# Do you believe in a God , or God(s)? Please participate! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 4, 2011, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-a-god-or-god-s-please-participate/605029 "2011-12-04T14:54:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-a-god-or-god-s-please-participate/605029/1 "2011-12-04T14:54:32Z")
Inspired by a claim[in this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=633605) that there are almost no believers on the SDMB, I’m curious as to our atheist/agnostic/believer split. I’ve no doubt we’re way over the worldwide average for non believers, but let’s try to see what it is. I have provided 13 options, as you can see, but even then its an awfully small number. Please pick the one that closest approximates your beliefs. Don’t worry if it seems a bit clumsy; your individual peccadilloes won’t much affect the overall result and anyway you can post and explain your personal position on the matter. I WOULD LIKE THIS THREAD TO AVOID ARGUMENT OVER THE MERITS OF RELIGION. THIS IS NOT GREAT DEBATES. Thanks. Let’s keep it to seeing what your opinion is, and explaining it if you like. Note: I know I misspelled “Abrahamic” over and over. It’s early and I have a headache. ---
**Author:** ![Acid\_Lamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Acid\_Lamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acid_Lamp)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-a-god-or-god-s-please-participate/605029/2 "2011-12-04T15:07:58Z")
I would consider myself to be an atheist. “weak” or “functionally” is how I would nail it down. I’ve seen no evidence to convince me of one, but I’m open to being convinced. The bar is just set extraordinarily high. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-a-god-or-god-s-please-participate/605029/3 "2011-12-04T15:17:01Z")
Atheists are taking an early lead in this poll, but that may just be because the North American Christians are at church on a Sunday morning. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-a-god-or-god-s-please-participate/605029/4 "2011-12-04T15:22:07Z")
> [@Acid\_Lamp](#): > > I would consider myself to be an atheist. “weak” or “functionally” is how I would nail it down. I’ve seen no evidence to convince me of one, but I’m open to being convinced. The bar is just set extraordinarily high. Same here. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-a-god-or-god-s-please-participate/605029/5 "2011-12-04T15:43:40Z")
To me, God is fundamentally a silly concept. While I don’t try to tell others not to believe in it, I am amused by the whole idea. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-a-god-or-god-s-please-participate/605029/6 "2011-12-04T15:52:43Z")
After all these decades of being an atheist, I’ve pretty much lost interest in the subject. The issue of God vs. not God is irrelevant to my life. So I call myself a “shrugnostic.” ---
**Author:** ![Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prelude_to_Fascination)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-a-god-or-god-s-please-participate/605029/7 "2011-12-04T16:08:33Z")
I’m an atheist. For many years, I was agnostic, but slowly it simply became apparent to me that I don’t believe in any god or gods. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-a-god-or-god-s-please-participate/605029/8 "2011-12-04T16:11:31Z")
As [Pierre LaPlace](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre-Simon_Laplace) said, I have no need of that hypothesis, so the answer is no. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-a-god-or-god-s-please-participate/605029/9 "2011-12-04T17:41:02Z")
Atheist of the “atheist, but not anti-religious” variety. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-a-god-or-god-s-please-participate/605029/10 "2011-12-04T17:55:36Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Inspired by a claim[in this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=633605) that there are almost no believers on the SDMB… Just so we know the baseline here, can you quote the specific post? I didn’t want to go through that whole thread to find it. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-a-god-or-god-s-please-participate/605029/11 "2011-12-04T18:14:37Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > After all these decades of being an atheist, I’ve pretty much lost interest in the subject. The issue of God vs. not God is irrelevant to my life. So I call myself a “shrugnostic.” [Apatheism](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apatheism). > [@](#): > > Apatheism (a portmanteau of apathy and theism/atheism), also known as pragmatic atheism or (critically) as practical atheism, is acting with apathy, disregard, or lack of interest towards belief or lack of belief in a deity. Apatheism describes the manner of acting towards a belief or lack of a belief in a deity; so applies to both theism and atheism. An apatheist is also someone who is not interested in accepting or denying any claims that gods exist or do not exist. In other words, an apatheist is someone who considers the question of the existence of gods as neither meaningful nor relevant to his or her life. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-a-god-or-god-s-please-participate/605029/12 "2011-12-04T18:19:17Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > After all these decades of being an atheist, I’ve pretty much lost interest in the subject. The issue of God vs. not God is irrelevant to my life. So I call myself a “shrugnostic.” I like that. I didn’t have any great struggle or anything. I just “outgrew” religion slowly between the ages of 10 and 15. Since then, it just hasn’t been an issue. Not much different from realizing Santa Claus doesn’t exist. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-a-god-or-god-s-please-participate/605029/13 "2011-12-04T19:35:57Z")
I chose agnostic simply because while I don’t believe there is a god, I will give the benefit of doubt and say while they can’t prove there is one, I can’t exactly prove there isn’t. If you had asked about organized religions, it would have been easy for me to say a loud NO to all of them. I have my own beliefs, but they do not include some grand wizard in the sky. ---
**Author:** ![StephenG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@StephenG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StephenG)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-a-god-or-god-s-please-participate/605029/14 "2011-12-04T19:41:00Z")
I voted in the poll, but I rarely if ever participate in discussions that are even related to religion (e.g., abortion debates). Hope I don’t skew the numbers! ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-a-god-or-god-s-please-participate/605029/15 "2011-12-04T19:43:53Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > After all these decades of being an atheist, I’ve pretty much lost interest in the subject. The issue of God vs. not God is irrelevant to my life. So I call myself a “shrugnostic.” This is more-or-less my stance. I grew up Roman Catholic, heck, I even went to church today (my wife is a churchgoer), but I self-describe as an apathetic agnostic. It’s not really an interesting question for me, and the being or non-being of God does not affect my ethical and moral compass. ---
**Author:** ![Feyrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/fbc32d/32.png) [@Feyrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Feyrat)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-a-god-or-god-s-please-participate/605029/16 "2011-12-04T20:18:44Z")
While I don’t actually believe in a “god” in the traditionally understood sense of a diety, I still consider myself agnostic rather than atheist, because I acknowledge that I don’t know ANYTHING for certain. Nor do I particularly care. ---
**Author:** ![Cumberdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@Cumberdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cumberdale)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-a-god-or-god-s-please-participate/605029/17 "2011-12-04T20:57:55Z")
I used to say I was agnostic because it was a kinder, gentler way of saying I don’t believe in god. Now, I unashamedly say I am an atheist. While I don’t believe in the gods that have so far been imagined by humans, I’m not saying there is definitely nothing out there. I just see no evidence. I will say that if there is some sort of higher power, it most likely in no way resembles anything people currently or in the past believed. The sooner we as a species outgrow this silly belief system the better off the world will be. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-a-god-or-god-s-please-participate/605029/18 "2011-12-04T21:15:15Z")
I consider myself an ihavenoideastic. mmm ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-a-god-or-god-s-please-participate/605029/19 "2011-12-04T21:35:52Z")
I’m agnostic with regard to the existence of some form of deity or deities, but I lean towards non existence. I’m atheistic with regard to any specifically worshipped deific character from Earthly religious texts. But I’ve also had experiences that lead me to believe something exists of a spiritual nature, though it’s hard to describe its exact nature. ---
**Author:** ![Acid\_Lamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Acid\_Lamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acid_Lamp)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-a-god-or-god-s-please-participate/605029/20 "2011-12-04T21:39:45Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > [Apatheism](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apatheism). I’d like to change my vote to this. That accurately describes my position. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-a-god-or-god-s-please-participate/605029.md?page=2)