More Atheists Due to Religious Extremism

[Doug]

DOUG
Thanks to Kevin Metcalf for this great link.

Note that this study was done by Baylor (and the Barna Group), a very conservative university.

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Burgess Hill, England - Every morning on his walk to work, high school teacher Graham Wright recited a prayer and asked God for strength in the day ahead. Then two years ago, he just stopped.

Wright said he was overwhelmed by a feeling that religion had become a negative influence in his life and the world. Although he had once considered becoming an Anglican vicar, he suddenly found that religion represented nothing he believed in, from Muslim extremists blowing themselves up in God's name to Christians condemning gays, contraception and stem-cell research.

"I stopped praying because I lost my faith," said Wright, 59. "Now I truly loathe any sight or sound of religion. I blush at what I used to believe."

Wright is now an avowed atheist and part of a growing number of vocal nonbelievers in Europe and the United States. On both sides of the Atlantic, membership in once-quiet groups of nonbelievers is rising, and books attempting to debunk religion have been surprise best sellers, including "The God Delusion," by Oxford University professor Richard Dawkins.

New groups of nonbelievers are sprouting on college campuses, anti-religious blogs are expanding across the Internet and, in general, more people are publicly saying they have no religious faith.

More than three out of four people in the world consider themselves religious, and those with no faith are a distinct minority. But especially in richer nations, and nowhere more than in Europe, growing numbers of people are saying they don't believe there is a heaven or a hell or anything other than this life.

9/11 changed viewpoints

Many analysts trace the rise of what some are calling the "nonreligious movement" to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The sight of religious fanatics killing 3,000 people caused many to begin questioning - and rejecting - all religion...

Fighting violent tenets

One group of nonbelievers in particular is attracting attention in Europe: the Council of Ex-Muslims. Founded this year in Germany, the group now has a few hundred members and an expanding number of chapters across the continent.

"You can't tell us religion is peaceful - look around at the misery it is causing," said Maryam Namazie, leader of the group's British chapter.

"We are all atheists and nonbelievers, and our goal is not to eradicate Islam from the face of the earth," but to make it a private matter that is not imposed on others, she said.

The majority of nonbelievers say they are speaking out only because of religious fanatics. But some atheists are also extreme and want, for example, people to blot out the words "In God We Trust" from every dollar bill they carry.

Associations of nonbelievers are also moving to address the growing demand in Britain, Spain, Italy and other European countries for nonreligious weddings, funerals and celebrations for new babies. They are helping arrange ceremonies that steer clear of talk of God, heaven and miracles and celebrate, as they say, "this one life we know."


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Behind believers

28 percent: Atheists with post-graduate degrees or professional training.

15 percent: Non-atheists with post-graduate degrees or professional training.

1.3: Atheists' average number of children.

1.95: Non-atheists' average number of children.

3 percent: Atheists who are "strong Republicans."

16 percent: Non-atheists who are "strong Republicans."

Source: 2005 Baylor University Religion Survey and Barna Group

See here.

[Barbara Fitzpatrick]

Baylor started as a religious school. They are now having to work through what Harvard had to work through a century or so back - which comes first, religion or education.

As to atheism, I'm not exactly an atheist, but I'm sure not a christian - and I once considered "taking vows" - I have a graduate decree & 2.0 children. (Oh, and I'm a Democrat.)