Is the number of Athiests responding here on Yahoo! Answers reflective of world concentrations of Athiests?

Question

I have just noticed a high number of Athiest responses to questions posted here on Yahoo! Answers and I was curious if it reflected the concentration actually found in society.

According to a 2005 study done by Zuckerman on both Athiests and Agnostics, the US is 44th on the list in terms of percentage of its population that is Athiest or Agnostic which is estimated at 3% to 9%. It is 7th on the list, however, in terms of the total number of Athiests in the world, estimated at 8.8 million to 28.8 million.

The only countries with more total Athiests than the US would be China (#1), followed by Japan, Russia, Vietnam, Germany, and France.

Source: http://www.adherents.com/largecom/com_atheist.html

Yahoo! Answers is a world-wide service but in terms of total number of computer users in the world, the US leads with 198 million users (18%) of the world total followed by China (11%), Japan (8%), India (5%) and Germany (4%) according to Computer Industry Almanac 2006.

I offer these details in an effort to add some perspective to my question which realistically cannot be answered with absolute accuracy unless one could compare a database of Yahoo! Answer respondants to the total number of Athiests in the world with computers. And I don't think anyone has that data.

So my recommendation would be to direct your responses based on your PERCEPTION of the number of Athiests responding here as compared to how often you encounter Athiests in your society. Are there more here on Yahoo! Answers than what you find in your local world? Or fewer? Are Athiests merely more vocal than others? And are some non-Athiests merely reluctant to speak up for fear of being bitterly attacked by what some have called "The Athiest Mafia"?

I think all points of view should be represented but, as the Community Guidelines dictate, proper courtesy should be shown in a respectful environment. We don't all have to agree but we can be diplomatic when we don't.

To Responders like Weird Daryl who "don't know & don't care", would you please not care so much to respond to questions where you can add no other value than to disparage the Asker's question? Please spread your overflowing indifference where indifference and apathy are appreciated, but not where honest questions for caring Netizens seek Answers, or in this case, caring opinions.

To IcePig:

Athiest, Smaythiest...it's all Greek to me.

I often transpose the i and the a in Christian, so don't feel you've been especially singled out. My spelling will offend all religions and non-religions until Yahoo! Answers decides to upgrade their Spell Checker program to capture beyond two sentences. And don't tell me you've never used Spell Checker before, you silly Despot!

No offense meant to your belief of non-belief. I ask to focus on the question, not symantics. Stay Logical. Philosophy 101.

Answer 1

The 3% to 9% is WAY off. Recent polls show the nonreligious in the US to be closer to 20%.

My own informal surveys show nonbelievers to be about 30% here, so about 50% higher than the general population.

Answer 2

It is incredibly taboo to say that you're an atheist in most places in the US. At your job, on television, in a social setting, etc. The majority of people in this country rate "atheists" right alongside of "child-molestors".

The religious right in this country has villainized atheists for decades, to the point where you could literally be fired for letting people at your place of employment know you are an atheist.

For that reason, most people don't admit it.

But on the internet, they don't have that fear. So the percentage here is higher than what you would see in real life.

However, that does leave me to believe that the 20 percent or so of admitted atheists in this country are just the tip of the iceberg.

Hell, I remember when I was in the army, "atheist" wasn't even a choice, when asked what your religion was. As far as I know, it's still that way. Most people just put "Christian" by default.

Answer 3

No, you can't assume anything about the population as a whole based on the ones who voluntarily come to Yahoo! Answers and voluntarily post questions and answers on Religion & Spirituality. After all, there are probably substantial numbers of both theists and atheists who simply don't get involved in this section, and even larger numbers who have not yet signed on to Y!A at all.

Answer 4

I dont know if its reflective or not.

I suspect that the number of non believers in the US is actually higher than 3 to 9% though. I'm sure most people would claim to be a believer if asked but for many people this is because of social pressures to conform.

In the privacy of their own mind / keyboard I suspect that mant think and act quite differently.

Answer 5

I sure hope not. However, Atheists can become Christians by following the Bible. Matthew 28:19,20, says "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age."

Answer 6

Atheism is the default setting of every human being .


We should start a new drinking game, for each time "atheist" is misspelled "athiest".


For the record, there is no "Athiest Mafia" nor an "Atheist Mafia" for that matter, and if there were such a thing, it's members would maybe sneer a bit over silliness, superstition, or anti-intellectualism. But never attack anyone.

Answer 7

We are seeing a trend. More people are leaving the Abhramic religions and turning to either Reductive Materialism, Eastern Philosophy or Pagan beliefs.

Answer 8

Almost certainly not. I'd imagine that atheists are more likely to own computers than non-atheists, and atheists would be more likely to come to R&S to express their atheism anonymously than the religious. Hard to estimate how large these biases are, but I'd guess they're pretty big.

Answer 9

Could it be that people who reach out to other people across cultural, class and racial lines, People who are somewhat comuter savy. People who are willing to consider questions and find answers . makeup a demographic that would naturally have a higher percentage of atheists and agnostics?

Answer 10

No, as you state, countries with a higher concentration of atheists may not be high in atheists with access to computers / internet / Yahoo.