Are you an Atheist who was baptized, christened, or confirmed in a church, synagogue or mosque?

Question

I am an Atheist. However, I was rased Christian and was baptized at a Baptist church. I've been an Atheist for around 20 years, and haven't attended church for nearly 30 years. Yet I still receive church bulletins in the mail.

I've recently learned that the church still considers me an official member. I've asked around, and it seems most (if not all) religious institutions do the same thing.

Therefore, considering how many Atheists (or people who no longer consider themselves religious but may not label themselves) are still listed as members, the numbers provided for statistical purposes MUST be horribly inaccurate.

I'm referring to statistical data which claims the vast majority of U.S. citizens are Christian and of the non-Christians, the majority are of another religion. Which makes it seems like there are very few Atheists in the U.S.

Obviously, there are great numbers of Atheists. Look how many are here? (for instance)

Perhaps we should write to the churches and tell them to remove us from their membership lists.

Because in this forum, I am referring to a group of people and I feel Atheist (rather than atheist) is appropriate. However, if it makes you happy, I will go back to typing xian, god, xmas, bible, "that jesus fellow," and so on.

lol

The last post was for "tamyp," who has issues.

Answer 1

hmm interesting notion. it would be interesting to know actually how many atheists there are in this country if they account for the atheists that are still technically considered members of some sort of religion.

Answer 2

Yes baptized as a baby, confirmed at like 13 and still technically probably a member, although I have not been to any church in at least 10 years.

Answer 3

Same with me. I am an atheist and was baptized in the Presbyterian Church about 20yrs ago. I also still receive the church newsletter as they still consider me a member, and I haven't attended in over 10yrs.

Answer 4

I think that the stats are determined by polls. Most people self identify as Christian in the U.S., whether practicing or not. Plus many don't want to seem "out of place" in a largely religious country, so they might answer that they are believers when perhaps they really aren't.

Answer 5

Good point, I never thought of that. I left the my church a while ago, but I never told them either -- I figured, why bother, I don't care what they think. But I'm sure I'm still on their rolls. On the other hand, they do a census one weekend of every October, at every Mass, to count how many people show up, and I wasn't there for that.

Answer 6

I was baptized.

It didn't take.

I am not a member of any Christian church, however, because the church I went to as a youngster does not consider you a member unless you contribute financially. Hmmmmm....

.

Answer 7

I'm an agnostic who was Baptised and confirmed in the Methodist Church, and was actually a Lay Speaker.

Fortunately, Backsliding is a strong Methodist tradition and they don't hold a grudge.

Answer 8

I'm an atheist who walked out in the middle of her baptism ceremony so I didn't get dunked and thereby not officially baptized.

However, when I grew up I did take the liberty of writing the church I had to attend growing up and had them remove my name from its list of members.

Answer 9

I was baptized as a child. I haven't attended church in years.

Answer 10

Well data isn't really collected from the churches as much as it is from the census and or random polling. I would let my church know that I was no longer part of the parish, but my grandparents and parents would flip out. (I only now attend on major holidays just to please them.)