Atheism

Atheism, in its broadest sense, is characterized by an absence of belief in the existence of gods, thus contrasting with theism. This definition includes both those who assert that there are no gods and those who have no beliefs at all regarding the existence of gods. However, narrower definitions often only qualify the former as atheism, the latter falling under the more general term nontheism.

Atheism studies and statistics

As some governments have strongly promoted atheism, whilst others have strongly condemned it, atheism may be either over-reported or under-reported for different countries. There is a great deal of room for debate as to the accuracy of any method of measurement, as the opportunity for misreporting (intentionally or not) a belief system without an organized structure is high. Also, many surveys on religious identification ask people to identify themselves as "agnostics" or "atheists", which is potentially confusing, since these terms are interpreted differently by many different people, with some identifying themselves as being both atheist and agnostic. Additionally, many of these surveys only gauge the number of irreligious people, not the number of actual atheists, or group the two together.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The following surveys are in chronological order, but as they are different studies with different methodologies it would be inaccurate to infer trends on the prevalence of atheism from them:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• A 1995 survey http://www.zpub.com/un/pope/relig.html attributed to the Encyclopedia Britannica indicates that the non-religious are about 14.7% of the world's population, and atheists around 3.8%.
• The 2001 ARIS report found that while 29.5 million U.S. Americans (14.1%) describe themselves as "without religion", only 902,000 (0.4%) positively claim to be atheist, with another 991,000 (0.5%) professing agnosticism.
• In the 2001 Australian Census http://www.abs.gov.au/Ausstats/abs@.nsf/0/9658217eba753c2cca256cae00053fa3?OpenDocument 15.5% of respondents ticked "no religion", and a further 11.7% either did not state their religion or were deemed to have described it inadequately (there was a popular and successful campaign at the time to have people describe themselves as Jedi).
• The 2001 New Zealand census http://www.stats.govt.nz/products-and-services/Articles/census-snpsht-cult-diversity-Mar02.htm showed that 40% of the respondents claimed "no religion".
• 2001 The Czech Statistical Office asked the ten million people in the Czech Republic about religion. 59% had no religion, 32.2% were religious, and 8.8% did not answer.
• A 2002 survey by Adherents.com http://adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html estimates the proportion of the world's people who are "secular, non-religious, agnostics and atheists" as about 14%.
• In a 2003 poll in France, 54% of those polled identified themselves as "faithful", 33% as atheist, 14% as agnostic, and 26% as "indifferent". http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2004/35454.htm
• A 2004 survey by the BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/wtwtgod/3518375.stm in 10 countries showed the proportion of the population "who don't believe in God nor in a higher power" varying between 0% and 30%, with an average close to 10% in the countries surveyed. About 8% of the respondents stated specifically that they consider themselves to be atheists.
• A 2004 survey by the CIA in the World Factbook http://cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/xx.html#People estimates about 12.5% of the world's population are non-religious, and about 2.4% are atheists.
• A 2004 survey by the Pew Research Center http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?PageID=757 showed that in the United States, 12% of people under 30 and 6% of people over 30 could be characterized as non-religious.
• A 2005 poll by AP/Ipsos http://www.ipsos-na.com/news/pressrelease.cfm?id=2694 surveyed ten countries. Of the developed nations, people in the United States had most certainty about the existence of god or a higher power (2% atheist, 4% agnostic), while France had the most skeptics (19% atheist, 16% agnostic). On the religion question, South Korea had the greatest percentage without a religion (41%) while Italy had the smallest (5%).

Statistical problems

Statistics on atheism are often difficult to accurately represent for a variety of reasons.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Atheism is nonexclusive

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Atheism is a position compatible with other forms of identity. Some atheists also consider themselves Agnostic, Buddhist, or hold other related philosophical beliefs. Therefore, given limited poll options, some may use other terms to describe their identity.

Related Topics:
Agnostic - Buddhist

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Misrepresentation

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Some politically motivated organizations that report or gather population statistics may, intentionally or carelessly, misrepresent atheists. Also, many atheists, particularly former Catholics, are still counted as Christians in church rosters. Many Christians believe that "once a person is Christian, that person is always a Christian" http://www.evangelicaloutreach.org/eternalsecurity1.htm.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Misunderstanding and external pressure

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A negative perception of atheists and pressure from family and peers may also cause some atheists to disassociate themselves from atheism. Misunderstanding of the term may also be a reason some label themselves differently.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Discrimination

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Legal and social discrimination against atheists in some places may lead some to deny or conceal their atheism due to fears of persecution.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~