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Atheist Forums › Community › Atheism v
Can anyone explain to me how what this poll shows happened?

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Can anyone explain to me how what this poll shows happened?
Simon Moon Offline
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#11
RE: Can anyone explain to me how what this poll shows happened?
July 7, 2012 at 10:10 am
It all depends on how the question is asked.

I would bet that if the question is asked, "are you an atheist?", you get a lower number than if the question is, "do you believe in the existence of a god?".

The word 'atheist' has a ton of baggage that many people don't want to be associated with.

You'd believe if you just opened your heart" is a terrible argument for religion. It's basically saying, "If you bias yourself enough, you can convince yourself that this is true." If religion were true, people wouldn't need faith to believe it -- it would be supported by good evidence.
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Creed of Heresy Offline
The Heresiarch
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#12
RE: Can anyone explain to me how what this poll shows happened?
July 7, 2012 at 12:14 pm
(July 6, 2012 at 5:57 am)CliveStaples Wrote:
(July 6, 2012 at 5:23 am)Creed of Heresy Wrote: Well now the numbers are up to 16%, as I recall. Either we're seeing a wild acceleration in atheistic mindsets or...I dunno, really. Maybe the polls are off? Somehow?

You'd need to see what was being categorized as 'atheist'. One poll I saw described as 'atheist' a positive response to the question, "Do you ever doubt that God exists?" So it depends on the methodology of the poll.

Yeah, that is true. For this reason among many others there really does need to be a good, concise definition on what constitutes atheism. If only it were that easy.
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amateurlyinsightful Offline
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#13
RE: Can anyone explain to me how what this poll shows happened?
July 7, 2012 at 6:01 pm
Yea, I misread the poll
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Atheist Forums › Community › Atheism v
Can anyone explain to me how what this poll shows happened?

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