# Long time lurker, finally semi-registered **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 11, 2007, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-time-lurker-finally-semi-registered/399677 "2007-04-11T18:35:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ex\_Scientia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f1d935/32.png) [@Ex\_Scientia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ex_Scientia)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-time-lurker-finally-semi-registered/399677/1 "2007-04-11T18:35:30Z")
Eh, I finally made a profile and I want welcoming! I would like to ask, is the SDMB an atheist society? Are there any believers in here? What is the average age of a doper? That’s all for now. Love my newness! ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-time-lurker-finally-semi-registered/399677/2 "2007-04-11T18:39:26Z")
[QUOTE=Ex Scientia] I would like to ask, is the SDMB an atheist society? Are there any believers in here? [/QUOTE] If, by “believers,” you mean Christians, there are a few here. I’m one. ---
**Author:** ![Ex\_Scientia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f1d935/32.png) [@Ex\_Scientia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ex_Scientia)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-time-lurker-finally-semi-registered/399677/3 "2007-04-11T18:40:57Z")
Yeah, I did mean Christians, you guys are all so observant. I just wanted to know if I was going to be all lonely here. ---
**Author:** ![Lissla\_Lissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lissla\_Lissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissla_Lissar)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-time-lurker-finally-semi-registered/399677/4 "2007-04-11T18:44:46Z")
Quite a few Christians of various denominations. We’ve got pretty much everything except hardcore fundamentalist types, from liberal through quite conservative, Pentecostal through Eastern Orthodox. I’m Christian, too. We’ve also gone lots of other types of religions. Quite a few Wiccans, some Buddhists, I think a couple of Hindus and we still have some Muslims, don’t we? I don’t know if there are any Shinto or Jainist or Zoroastrian. The board is more than half of different varieties of atheist or agnostic, I would say. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-time-lurker-finally-semi-registered/399677/5 "2007-04-11T18:45:15Z")
Welcome, **Ex Scientia**! We aren’t an atheist society. You will find a host of different believers here: Neo-Pagans, Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Shintoists, Buddhists, and I think at least one Zoroastrian. There are even people who don’t believe in a religion. We do believe in mutual respect and fair play, though. Many of us love a good religious or political debate. In my experience, however, anyone who doesn’t listen to others (and doesn’t acknowledge that different people have different views), tends to have a rather hard time. ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-time-lurker-finally-semi-registered/399677/6 "2007-04-11T18:46:13Z")
You’re even free to make up your own deity of any of the previously established ones don’t quite cut it for you. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-time-lurker-finally-semi-registered/399677/7 "2007-04-11T18:47:02Z")
And I’ll add… I’ve learned more about religion here than I have anywhere else in my life. _Because_ people treat each other with respect here. ---
**Author:** ![Ex\_Scientia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f1d935/32.png) [@Ex\_Scientia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ex_Scientia)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-time-lurker-finally-semi-registered/399677/8 "2007-04-11T18:47:33Z")
Actually I proclaimed my friends question answering dog tags as my new god today. The lady-friend didn’t like that. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-time-lurker-finally-semi-registered/399677/9 "2007-04-11T18:48:03Z")
Regarding the religious beliefs and unbeliefs of Dopers, [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=350436) may be of interest. ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-time-lurker-finally-semi-registered/399677/10 "2007-04-11T18:48:09Z")
If you’re a rational thinking Christian, you’ll do fine. If you’re a biblical-literalist Jesus-said-it-I-believe-it-that-settles-it Christian, you will be lonely. There isn’t really an “average age” of Doper, AFAIK. I think our oldest is late '70s and our youngest is early 'teens. That’s a complete guess and a recollection of “older/younger Doper” threads only, though. ---
**Author:** ![Ex\_Scientia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f1d935/32.png) [@Ex\_Scientia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ex_Scientia)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-time-lurker-finally-semi-registered/399677/11 "2007-04-11T18:49:25Z")
Not only are you guys smart, you’re helpful too. ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-time-lurker-finally-semi-registered/399677/12 "2007-04-11T19:10:49Z")
Pretty damn good looking for the most part too. ---
**Author:** ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-time-lurker-finally-semi-registered/399677/13 "2007-04-11T19:37:21Z")
Welcome, Ex! Having lurked for a “long time” I’m sure you’ll be expecting the initiation fauna, so we’ll get that out of the way as soon as possible so as to avoid the embarrassing “What do you mean, I thought _you_ were supposed to get the goat?” conversations amongst ourselves. Unreligious sort here. I was born a protestant but follow no faith. I’d call myself an agnostic with atheistic leanings that seem to lean a little further with each passing year. You’ll be fine believing in whatever you believe in so long as your last name isn’t Phelps. Age? All kinds around here, from later teens to somewhere in the septuagenarian region. I couldn’t say with any certainty what the average is, but I’m betting it’s within two or three football fields of 30, give or take a few downs. Ah! I see they’ve brought the gimp suit. Dressing rooms are down the hall and to your left. ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-time-lurker-finally-semi-registered/399677/14 "2007-04-11T19:41:04Z")
And obviously…modest. Welcome aboard. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-time-lurker-finally-semi-registered/399677/15 "2007-04-11T19:58:12Z")
Hey, when you’ve got it… 😃 Welcome, **Ex Scientia**! _blows a kiss_ ---
**Author:** ![Dunawake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dunawake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunawake)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-time-lurker-finally-semi-registered/399677/16 "2007-04-11T21:14:44Z")
I’m another of the recently registered lurkers 😛 Christian trending toward agnostic, and age 24. From what I’ve seen so far, Doper age has a wider spread than basically any other forum I’ve seen, which is part of the reason I like it here so much 🆒 ---
**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:** [April 11, 2007, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-time-lurker-finally-semi-registered/399677/17 "2007-04-11T22:03:07Z")
[QUOTE=Ex Scientia] What is the average age of a doper? [/QUOTE] Since you’re asking about \*\*\*A \*\*\*doper: I don’t know about anyone else, but my average age keeps changing.