# Atheists more likely to be obese? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 26, 2011, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-more-likely-to-be-obese/586877 "2011-06-26T02:14:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2011, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-more-likely-to-be-obese/586877/21 "2011-06-27T07:42:50Z")
> [@markdash](#): > > Since atheism would seem to slant heavily towards more educated people, income tends to rise with education, and more income means better quality food (and less fast food), it would follow that atheists would tend to be less obese than non-atheists. > > Or even more simply, smart people are less likely to be fat because they are more aware of the consequences AND how to avoid obesity in the first place. > > Feel free to hack away at any of the points above. I (not an atheist) pretty much agree. There’s also the tendency for some religious folks to be a little (or a lot) disconnected from the need to solve problems by just acting to correct them - i.e. praying that something will change, and doing nothing else to make it change. I’d expect that would contribute to a tendency toward weight gain. ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2011, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-more-likely-to-be-obese/586877/22 "2011-06-27T07:53:46Z")
no, nono! **YOU’RE** FAT!1! ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2011, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-more-likely-to-be-obese/586877/23 "2011-06-27T08:03:34Z")
China is [10-14% atheist](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_China) (or was in 1993). At the time of that survey, [China’s population](http://www.chinability.com/Population.htm) was 1.17 billion, which means ~150 million atheists in China, hardly any of whom are fat. By contrast, the U.S. has about as many Christians, clocking in at [~159 million](http://christianity.about.com/od/denominations/p/christiantoday.htm). Being Americans, almost all of them are fat. Theory _busted_. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2011, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-more-likely-to-be-obese/586877/24 "2011-06-27T15:01:15Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Isn’t the rate of obesity increasing faster in the more religious southern U.S. states? Yes but are the athiests in the south more or less obese than the god fearing southerners? ---
**Author:** ![antonio107](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ea924/32.png) [@antonio107](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antonio107)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-more-likely-to-be-obese/586877/25 "2011-06-29T02:44:12Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > China is [10-14% atheist](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_China) (or was in 1993). At the time of that survey, [China’s population](http://www.chinability.com/Population.htm) was 1.17 billion, which means ~150 million atheists in China, hardly any of whom are fat. > > By contrast, the U.S. has about as many Christians, clocking in at [~159 million](http://christianity.about.com/od/denominations/p/christiantoday.htm). Being Americans, almost all of them are fat. > > Theory _busted_. Not unless you actually parse that data more. It could be that 10% of Chinese are party members that get all they can eat, and the other ninety are praying to the God they think exists that they won’t starve from the next “great leap forward.” I’d also be curious to see correlations between religious affiliation and alcohol consumption, or tobacco usage. I _assume_ that atheists engage in Bacchanalian revelry that would piss off a pretty peck of Puritans, but have no proof or cite of that. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-more-likely-to-be-obese/586877/26 "2011-06-29T03:56:36Z")
I would think atheists would tend to have a less constricted sex life, and so are more likely to care about what they look like. Thus, athiests would keep an eye on the scale. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-more-likely-to-be-obese/586877/27 "2011-06-29T04:19:41Z")
There’s a reason why they call it the Bible **Belt**. Aren’t the southern states the fattest in the Union? ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-more-likely-to-be-obese/586877/28 "2011-06-29T14:02:16Z")
I’m a fat atheist but I got fat while being Christian. So HA! ---
**Author:** ![Rhodes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhodes/32/273_2.png) [@Rhodes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhodes)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-more-likely-to-be-obese/586877/29 "2011-06-29T15:38:30Z")
I’m a fat atheist. I was skinny when I was a Christian. So Ha-HA! ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-more-likely-to-be-obese/586877/30 "2011-06-29T16:10:50Z")
Buddha says you should curb your desires and walk the middle path. both of you should abandon your world of extremes and embrace the healthiness of Enlightenment. _orneitorfatt_ so hahaHA! ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-more-likely-to-be-obese/586877/31 "2011-06-29T16:14:33Z")
> [@markdash](#): > > Since atheism would seem to slant heavily towards more educated people, income tends to rise with education, and more income means better quality food (and less fast food), it would follow that atheists would tend to be less obese than non-atheists. No, it doesn’t. Your analysis posits a possible line of causation in which atheists would tend to be less obese. It does not automatically follow that they ARE less obese though, since there is no 100% correlation between any of those factors. I’m not saying that atheists are any more or less obese than theists are. I’m just saying that your conclusion does not follow from your premises. ---
**Author:** ![crewface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@crewface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crewface)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2011, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-more-likely-to-be-obese/586877/32 "2011-07-05T02:24:01Z")
I can say without a doubt that the subject is very clear but a bit murky also. Now it would seem that Politicians are fat because of all the pork they eat. Makes sense. Now, poor and sick people without means are skinny. Makes sense to me. People in positions of power that have everything done for them just sit around and eat. Makes sense to me. Now for the real answer. The fattest people on the planet are all of the religious ones. Why you ask? Well, it is obvious, they will swallow anything. Makes sense to me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-more-likely-to-be-obese/586877.md?page=1)