Part of a Crowd

Athiests in the Majority

Published on July 5, 2004 By CS Guy In Religion

"I contend we are both atheists, I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours."
-Stephen F Roberts

Stephen's quote has become rather popular, especially among athiests, because it points out that there are a great many religous beliefs, and none of them form a majority.

The people at adherents.com have collected data (last updated 2002) about the adherents of popular belief systems. Their data further highlights this point.

The Church of Critical Thinking has a nice article about this idea that no belief system is subscribed to by a majority.

So, looking at the pie chart, we see the following.

33% Christianity. So I am in the majority here.
22% Islam. I'm in the majority here.
15% Hinduism. I'm in the majority here.
6% Buddhism. Majority here too.
4% Chinese traditional. Again, majority for me.
3% Primal-indigenous including African. Mark me down in the majority.
3% Other. Since I am covered by one of the categories, I can claim to be in the majority here as well.
14% Nonreligious. Damn! I almost made it, but here I fall in the minority.

The point being, no matter what you believe most people disagree with you. So maybe your belief system is not the one true path. Try to give some respect to those others, and I'm guessing your will get more respect coming your way.

Of course, you shouldn't feel any obligation to offer any respect to those whack-jobs in Scientology. I was rather horrified when I saw on adherents.com that there are some 600,000 Scientologists (but the church itself claims they have 8 million members). That is down right spooky!

Comments

Abe cubbage

on Jul 05, 2004

That Roberts quote is definitely one of my favorite.

I just wanted to point out that Buddhism isn't necessarily a religion, though often it is.

CS Guy

on Jul 05, 2004

I just wanted to point out that Buddhism isn't necessarily a religion, though often it is.

True, but I think they felt it easier to group it together for the purposes of a pie chart.

MadPoet41

on Jul 16, 2004

CS~I believe in more than one God myself. That's one of the things that turned me off about the Baptist church I belonged to for too many years. Only one true God? I still don't "get" how anyone can actually believe that. But they certainly have a right to their beliefs.

There's one of those sorta scary Scientology centers a mere two doors down from where I live (I live downtown). And the folks that come outta there do make me do a double take sometimes. I think John Travolta is/used to be a member? Totally weird, huh? Anyway, I enjoyed your insightful article much. And I have a better understanding now of where you stand.... in terms of your faith and everything. Thanks for the totally cool link!

~MP

CS Guy

on Jul 16, 2004

I think John Travolta is/used to be a member?

He is a very active member, as is Tom Cruise.

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