I don't know about this particular poll you're running, but I think that the results of a large poll would show that atheists are more prone to illegal drug use than Christians. My reasoning behind this has to do with me being convinced that if you're religious, you're more likely to be genetically predisposed to conformity and authority, meaning that you crave both in your life in order to feel most comfortable. Is it just a coincidence that we call most people "sheeple"?
Now I think all humanity is strongly influenced by our genetic predisposition to conform, so christian or not, you're probably smokin', drinking' or hitting the bong in highschool or college. Smoking, drinking, and even weed smoking are considered, for the most part, socially accepted activities. Even extacy is socially acceptable now in a lot of places, though it still has a long way to go to have marijuana-level acceptance.
So what about the harder drugs? Well, i think here's where we'll start seeing some divergence. As the social acceptance of the drug decreases, the percentage of theists who use it will go down. The social pressures to use it won't be there, so the need to conform will not be sparked. Also, since the harder drugs are designated illegal (meaning a body of authority forbids it), the religious person's desire to follow high authority will further reduce their desire to experiment with the drug. Now, the religious person's high authority is of course God, and in that sense the Church. But in the case of hard drugs, i'm not aware of any church doctrine that teaches that illegal drug use is permissible. It's both illegal AND shunned by the church. Quite convenient.
Now, of course, when there is a conflict between government law and church law, the believer will most likely side with the church (imagine if eating pork was compulsory by law in a jewish state? My money is on there being a lot of lawbreakers.)
As for the atheist, well, i'm not too fond of the term atheist so much as a rationalist, or someone who tries thinking for themselves, but i'm guessing that most atheists ARE rationalists and therefore would be less affected by authority. As a result, there would be more atheists taking illegal drugs (specifically the harder illegal drugs), as their desire to obey authority is secondary to choosing for themselves.
Lastly, i have no data to back this up, but now i'm really tempted to research the subject and see if evidence for this exists.
Now I think all humanity is strongly influenced by our genetic predisposition to conform, so christian or not, you're probably smokin', drinking' or hitting the bong in highschool or college. Smoking, drinking, and even weed smoking are considered, for the most part, socially accepted activities. Even extacy is socially acceptable now in a lot of places, though it still has a long way to go to have marijuana-level acceptance.
So what about the harder drugs? Well, i think here's where we'll start seeing some divergence. As the social acceptance of the drug decreases, the percentage of theists who use it will go down. The social pressures to use it won't be there, so the need to conform will not be sparked. Also, since the harder drugs are designated illegal (meaning a body of authority forbids it), the religious person's desire to follow high authority will further reduce their desire to experiment with the drug. Now, the religious person's high authority is of course God, and in that sense the Church. But in the case of hard drugs, i'm not aware of any church doctrine that teaches that illegal drug use is permissible. It's both illegal AND shunned by the church. Quite convenient.
Now, of course, when there is a conflict between government law and church law, the believer will most likely side with the church (imagine if eating pork was compulsory by law in a jewish state? My money is on there being a lot of lawbreakers.)
As for the atheist, well, i'm not too fond of the term atheist so much as a rationalist, or someone who tries thinking for themselves, but i'm guessing that most atheists ARE rationalists and therefore would be less affected by authority. As a result, there would be more atheists taking illegal drugs (specifically the harder illegal drugs), as their desire to obey authority is secondary to choosing for themselves.
Lastly, i have no data to back this up, but now i'm really tempted to research the subject and see if evidence for this exists.
The cosmos is also within us. We're made of star stuff. We are a way for the cosmos to know itself - Carl Sagan
