Good writeup about the non religious

calladus

Critical Thinker
calladus
Joined
Feb 23, 2003
Messages
324
Fairly good, unbiased piece about nonbelief and those not in an organized religion. Gets its facts from the American Religious Identification Survey

Reference:
http://www.newhousenews.com/archive/okeefe112603.html

"If anyone in the Bible Belt learns you're a none," said Betsy Lampe, 46, a none from Lakeland, Fla., "they immediately and mistakenly believe that you're either a Satan worshipper or a communist and treat you as such.

"To them, you must be labeled. This may be why the none category is growing. They're running off any potential new converts with their offensive labeling."
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The article mentions the term 'Bright' but uses the term 'nones'.
 
I'm really glad I read that article. I found it quite affirming.

And I really like the "None" or "Nones" appellation. It's suggestive of the point one it trying to make - I have no religious affiliation, rather than trying to suggest more as I perceive "Bright" to do.
 
I think this quote is pertinent:
Many nones believe in God. Nearly half "agreed strongly" that God exists. "It is more accurate to describe them as unaffiliated than as non-believers,"
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.

It dampened my enthusiasm a bit, as when I was reading the article I was interpreting it as a shift away from belief, when it may just be a shift away from organized religion. But, a very nice article. Thanks for sharing it.
 
roger said:

It dampened my enthusiasm a bit, as when I was reading the article I was interpreting it as a shift away from belief, when it may just be a shift away from organized religion. But, a very nice article. Thanks for sharing it.
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There is no such thing as a shift away from belief. That's impossible.
 
T'ai Chi said:
There is no such thing as a shift away from belief. That's impossible.
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I lost my belief in Santa Claus, at some point in my life. That was a shift away from belief. It was not replaced by any other belief, not even a belief in "No-Santa-Claus." I simply do not care, and therefore, do not (actively) believe in Santa Claus.

How is this NOT a shift away from belief? And if it is, then why can't the same apply to other beliefs?

Eric
 
Personally, I am hopeful that the shift away from orgainised religion will ultimately lead to a shift away from religion entirely.

Religious beliefs, IMO, are greatly strengthened by the reinforcement of a commnity of like-minded believers.

This is also true when it comes to bringing up children. It is one thing break from the religion mold when your parents believe in an invisible sky-fairy and quite another when your entire community believes in the same sky-fairy.

Without the positive reinforcement of religious communities, it is my belief that religion will die off almost entirely within two or three generations.

Graham
 
UnrepentantSinner said:
I'm really glad I read that article. I found it quite affirming.

And I really like the "None" or "Nones" appellation. It's suggestive of the point one it trying to make - I have no religious affiliation, rather than trying to suggest more as I perceive "Bright" to do.
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Perhaps a combination, like none too bright might work...
 
ARGH!!! Lingual pet peeve alert:

Catharine Lamm has used three words to describe her religious skepticism: secular humanist, agnostic and atheist. "But the word atheist isn't that great," she said. "It's a negative word. It says I'm against something [emphasis mine] and that doesn't quite capture me."
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That particular morsel of untruth is bad enough when it's carelessly tossed around by fundies, but it really raises my hackles to see it perpetuated by a None who should know better. Would somene please explain to this woman the difference between the prefixes "a-" and "anti-"?

Not to mention her "three" words... sheesh...
 
I would prefer being a "None" to being a "Bright" - the latter reminds me too much of "Clear" as used in Scientology. The trouble is, "none" is homonymous with "nun", which makes it sound like we all belong in a convent....
 
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