# A Poll for Atheists. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 2, 2007, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-atheists/386478 "2007-01-02T23:05:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-atheists/386478/41 "2007-01-03T11:44:59Z")
A and I. I lean toward II when it comes to fundamentalism of just about every stripe (including the non-religious ones), but that’s about it. ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Clanger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@Small\_Clanger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Clanger)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-atheists/386478/42 "2007-01-03T12:04:33Z")
B, 1.5 B - normal Church of England upbringing. No family church attendance but prayers at school, some Sunday school and fairly regular church with the Scouts. The Church of England doesn’t get near D, they allow ministers who don’t believe in the big G. 1.5 - There are of course a lot of smart and good people in the church, see here: [Archbishop of Canterbury’s Christmas message](http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/releases/061225.htm), I’m fine with all this until the supernatural stuff is brought in. I probably rate about 0.75 on the Dawkins scale. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-atheists/386478/43 "2007-01-03T14:13:04Z")
Raised: > [@](#): > > D.) Fundamentalist. The Bible is the innerant word of God. If science and the Bible are in conflict, the Bible wins. Hot button social issues are very important. Evolution is a pernicious lie propogated by atheists. Currently: Between I and II. I’ve had all the religion I can stand, thank you. I can’t help thinking that religious people are nuts. However, I think they’re harmless nuts for the most part. As long as they keep their lunacy to themselves and don’t mix it into government or education, I don’t feel any need to stamp it out. Apparently it’s a comfort to some. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-atheists/386478/44 "2007-01-03T14:53:08Z")
\*\* Q1: What comes closest to describing your religious upbringing?\*\* C.) Strong religious but “liberal” or non-fundamentalist. Regular [del]Church [/del] temple attendance, family prayers, grace before meals, etc. Religion a strong part of life. However your parents accepted modern science, were more or less tolerant towards other faiths, were not riled up about wedge issues (abortion, gay rights). Parts of the [del]Bible[/del] Gita can be interpreted allegorically Mostly this, but abortion and gay rights were _not_ accepted. But neither did they take the next drastic step. It seems to me there is too much of a gap between this one and the next! **Q2: Which of the following best describes your current attitude towards religion and religious people?[sup]2[/sup]** I.) You do not have a strong attitude towards religion in general, even though you find the claims of most religions impossible to believe. You may be opposed to aspects of some religious beliefs–creationism taught as science, for example–but you don’t beleive that means you have to be opposed to religion in general. You find religion factually wrong, but it doesn’t bother you. There are some aspects of religion you admire, maybe art, or charity. I used to be WAY more anti-religion. As a lot of atheists are who have been turned away from religion because of a traumatic event, as I was. Now I am fairly easy going. I still find the study of religions to be fascinating. ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-atheists/386478/45 "2007-01-03T15:06:06Z")
Q1: What comes closest to describing your religious upbringing? > [@](#): > > A.) Atheist. No prayers, no [del]church[/del] Synagogue attendance outside of weddings and funerals, no professions of belief. Your parents may not have openly professed atheism, but they do (did) not believe. Actually, close to this, but we _were_ exposed to prayer and Synagogue as part of our cultural upbringing (e.g., we went – and I still take my children – to Yom Kippur services, at least) Q2: Which of the following best describes your current attitude towards religion and religious people?[sup]2[/sup] > [@](#): > > II.) You are strongly opposed to religion and wish it could be eradicated completely. You feel that any irrational belief system is ultimately pernicious. The history of religious wars and massacres horrify you. Even those religious people who accept science and minority rights are enabling ignorance and superstition. The good that religion may have done is so overwhelmed by the bad that it doesn’t count. Damn close to my belief, with however the strong caveat that I don’t think there was ever a truly “religious” war – religion has always been a great **excuse** for wars and massacres, but the **reasons** were always political; they would have happened anyway, religion or the absence of it notwithstanding. ---
**Author:** ![According\_to\_Pliny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@According\_to\_Pliny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/According_to_Pliny)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-atheists/386478/46 "2007-01-03T15:13:53Z")
A. ---
**Author:** ![According\_to\_Pliny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@According\_to\_Pliny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/According_to_Pliny)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-atheists/386478/47 "2007-01-03T15:16:10Z")
A Ii ---
