Is it just me, or are there a lot of atheists and agnostics on Y! Answers?

Question

I consider myself an atheist/agnostic (depending on my mood), so I'm not bringing it up as a bad thing, but considering the fact that less than 5% of the US population is purported to be atheist/agnostic, I find it surprising how many people on Y! Answers profess not to believe in god. Anyone share this observation? Any ideas on why non-religious folk seem to be over-represented around these parts (or maybe why we're under-represented elsewhere)? Maybe we should start a guild or something.

it isn't that i'm not enthused to see other non-believers, i'm just surprised to see non-believers so well represented

the 5% figure may well be inaccurate, but that's part of what i'm commenting on. i've seen a lot of statistical work on religious affiliation and it tends to show that there are very very few non-religious people. maybe the balance here is more accurate than statistics let on, that's sort of why i'm curious on other people's thoughts.

also, i'm referring to people who actually self-identify as atheist or agnostic, not simply those without a religious preference. statistics (like adherents.com) sometimes lump the two together even though there is a difference...

Answer 1

There's a lot of both, really. Maybe non-believers have the edge, but there's a pretty high percentage of Christians here too.

Answer 2

Since its inception, the internet has been a haven for free thinking and the free exchange of ideas. If the major religeons ever figure out how to control the internet, then that will be slowed somewhat.

Most of the techno-weenies (like me) don't fit into the standard box of society, anyway. Therefor if the majority of people aren't looking at a computer monitor for hours at a time, it only stands to reason that the ones who ARE are, by definition, "oddballs". That would fit right into your 5% statement.

Incidentally, there are a LOT of A/A's on the net in general. But the #1 professed religeon of techno-weenies (like me) is... Paganism. It probably has a lot to do with the fact taht we are SO removed from nature when we work that we need some of it in our lives to keep some sort of balance.

Answer 3

Atheists & agnostics are probably a lot more common in the "real world" than most people think, it's just that xtians have created such an oppressive atmosphere that most consider it too much of a burden to "come out of the closet." When it comes to us freethinkers, xtians and other believers can be stupefyingly hateful, arrogant, hostile, dismissive, disrespectful, demonizing, intolerant, ignorant, stereotyping, and sometimes even violent. There is a lot of malevolence lurking under the "love thy neighbor" holier-than-thou's.

The Internet, then, has been great for freethinkers because it allows us to be who we are without fear of being socially ostracized, discriminated against, fired from our jobs by xtian bosses, or otherwise personally attacked. And when some Bible Borg or Jesus Junkie says something truly and profoundly stupid, like many of them inevitably do, the anonymity of the net allows us more intellectually enlightened folks to give them the ripping they so richly deserve.

You end your question with, "Maybe we should start a guild or something." Actually, even aside from the many online communities you can join for atheists/agnostics, there are some real-world clubs too. Atheist groups like American Atheists, humanist groups, skeptic groups, etc. They're out there, you just need to find them. (Which admittedly isn't always easy, since such groups can not advertise too widely....)

Answer 4

Maybe you should do a poll.

I would say the majority here are Christian, maybe about 70 percent, then Atheist/Agnostic, Pagans of one type or another followed by Muslims. That is just my own rough estimate - a lot of Christians stay out of the debates with Atheists but you see them answering other questions.


Really what I find surprising is the amount of Fundamentalist Christians here. Most of the Christians i know are much more mainstream, I have only know a few that i would actually call fundamentalist. I think this type site draws the extremes and minorities as it kind of gives them a bit of a soapbox to stand on.

Answer 5

I think it's possible that Y!A attracts a certain crowd though I don't know why. It does seem that it's higher than 5%. Also, non-religious people are more apt to feel the need to mention this when they answer "loaded" questions posed by obviously religious/believing people. "Does God hate gay people" is a loaded question that may prompt people to say they "do not believe in God but...". There's also that uncontrolable desire to constantly remind presumptious Christians (or whoever) that they don't speak for everybody. It's possible that you're just noticing this.

Answer 6

Does this frighten you? The reason I ask is you seem less than in enthused. I'm agnostic because I'm not sure what to believe, but hope to spread what I've learned in my learnings upon spirituality.

I believe this place serves as a medium in which people can share ideas and thoughts, even if they are conflicting with others.

Answer 7

That's a good question. Anecdotally, it does seem to me that atheist and agnostic viewpoints are over represented on Yahoo Answers compared to the number of people in the U.S. who self identify with those two groups. And the 5% figure is probably fairly close to the number of Americans who openly claim to be either an atheist or agnostic. I found a 2002 Pew Research study which put the combined number at 3% [1], but 10% in that study said "something else" and another 1% declined to answer (I'd guess that most of that 1% are not theists). There have obviously been no studies about religious beliefs of YA users, but much more than 5% of the posts seem to indicate an atheist or agnostic viewpoint.

