolerance of racists and communists. This stigma means that being an atheist comes with potential social costs, especially in certain communities. We see this dynamic play out in our data. Political conservatives, for instance, are less likely to identify as an atheist even if they do not believe in God. Just under 39 percent of individuals identifying as "extremely conservative" who say they do not believe in God identify as an atheist. This compares with 72 percent of individuals identifying as "extremely liberal" who say they do not believe in God.
As I have mentioned often, it does take quite an amount of courage to go against what is an overwhelming majority, even if they don't actually all agree as to what to believe.
In a second survey-based study, from a different representative sample of nearly 10,000 US adults, we found that about 6 percent of individuals who stated that they had some level of belief in God at age 16 moved to saying "I do not believe in God" as an adult. Who falls into this group is not random. Our analysis finds, perhaps unsurprisingly, that the stronger an individual's belief in God was at age 16, the less likely they are to have adopted an atheistic worldview as an adult. For instance, fewer than 2 percent of individuals who said that "I knew God really existed and I had no doubts about it" as a teenager adopted an atheistic worldview later on. This compares with over 20 percent of those who said that "I didn't know whether there was a God and I didn't believe there was any way to find out" when they were 16.
Which is what one might expect, given we are at our most vulnerable in our early years as to being indoctrinated and less likely to overcome such.
Regardless of how strong their teenage belief was, for instance, Black, Asian and Hispanic Americans were less likely to later identify as an atheist than white individuals. All else being equal, the odds of individuals in these groups adopting an atheistic worldview was about 50 percent to 75 percent less than the odds for white individuals. In part, this could be a product of groups that already face stigma related to their race or ethnicity being less able or willing to take on the additional social costs of being an atheist.
Perhaps because of colonial oppression and the need to 'fit in' with regards progress, but not taking note of the better arguments.
Gut bacteria sometimes get people drunk, leading to DUIs and liver disease
Sometimes bacteria lurking in people's guts can get them drunk, even if they don't consume any alcohol.
www.livescience.com
Why do most mammals have 5 fingers?
The simple question of "why five" has puzzled scientists from multiple fields, and the answer still isn't entirely clear.
www.livescience.com
Pretty obvious, so we can count decimally - as God intended - and damn all these computer nerds with their binary or hexadecimal systems.
Mars may have been more Earth-like than we thought, discovery of oxygen-rich rocks reveals
Newfound rocks on Mars suggest the planet may have once sported an oxygen-rich atmosphere, making it more Earth-like and hospitable to life than previously thought.
www.livescience.com
'World's purest silicon' could lead to 1st million-qubit quantum computing chips
Scientists engineer the 'purest ever silicon' to build reliable qubits that can be manufactured to the size of a pinhead on a chip and power million-qubit quantum computers in the future.
www.livescience.com
Why do dogs sniff each other's butts?
And like dogs, why do cats also sniff fellow felines' behinds?
www.livescience.com
Good job we have moved on from this.
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