OK, first for my general readership.
Not everyone is an Atheist. Less than 7% of the population describes themselves as Atheist. Yes, 93% believe there is a ‘god.’
Now, I will agree with the contention many Atheists have told me over the years, Atheism in America is growing. It is growing slowly, but growing.
For anyone, I have asked one question of Atheists. And while there may have been different versions of that question, it still revolves around one simple concept.
“If there is no ‘god,’ much less a ‘Supreme God,’ why do you care?
Now, for everyone, most Atheists will say something like, “I don’t. I don’t believe in God. I think people who go to church are wasting their time.”
But, there is a small group within the larger group. And I believe many of this group identify around a term ‘New Atheism.’ Within this smaller group, there are very vocal people who want to eliminate the First Amendment Freedom of Religion Clause from the Constitution.
So, I ask, “Why do you care about a ‘god’ you believe does not exist? Why do you spend more time attacking a ‘god’ you believe does not exist than I spend studying Him?”
Why do you care?
Why do extreme Atheists go to services on Sunday to celebrate your Atheism, like I go to on Sunday to worship God?
luvsiesous 
Very interesting dialogue, Wayne! Good food for thought.
MJ,
How Ironic! I must have been writing on your blog at the same time.
Thank you!
I had been planning on writing much more on blogging as I restarted my blog. But, I asked a question on a blog (Evolution) and there we went. Now I gotta focus on blogging …..
Rights of the Child: Mary was twelve years old on the first Annunciation Day. She said to the angel who brought her the news: but i am only twelve. Never mind the angel said, it is going to be a boy and his name is Jesus. Merry Chrstmas Wayne!
Merry Christmas Marten!
It wasn’t quite the response I expected.
Thanks for stopping by,
Wayne
“Less than 7% of the population describes themselves as Atheist. Yes, 93% believe there is a ‘god.’”
Not quite.
I believe the last statistic I saw was that 16% describe themselves as non-religious, which includes those who call themselves atheists. So I imagine the actual percentage of people who don’t believe in a god in the US is somewhere between 7% and 16%.
Just to clarify.
““If there is no ‘god,’ much less a ‘Supreme God,’ why do you care?”
Because there are people who want to enact legislation that impacts everyone in this country based on their own god beliefs and religions. That’s why I care.
“there are very vocal people who want to eliminate the First Amendment Freedom of Religion Clause from the Constitution.”
Um…what?
Forgive me, but please link or reference any self-described atheists who are against the First Amendment. The First Amendment protects atheists from discrimination from the religious, so it makes zero sense for any of us to be against it. This implies a serious misunderstanding of the first amendment, either by these atheists you are talking about or by you.
Great answer.
Thank you!
Let me address your concerns. The data I saw was from an Atheist site. And yes, they pointed towards the higher number you mentioned. But, the 7% is the number of people who identify themselves as ‘not believing in a god.’ The other 93% were not willing to admit on a survey that they did NOT believe in a god.
I know the surveys I have seen do seem to indicate that the percentage of Atheists in the country seem to be between 5 and 15%. The data indicated single digits. Now to be truthful, many agnostics, like I was, seem to resonate with atheists politically and ‘religiously.’
You are concerned about people legislating based upon their religious views …. Interesting.
First, let us look at what the Country was founded as. It was founded because of Religion ….
My family arrived in 1620, the day after Christmas, btw. Over half died the first winter. However, from my perspective, I thank God Edward Winslow and his family survived. From a business viewpoint, they were a failure. And from a survival standpoint they were a disaster.
But, in the annals of history, they founded the first place Christians could worship in freedom. IMHO.
They eventually became Baptists ….
During the Revolution, Baptists became strong supporters of the Revolution. Leaders promised to lessen the Anglican’s ability to punish Pastors and Laymen preaching their Gospel to others. After the Revolution, the Republic honored their promise to continue religious freedom. It had become common for the English Church to burn presses, if the pressmen printed religious material the Anglican Church disliked.
In fact, the formation of the Republic was stalled, because many felt the promise might be reneged upon.
That promise was honored in “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof” …. the Freedom of Religion Clause. Often referred to as the First Amendment. Unfortunately, many people today refer only to the freedom of speech, and ignore the freedom of religion.
And I agree with you. Any sane person should want to protect everyone from Government Religion. The Soviet experiment was not a nice history lesson.
On the WEIT blog (*), I found strong intolerance towards religious freedom. One of the strongest statements was “indoctrinating children in religion should be considered a particularly pernicious and odious form of child abuse, and laws should be formulated to charge the parents and institutions that do so. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child seems like a reasonable starting point – if the US would actually ratify it ….”
I honestly do not like Evolution being taught and researched using my tax money. I don’t like that. And much of what I was taught in High School has since been falsified.
But, I demand the freedom my family fought for, died for, and lived for. For everyone.
It is sad that a few, vocal, and seemingly militant, New Atheists want to force a religious like fervor upon everyone else. That thread was written about TEACHING EVOLUTION.
Why do we need a religion to force students to recite the classwork from a class?
Why not Calculus? I have used Calculus. Evolution has NEVER been needed for me to be a successful leader, entrepreneur, and software engineer.
The good professor wrote: “The problem is religion,” and “Religion poisons everything.” Because he doesn’t get his point across in a classroom or during a guest lecture, he wants something to be done about Religion?
I realize was just ranting. And he is as concerned with selling his book(s) as he is with the content on his site.
But, wow …. And he works for a Baptist Institution ….
Thank you again for your comment. Sorry for the long response. But, I wanted to cover your questions. I am open to your viewpoint and respect your opinion.
Wayne
(*) Thank you!!!!!! It works again …… a coding miracle ….. Yes, Virginia, there is a God. And he answers prayer … Sometimes through some hard working geeks! I hope my jubilation at a bug moving from “undocumented feature” to FIXED before my eyes doesn’t drive ya’ll too crazy ….
But, I R GEEK ….