Although I get paid to be a Christian on the weekends, on my own time I’m a philosophical Daoist, so count me in here.
–sublight.
Jomo- for this purpose we are lumping in ALL the various “Christian” sects together- RCC, Celtic, Coptic, Prot, Greek, etc. If you consider yourself a Christian, then you are- for the purposes of this admittedly imprecise survey.
Bete: you are right. However, we were discussing whether or not Christians were a minority of all the regular posters here on the SDMB. Thus, to calc that we need (total number of Christians)/(total # of NON-Christians). To aviod the quibble that there could be a lot of posters that just don’t bother to id themself- I am being fair by comparing the number of folks who ID themselves as Christians, vs the total number of folks who state they are NOT. (Plus a few “well knowns” thrown in for good measure.)
Adding in the “well-knowns” but subtracting the non-poling posts & the “well knowns” who also post here, we have about= 70 Christians, and about 110 “NONs”. Thus, altho Christians would seem to be a plurality, they do not seem to be a majority. Christians seem to be about 40%- higher than I thought, I will admit, but still certainly not a “majority”.
Dan, I had to wonder about this remark from PrincessKitty:
“Technically”? Why qualify it? As if there’s some doubt about it? I’m just sensitive to this issue because of 1) the history of anti-Catholic prejudice in America and 2) the Left Behind discussions on SDMB which make it clear that those Bible-thumpers refuse to recognize Catholics as Christian.
I’m an atheist. I don’t believe that any entities that could be defined as “gods” exist.
Existentialist me. But I think that something probably exists, I’m just convinced that it’s not to be found within organised religion. Not a religion that I know of anyway. I am leaning towards Pantheism, but that’s more of an interesting idea than a belief.
Hi, my name is Montfort and I’m not a Christian!
On the contrary, there is a great need for people to define what non-Christian religion they belong to. You’ve set things up so that we aren’t getting an accurate count of each religion. “Christianity” is being measured against “non-Christianity,” so that if Christians are in a plurality, you can claim that they are in the minority, and we’d never be able to tell the difference.
What was that pldennison said about Super Weasel Powers?
I’m starting a new thread which will make an accurate count, and asking the Mods to lock this one. IMO, it’s the only way to get a real answer.
-Ben
On second thought, I’m not going to ask the mods to lock this thread, since it seems like people are readily identifying themselves anyway.
That’ll teach me to read a thread all the way before replying to a message…
-Ben
Atheist/Secular Humanist here.
betenoir–just for the record, few Pagans are pantheists. Many are polytheist, often believing in a duality, but many are monotheist as well. Pegging Pagans as anything–even non-Christians (I know several Christian Wiccans, for instance), can be dangerous, we tend to be militant in protecting the parameters of our faith, although, we do not, of course, have any uniformity in belief about those parameters.
Out and out atheist signing in.
Militant Agnostic : I DON’T KNOW and NEITHER do YOU !
If anybody really wants to know, I’m a Mind Your Own Business.
I’m sort of feeling strange about even posting here–this smacks of “separate but equal” to me, and as we know that philosophy is created and perpetuated by those who want to clearly set themselves apart (above?) others. I find no one as disrespectful of other’s beliefs as Christians. (You’ve figured out by now I am not one.)
A little backstory here…
My biological parents divorced when I was 3 and I haven’t seen or heard from my bio dad since(28 years).
I was raised Jewish.
When I was twelve I finally asked my mother about bio dad and she tells me"Well his mother was full blooded Cherokee which makes you a quarter Cherokee"…mind blowing to say the least. That led me to research Cherokee history and culture…and led me to the person I am today…
I don’t believe in God as a gray haired man in heaven but more of a spiritual force. I believe every living creature has a spirit.
I also dabble in wicca…working with the spirits and forces of nature is very calming and comforting to me
It’s all about living w/ tolerence in your heart…my family includes Jews,Baptists,Catholics and Atheists…we all get along and we all love one another for who the person is not for what they choose to worship.
I would like to worship @ Jeff Hardy’s altar though ;)…
You go, Hardy…the spirit of life, living, nature…I’ve seen lots of people born and seen lots of people die (I’m a nurse, not a serial killer)and I know that the force of spirit in a person is formidible. Thanks for sharing that—you are descended from people who define our attachment to the earth. : )
I’m a Jew. What can I say? It’s easy to spell. I considered becoming a Druid, but I kept getting the “u” and “i” mixed up and it always looked weird when I posted to questions like this saying I was a Driud (always thought that sounded like a villain on "Dr. Who, which invariably got the thread hijacked).
Actually I briefly became an atheist, but over and above the spelling problems with that, every time I lost my temper and said something like, “Oh my God, how could you do that?” I felt incredibly guilty. I felt like I was a philosophical traitor to the cause of atheisism by bringing up God.
Athiest. Believes there to be reasonably good evidence against the existence of a traditional western-style God (though cannot, of course, discard the possibility).
The Crusades
the expulsion of the Jews
On our way to Jerusalem let’s massacre these jews we’ve just met
all those popes and their “nephews” (ie illegitimate sons or boyfriends)
The Immaculate Conception
Papal Infallibility
Father Sam who had my best friend living with him at age nine and used to rape him regularly, especially in the bath, where he could push my friends head under water to prevent him crying in pain
The bishop who my friend told about Father Sam, and who did nothing
being made to feel unclean and disgusting because I’m gay
centuries of young men and women being made to feel unclean and disgusting because they want to have sex
Baptists don’t dance.
the Presidential Prayer Breakfast
Jimmy Swaggart, Tammy Faye Baker, All of themn on TV
Oh yes count me in.
yeah.