Why might this be? I think there are probably several different factors at work here.

(1) Internet users are not perfectly reflective of the general society. The elderly and poor are under represented on the Internet. I would guess that both of those groups have relatively fewer atheists than younger, more affluent people. Thus, part of the reason that non-theists seem to be over represented on Yahoo Answers is that they are better represented among Internet users than among the general population.

(2) Atheists and, to a lesser extent, agnostics probably tend to be more committed to their beliefs than a lot of self-identifying "Christians." That is, many who claim to be Christian when the pollster calls were simply born into a Christian family or they see that most people around them identify themselves as Christian or as members of another religion, so they themselves check that box on their census forms. On the other hand, I think that most atheists have reflectively chosen that belief (or, lack thereof, if you prefer). Many agnostics are probably the same way, but some of them probably don't know what to think because they haven't thought about the arguments. Thus, the percentage of atheists and agnostics who are ready and willing to defend their minority beliefs is probably pretty high. There are many more people who claim to be Christians, Jews, and Muslims, but the percentage of them who are ready and willing to defend their beliefs is probably lower. This causes non-theists to be relatively more vocal on YA.

(3) Being in the clear majority, many theists probably don't feel much need to defend their beliefs. I'd imagine that atheists probably spend time explaining their beliefs to friends and family members and are used to being somewhat on the defensive, and thus more energetic in arguing for their point of view.

(4) Finally, even if Christians outnumber atheists 10:1 on Yahoo Answers, we shouldn't expect posts from a Christian perspective to outnumber posts from an atheist perspective by a 10:1 margin. Imagine that those 11 people (10 Christians and 1 atheist) were the only YA users and all were examining a post on a religions/spiritual matter. The one atheist would probably give his answer, but not all 10 Christians would answer because there may only be 2-3 different views between them. Once all the Christian viewpoints are given, the need for the other Christians to respond is pretty low. Maybe Christians #6-#10 look at the answers offered by Christians #1, #2, #3, #4, and #5 and see that everything has been said. That's the important thing, not that everyone has said it. Thus, their posts would only outnumber the atheist's by 5:1, even though they outnumber her 10:1.

(5) Not all YA users are American. There are probably lots of Canadians, Europeans, etc on here as well. I haven't checked the stats, but I'm pretty sure that Americans tend to be more religious than citizens of most other anglophone nations.

(6) Very importantly, many of the people who claim a certain religion on their census forms and to pollsters really have few connections with that religion. I know several people who are, for all practical purposes, agnostic but will still claim to be, for instance, Catholic. Also, lots of people claiming to be Christian haven't seen the inside of a church in years, so they're Christians (or jews, or muslims, etc) in name only, not in practice. One would hardly expect those people to be on here defending the faith. I think that this disconnect (people being agnostic but claiming to be religious) may make that 5% figure artificially low.

So, I think the answer to your question is a combination of all of the above. Incidentally, I also think that atheist viewpoints seem to be a bit over represented on Wikipedia. Factor (4) wouldn't really apply there, and (3) would not apply so much.

For the record, I am a theist (specifically, a Christian).

Answer 8

In the short time I've been here in this forum, my observation has been that most atheists are here to insult the intelligence of all Christians without ever considering that many Christians are just as academically achieved as many of them claim to be. I don't call atheists stupid or mindless just because they don't believe in God,but they will, without conscience,call me stupid and mindless because I DO believe in God. Since they don't personally know me,or the other Christians on this forum, they are unfairly judging us solely on prejudicial terms. It is hard to have respect for someone with such a biased mind. Agnostics,on the other hand,are a little more respectful of other's beliefs,mainly because they have not yet come to a conclusive decision about their own religious beliefs. They are, for the most part, willing to discuss religion without judgement. I respect them their decisions,because they respect mine.

Answer 9

Could be interesting to make a study of it. However you would have to take into account the fact that many people participate frequently, and in answering questions refer to their belief or unbelief. So it could appear that there are more people of a particular point of view than there are in actual fact. One would have to keep track of the nicknames of people who answer with a particular view in order to avoid recounting them more than once.
Also, there is always the possibility of people changing their nickname for any particular reason.
That might not be frequently enough to affect the numbers, however.
Let us know what you find out!
I find it disturbing that someone would be afraid of being jusdged by people for claiming openly to be an atheist. I was not aware of that problem. Perhaps it is different in the USA than here in Canada? I certainly would find it disturbing that Christians would be judgemental of atheists, or of any other group, since Christians are by definition people who claim to be forgiven - forgiven of what?
So somebody is not understanding something.

Answer 10

I'm not entirely sure that everyone here is what they say they are, be they atheist, agnostic, Christian, Muslim, what have you. I happen to be an atheist. I know at least 7 others, none of whom I'll name. You're right, though - there are a lot of us - (or maybe it's just that we're very vocal!) - though we've lost a few recently.