(May 27, 2014 at 10:48 pm)Artur Axmann Wrote:(May 27, 2014 at 10:46 pm)Sejanus Wrote: That's irrelevant, and doesn't answer my question. Also, how do you know what proportion of the SS were atheists? I'm pretty sure there weren't any publicly atheist SS going around at that time.
Surveys did not originate with Mr. Neilsen.
(May 27, 2014 at 10:35 pm)rexbeccarox Wrote: Care to cite your sources?
As recently reported in the New York Times, military personnel who identify themselves as "Atheists" have requested chaplains to tend to their spiritual needs. As the Times article notes, "Defense Department statistics show that about 9,400 of the nation's 1.4 million active-duty military personnel identify themselves as atheists or agnostics, making them a larger subpopulation than Jews, Muslims, Hindus or Buddhists in the military." Having their own chaplains, the article explains, would give Atheists a sense of legitimacy and help validate their own system of values and beliefs.
The U.S. Government reports that in 2008 those identifying themselves specifically as "Atheist" composed the 18th largest group of 43 possible categories of "self-described religious identification." The number of persons so identifying themselves almost doubled from seven years earlier. Admittedly, "Atheist" is one of the options listed under "no religion specified," but given that other options for respondents included checking "Agnostic" or "No Religion" or not answering the question at all, it appears that identifying oneself specifically as an Atheist, as opposed to simply "not religious," is growing in appeal. This points to the utility of a distinction made by Jonathan Lanman between "non-theists," those with no particular religious belief, and "strong atheists," those who view religion not only as irrelevant but as misguided and dangerous.
Copypasta is worthless without links. Could you please post them?
