The latest Pew Research poll tracking Americans’ religious affiliation now has “None” up to 19%, from only 6 % in 1990.
Lou Dobbs had a piece about this on July 20 in Fox Business. Not quite sure why it’s “business”, but we can thank Lou Dobbs for pointing out how mainstream atheism is becoming.
19% of Americans now openly give their Religious Affiliation as “None”
… and no, Obama didn’t call for a Day of Prayer, regarding the latest Colorado shootings. He called for a day of “prayer” (for those who pray) “and reflection” (for those who think, of course). Atheists can reflect on things like why any civilian should be allowed a weapon more powerful than a single-shot hunting rifle. Theists can go ahead and pray for whatever they want.
The Gospel According to the Romans 
Having no religion does not equate atheist. Many people have given up on organized religion but not necessarily on God.
As far as being on a “business” page, perhaps some would consider that this could affect people’s spending habits. If you are not affiliated with a particular religion you may use your money differently – for instance spending more on yourself. Or perhaps people could use marketing to try to get some of the dollars for people who feel altruistic but don’t have anything to do with their money.
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Where is the evidence that atheist’s spend more on themselves than theists?
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Perhaps Pauline simply means that if you stop tithing 10% of your income to your church, you would have a lot more money for discretionary spending.
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Robin is exactly right. That is what I meant. The contributions to churches would go somewhere – assuming that people who are leaving were those committed enough to give in the first place. That’s a big assumption in itself.
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Perhaps businesses will start to reconsider their pro-xian marketing strategies.
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One can hope.
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You’re quite correct, Pauline, that the 19% have “no religious affiliation”, but may still be “spiritual” or whatever, and believe in a god or gods.
However, I think the 19% is a reasonable guide to atheist numbers, because I suspect the number of unaffiliated believers would be offset by the number of people who identify as Lutheran or Mormon or Muslim for cultural reasons, may attend community prayers on an annual basis to keep a spouse or parent happy, but are actually atheists.
Regardless of the details, there is clearly a shift in the US towards a more secular culture, as has already been happening across Europe for several decades.
From the perspective of this blog, we are shifting back from the monotheist fundamentalism of Palestine to the secular/spiritual tolerance of the Empire.
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why should any man have more than a single shot rifle? because there is a history of governments that oppress their people, including those that once respected their people. A government with no fear becomes a government without limits, just as a man without fear becomes a man without limits. Thus, while dangerous, it is important that a person be free to make their own choices in regards to the weapons they own. Just because you make something illegal doesn’t make you safe. It just means when the time comes, those willing to break the law will have (or those who make the law will have) and those who abide by the law will be without. And those without can suddenly find themselves force to give out more.
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I’ll define an educated electorate as one in which 50%+ of the population accepts the concept of evolution. Once a nation achieves that level, a tipping point occurs in its history, because the discussion of what is socially beneficial becomes a) more rational and b) able to lead to progressive legislation. Exhibit A shows acceptance of evolution plotted with homicides per 10,000 population: http://imgur.com/udo2G
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Curious. Does the good also go up by any chance? The US gives a lot to charity. Does that hold true in places where homicides have gone down? How is business doing? (You know, the Euro, etc.) Without trust a society will have a hard time doing business. For instance, I’ve communicated with a lady in China who speaks of the companies there that have put poison in the food for babies for profit. The people there highly believe in evolution – at least the ones that want to keep their government jobs.
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