PhantomViper wrote:
The U. S. population continues to show
signs of becoming less religious, with
one out of every five Americans failing to
indicate a religious identity in 2008.
The “Nones” (no stated religious
preference, atheist, or agnostic)
continue to grow, though at a much
slower pace than in the 1990s, from
8.2% in 1990, to 14.1% in 2001, to
15.0% in 2008.
So, the report that you are using for data states that atheists in the US are growing but you say otherwise?
Because 'atheist' was only 10% of the increase. that is growth, don't get me wrong, but it's actually a very tiny increase compared to 'no organized faith' which was 66% of the 'Nones' increase. I notice you left out 'thiest' which was 33% of that Nones increase, which *is* faith, just not in a particular denomination.
PhantomViper wrote:
You can't "suggest" anything about former Soviet Bloc countries because religion was forbidden under the communist regime, so there aren't any numbers available to either confirm or deny these "suggestions". On the Western Europe countries the average of atheists is about 18% which is only slightly bigger than the US, though in particularly backwards and ignorant countries like my own, the average drops to below 10%, while in modern countries like Sweden and Norway it rises to above 20%.
That varied from location to location. As pointed out, Albania was particularly harsh on Religion. Other locations, not so much, though repression was common (for a variety of reasons, not just Religion) throughout.
And, I might point out, that Sweden, for example, is a nation that until very recently, taxed religion (2% of your income). I have little trouble believing that 'atheist' might be a synonym for 'tax dodge' there. We also have such 'modern' countries as Germany (8% of your total income tax), Switzerland (2.3% of your income or you must legally leave your church), Austria (1% total income), Finland (1-2% or again you must legally separate from your church), Denmark (1%), and Italy (0.8%).
Render Unto Caesar, indeed!
