Atheism FAIL

June 23rd, 2008

Holy fuck, most Americans are even stupider than I thought. And I really, really thought they were stupid already.

Most Americans Believe in Higher Power, Poll Finds – washingtonpost.com

A belief in God or a higher spirit is pervasive. Even Americans who describe themselves as atheist or agnostic have a robust sense of a higher power: Twenty-one percent of those who describe themselves as atheists expressed a belief in God or a universal spirit, and more than half of those who call themselves agnostic expressed a similar conviction.

Smith said some people may identify with the term atheist or agnostic without fully understanding the definition, or they have a negative view of organized religion, even though they believe in God.

Filed under: religion sucks | Comments (4)

4 Responses to “Atheism FAIL”

Dimreaper on June 24, 2008 1:18 am
I see a similar thing from a different perspective. I am religious (but don’t care if anyone else is so I never have to preach at them) but what amuses me is that people who either insist that they are devout Christians, or are Atheists still persist in believing in superstitions – like “Don’t walk under a ladder” or “Cross your fingers when you’re getting the lottery results read out” or “Don’t kill a spider” oh yeah, and they also religiously read their “sign” in the astrology section.

Oh really? So if you are a Christian then technically you shouldn’t believe in all this magic stuff, and if you’re an Atheist then what basis is there for believing in magic (which is what superstition basically is)

I won’t start a rant here on astrology, but come on what a bunch of a**e. So taking Libra (my sign *rolls eyes*) – Have you noticed they always say something like, “Librans are strong-willed people who make friends easily…” and so people with that sign say, “Oh yeah, that’s SO me!” Never, “Librans tend towards being stroppy, miserable gits with few friends.” Because if they did they no one would agree it was SO them, and stop believing in this rubbish.

Back to your post though Susan, I think the last part of the quote about most people have a negative view of organised religion is spot on – I’ll include myself in that.
jenipants on June 24, 2008 7:59 am
See, here’s the thing. Saying “I’m an athiest” is still the “Cool” thing to do. People don’t know how to make up their minds. For instance, Joe and I had a HUGE fight over this a few months back, when he’d go from one extreme to the other…Whenever something bad happened, it was God’s fault, the other 99% of the time, he was an athiest. I told him, “Whoa, buddy. You can’t have it both ways. Either you believe, or you don’t, but don’t believe or not believe because it’s what everyone else tells you. Do what YOU believe. Because, in the end, it’s not whether or not your mom and dad believed or didn’t that should matter to you.” Since then, the most he’s done is jokingly refer to the FSM as the noodly creator.
SuperBadGirl on June 24, 2008 8:32 am
Well, this is the thing – I knew that a lot of conservative Christians didn’t understand the definition of atheism. They confuse it with Satanism, from what they say about it (that we should all be burned at the stake, hung, etc.) “Atheist” is like a Christian word for “Bogeyman”. But I think if I was claiming to BE something I might try to understand what the word meant, for fuck’s sake. A-THEIST. Not a THEIST. Does not believe in a deity/deities.

Maybe the phrase “non-theist” would make people think more about what the phrase means, rather than just hearing a word they’ve heard a million times before and assuming they understand it?
jenipants on June 24, 2008 8:41 am
Exactly. It’s like the fact that there’s a handful of Christians who understand that Pagan is not equal to Devil Worshipper. Paganus is latin for…well, plebian. It means rustic, country folk.
Regardless, 90% of the US are morons. We need to start our own country.

Also, to add humor to this…I just noticed that Paganus has Anus in it.

*giggles like a 12 year old boy*