Does the percentage of atheists here represent their percentage in real world?

Question

I'm confused... I live in an Islamic country and I never met an atheist in my life... I was shocked to find all those atheists posting here... are there really many atheists in the real life? Why do they seem to present only in non-islamic countries?

Answer 1

I live in the UK and there are many of us here and in the rest of Europe. It's normal to be an atheist here and strange to be very religious.

The USA is the most religious country in the Western world but still has plenty of atheists.

Answer 2

I highly doubt there are many atheists in Islamic countries. If there are, they probably keep quiet.

I don't think R&S is representative on the amount of atheists out there. Obviously, many of them, including me come here because they know they can ask questions, laugh and make people laugh. I like to see non-threatening questions that challenge people's beliefs. It's exciting.

I think many of the people that come here are a stark divide between fundamentalist and atheist. Those are the two groups who seem to have the most interest in religion.

Answer 3

Most of the people who are present here are people who are very concerned on religious topics, otherwise they would be elsewhere :) So the percentage is from a specific population.

The percentage also differs for every country. In netherlands over 40% of the population are atheists. In my country (Romania) 98% of people are christian orthodox, so say the statistics, but I don't know how many of them actually believe i god

Answer 4

No.

There is a higher percentage of Atheists here. What you will find is that every country with a high percentage of educated people will have a higher mix of Atheists.

The reason you don't meet Atheists in the Middle east, is two fold.

Religions tend to make life for atheists dangerous in the middle east, and there is a lower level of education in the population there.

A huge percentage of scientists, biologists, doctors, physicists, geologists, paleontologists and technologists are Atheists. There reason is directly related to education.

Answer 5

They are certainly present in Islamic countries, but you may be in a country where such a thing would be illegal or you may be in a country with a very low education level. You are just seeing it expressed here because there is no consequence to being Atheist. In fact, there are positive consequences really to being Atheist. Theists tend to view the world in very static ways. We are facing a possible species extinction, ours. Static thinking may get us all killed.

Answer 6

I suspect many of the atheists in Islamic countries are simply afraid to make it public. When I lived in Saudi Arabia I had a Saudi friend who told me he was an atheist but that he was afraid to let anyone from his own country know it. In the Islamic religion, Apostasy as you know is punishable by death.

Answer 7

Well, from your background and the place you grew up in, religion is a very huge part of daily living, teaching and understanding. So everyone from birth on forward understand and believe whole-heartily in the teachings of the Nation of Islam and the Holy Korran (I hope I spelled it right). And that's not a bad thing.

I wasn't raised in a house-hold that practices faith on a daily basis. We said our prayers before we went to bed at night, and that was the closest I got to god until I left home and lived on my own. Life experiences made me grow closer to god, and understand his way and will in my life. But here in America, religion is not forced (not saying that it is in your country) upon it's citizens. We have to right to believe, not believe, or practice any religion we see fit to chose. We also have to right to not chose one at all if we don't want too.

Thus, the reason why there are people who do not believe in god. And for us as Americans, we see nothing wrong with that. Because that's our culture, and the way that majority of us where raised. I don't know about the rest of the world, because we can't speak for them, we can only speak for ourselves. But we do have a large atheists based population here in the US. Why, I can't answer for them, you would have to ask one directly. But it is there god given right as an American to do so.

Answer 8

No...As Amy showed you there is an overwhelming amount of people who believe in the afterlife. Atheists are only a minority and most of them can be found on Yahoo Answers.

The reason you don't see Atheists in Islamic countries is, most of the people there don't have the freedom of religion. They are sheltered from anything that may disagree with what they perceive as truth.
Some religions are meant to control the people and keep them in line. I myself, am a Christian and believe in Jesus Christ.

Answer 9

I see Islam as a brainwashing at a very young age. Hate when taught at an early age will manifest at young adult hood and increase with age. Hate is a negative and usually ends in an early, violent age. In a free world we believe what we want to believe. Christianity is also a brainwashing but not as intense a ISLAM. Atheist use logical thinking and just looking around the presence of a deity is no where to be found. Any deity that is Worshiped today must be a cruel "Father". I could do a better job.

Answer 10

Yes they kind of actually do represent a percentage...but not as vehemently or as accurately...and clearly much less...because of the following:
1) Most of the atheists who come here use the R&S section even though the vast majority of Theists are out using another section (because they usually call themselves "moderate theists", or the dont like all the arguements posted here")
2) The percentage of atheists in muslim countries are WAY WAY lower than in western countries...Check out adherents.com, and you will find that muslim countries generally have much lower rates of atheism
3) you will find very low rates of atheists from muslim countries actually posting here...As anonymous as they keep their names, the fact that muslim countries suffers less from lack of faith in God still remains...

and to all those who will answer that atheists get killed in muslim countries...that is a BIG misconception! To every muslim country I have been to, I did not know 1 atheist who did not openly say he does not have faith in God...I have met several atheists who openly dont believe in God, and yet find their place in the same structure of society as muslims...

Honest opinion..