**Author:** ![According\_to\_Pliny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@According\_to\_Pliny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/According_to_Pliny)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-atheists/386478/48 "2007-01-03T15:17:35Z")
A\* _I_\*\*_I_ \* ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-atheists/386478/49 "2007-01-03T15:41:52Z")
c 2 ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-atheists/386478/50 "2007-01-03T15:55:21Z")
B, I ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-atheists/386478/51 "2007-01-03T16:19:20Z")
Recovering Catholic. C, I. ---
**Author:** ![mrklutz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ebca7d/32.png) [@mrklutz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrklutz)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-atheists/386478/52 "2007-01-03T16:31:50Z")
C, Ii ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-atheists/386478/53 "2007-01-03T16:49:55Z")
A I ---
**Author:** ![Mrs.Cake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2acd7d/32.png) [@Mrs.Cake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrs.Cake)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-atheists/386478/54 "2007-01-03T16:57:38Z")
C until about age 12, then switching to D I - I have more problems with the “revealed” religions, which tend to be dogmatic and dependant on "thou shalt not"s, but if someone wants to believe, I’m okay with it the same way I’m okay with people smoking - smoke if you want keep it to yourself because I don’t want your butts on my lawn or your smoke in my face. ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-atheists/386478/55 "2007-01-03T17:09:35Z")
B-C, .5-1 We went to church (and/or Sunday School) every week. I was an acolyte (altar boy) for years. Went to 2 years of confirmation classes. Went to a number of church youth group retreats. Went to Vacation Bible School every summer. Started out saying the Lord’s Prayer every night before bed in childhood. But, we said grace before meals only irregularly, were VERY uncomfortable with non-rote spoken prayers (i.e., improv praying ), and my parents were not nutcases about missing church (i.e., like all the Catholics in our majority-Catholic community). So, slightly more religious than B, not as religious as C. As for Q2, I’m still intensely interested in religious questions of all kinds–I would say, in fact, many magnitudes greater than any of my devout friends/relatives–but I just can’t see how any one religion makes more sense than any other, and am astonished that people believe theirs is the one true faith when, had they been born two towns over, a completely different religion would be the one true faith. I don’t think religion should be abolished; quite the opposite–I believe in a strict policy of “live and let live”, whatever your religion is, whatever degree of religious fervor consumes you (including none), etc. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-atheists/386478/56 "2007-01-03T17:57:49Z")
Q1: C, then B, then flirting with A. These days, they’re back to C, but my father openly questions a lot of doctrine. Q2: Somewhere between I and II, but tending towards I. Close friends and family rate a I. Pat Robertson rates a stong II. ---
**Author:** ![Gridnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ee59a6/32.png) [@Gridnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gridnak)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-atheists/386478/57 "2007-01-03T18:08:39Z")
B, I-II Mom is catholic and dad is protestant. We would go to church on christmas eve and say grace before “important” holiday meals, but otherwise they pretty much kept their religious beliefs to themselves. I’m generally a “believe what you want” kind of person as long as you don’t try and impose it on me. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-atheists/386478/58 "2007-01-03T18:10:02Z")
Thanks for all the replies so far. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-atheists/386478/59 "2007-01-03T18:38:30Z")
[QUOTE=Larry Borgia] A.) Atheist. No prayers, no church attendance outside of weddings and funerals, no professions of belief. Your parents may not have openly professed atheism, but they do (did) not believe. I.) You do not have a strong attitude towards religion in general, even though you find the claims of most religions impossible to believe… [/QUOTE] My answers snipped from your text. A) My parents sent us to church, on occasion, with the neighbours, but that’s about it. We never spoke about religion in the house, come to think of it. It just never came up. When it finally did, I was probably 16 or so, and then discovered my parents were atheists. I) I have absolutely no problems with what other people believe. I entirely respect everyone’s opinion, although I have a slight nitpick with blatant fanaticism. ---
**Author:** ![FordPrefect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@FordPrefect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordPrefect)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-atheists/386478/60 "2007-01-03T18:50:49Z")
D, I (leaning to II at times) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-atheists/386478.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-for-atheists/386478.md?page=4)