I was wondering about religion in America

[nogodchick]

You have some atheist churches there, yes?

[CapnAwesome]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_attendance
More than 40% of the country attends mass weekly. This is about the same rate as conservative Ireland.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_i...ted_States
Mississippi is the highest with 63%, which is as high as Poland.
Vermont is the lowest with 23%, which is still higher than 16 of the 25 countries listed in that chart in the first Wikipeda article.

Many countries have almost as high rates of Christianity as we do (such as Autralia), but with WAY lower rates of church attendance (such as Autralia). I think this suggests that religion behaves differently depending on where you go. I hear that Australians consider it a social faux pas to talk about your religion in public.

http://www2.psych.ubc.ca/~ara/Manuscript...an2009.pdf
This is an interesting study on religion. Apparently church-, mosque-, and synagogue-attendance is correlated with admiring suicide attacks against religious outgroups, but it isn't correlated with prayer if you control for church attendance.

I think it is super important to note that 40% of the US report that they attend mass daily. According to the same page you linked the actual numbers are around half of that. At 20% suddenly the US doesn't seem that religious. Even of those 20% most of them probably don't do much other than go to church. I think that religion is way less important here than people seem to think.

[Chad32]

You have some atheist churches there, yes?

I've heard of atheist churches, and I really wish they wouldn't call them churches. It lends some validity to the idea that atheism is a religion.

[Mister Agenda]

Yes but we're still in the minority for now and in "red states" (more conservative areas), it's a good idea for free thinkers to stay in the closet.

Bullshit! It's never the best policy to not stand up for what you believe in. People's ideas of Atheists will never change until they realize that Atheists are perfectly normal people. You don't have to be a dick about it, but it's always best to be open if people ask and if you aren't a dick or a pussy about it, people will respect you. More importantly you will respect yourself.

Easy to talk shit about people whose situation you know nothing about on the internet, isn't it? We're certainly seeing you demonstrate some courage there, right? Hell, with balls like that, Capn Awesome is probably your real name.

---

You have some atheist churches there, yes?

I've heard of atheist churches, and I really wish they wouldn't call them churches. It lends some validity to the idea that atheism is a religion.

It's generally reporters rather than atheists who are calling them churches.

[Coffee Jesus]

You have some atheist churches there, yes?

We have churches of Satan, but Satanists are no better than the Christian fundamentalists.

There's a non-Satanic atheist church at Harvard, but that's the only one I know of.

[Chad32]

Given that I heard a story once about a 13 year old girl that got kicked out of the house when she came out, I'd have to agree with Agenda. Depending on how fundie the parents are, you may want to tread carefully. People should speak out and let others know they are there, and they are normal, but you also have to be careful. There are some nutjobs out there. You don't want to be ostracized without support, or worse.

[CapnAwesome]

Bullshit! It's never the best policy to not stand up for what you believe in. People's ideas of Atheists will never change until they realize that Atheists are perfectly normal people. You don't have to be a dick about it, but it's always best to be open if people ask and if you aren't a dick or a pussy about it, people will respect you. More importantly you will respect yourself.

Easy to talk shit about people whose situation you know nothing about on the internet, isn't it? We're certainly seeing you demonstrate some courage there, right? Hell, with balls like that, Capn Awesome is probably your real name.

---

What?? I'm not talking shit about anyone. Also I respond to the information I have at hand, which is what people are saying about themselves on the internet. Duh? Also yes, Cap'n Awesome is my real name.

[nogodchick]

Welcome. Here is your welcome seal.



And religion in america, avoid the south.

Thanks.

I've been to the south ... well Florida and Mississippi anyway. A lot of churches.

---

I wonder if you will ever get an openly atheist president. Maybe you've had a closet one already.

Our stupid PM is a religious man but in the UK, you could just as easily get away with having no faith and still get elected. Which is progress of a kind.

[DeistPaladin]

I wonder if you will ever get an openly atheist president. Maybe you've had a closet one already.

I'm sure we have. We may have one right now for all we know. I do know that Karl Rove, the political strategist behind W Bush's administration, came out as an agnostic (which didn't receive much press because it's OK when you're a right-winger). I have little doubt that some in the halls of power find religion simply useful.

I do take comfort in how America can change very quickly. In my lifetime, I was born in 68, we've gone from separate drinking fountains to our first black president. We've also, in that time, gone from the demise of the Equal Rights Amendment to the very real possibility that the next president may be a woman. In just 10 years, we've gone from gay marriage being a Rovian wedge-issue to legalized in many states and its national legalization seems all but certain in the near future. We could well see the first atheist (or deist) president within my lifetime.

[CapnAwesome]

Something about this thread got me thinking. Everyone here talks about how they have a hard time coming out because of resistance from conservative religious folk. While undoubtedly true, I have found a high level of hostility to an atheist worldview from many left-wing people in the states. Many people in my social circle wave around Buddhist prayer flags, discribe themselves as spiritual, believe in ghosts, psychics, astrology, etc. Basically tons of hippy shit.

I've found a lot of open hostility to Atheism from these people, who are often tolerant of literally any other belief. That's because Atheism does an unspeakable crime in their world of false tolerance, and that is tell them that they are wrong. That all beliefs are not okay or equally correct. That no, I am not open minded to the idea that the Dalia Lama has any sort of spiritual authority over anyone. That reincarnation is just as much a pile of crap as heaven or hell.