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So I was reading the recent thread discussing the pope's comparison of secularism to nazism (link), and other similar threads regarding religion, and I was surprised to see so many TL members seeming to have an atheist or agnostic viewpoint. While I am not sure of the exact breakdown of the world as a whole, it seems like TL has an abnormally large representation of these viewpoints. So I was curious to see what the TL community's views on religion were via a poll.
Please note that I did not want to put this poll in that specific thread specifically to avoid selection bias (i.e. perhaps people who would want to read that thread are statistically more likely to be an athiest... etc), so I created a new thread. Also, I did use the search function and found this thread: (link), but that thread is 5 years old, the community I'm sure has changed much since then, and the particular poll was not as detailed as I'd like it to be. So I hope that justifies my creation of a new thread (of course, if mods disagree, use your mighty mod powers to shut this down). Without further ado, TL, what are your views on religion?
Poll: What is your Religious Identification?Atheist (I do not believe in God) (133) 54% Religious (I believe in God) (60) 24% Agnostic (I refuse to commit to either the belief or the disbelief in God) (46) 19% Undecided (I have yet to make up my mind) (8) 3% 247 total votes Your vote: What is your Religious Identification? (Vote): Religious (I believe in God)
(Vote): Atheist (I do not believe in God)
(Vote): Agnostic (I refuse to commit to either the belief or the disbelief in God)
(Vote): Undecided (I have yet to make up my mind)
edit: ^^ perhaps this should be in blogs. sorry!
updates:
#1:On September 20 2010 13:32 rally_point wrote:
For the first two options it seems like you're being specific to a single God. It might be better phrased as "I believe in the existence of God(s)", or maybe even just "I follow a religion."
Just wanted to point this out because i think (not entirely sure), when you use "God" with that kind of grammar it refers to Jesus. If that were the case then you're missing a ton of other religious options.
Good point, but since polls are not edit-able, please just allow for the religious option to encompass all God(s) when you vote.
#2: It has been made abundantly clear that the poll is not 100% perfect in its exact definitions. Of course, it would take years for a consensus to arise on what these exact definitions should be. Please just choose whichever one you personally believe best approximates your religious belief system, however imperfect you believe the poll options to be.
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Atheist unless playing SC religiously counts as a religion. If so, sign me up!
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I thought that agnostic basically = undecided?
On September 20 2010 13:19 DTown wrote:
While I am not sure of the exact breakdown of the world as a whole, it seems like TL has an abnormally large representation of these viewpoints.
I believe China is 60-70% atheist/agnostic, so that should mean something...
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I'm Roman Catholic in title and practice.
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I think undecided means you haven't really given it much thought.
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Agnostic Atheist, as being agnostic in and of itself is a form of not believing in God. I don't think the two should really be separated on the poll.
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On September 20 2010 13:22 synapse wrote:
I thought that agnostic basically = undecided?
No, there is a substantial difference. Agnostics typically believe that it is impossible to determine whether or not there is actually a god, and therefore take the firm stance that declaring either that god exists or that god does not exist is an exercise in futility and is generally pointless. They are not about to change their minds and become religious or atheists anytime soon. In comparison, someone who is undecided may be reading religious texts for the first time, having an interior struggle with what they believe in, and just generally haven't sorted the details out yet in their minds sufficiently to reach a conclusion. In short Agnosticism != Undecided. If people would still like a clearer differentiation to make a more informed decision in the poll, let me know and I will try to apply my sleep-deprived brain for a more lucid explanation. = )
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Is it really a big surprise that most teamliquid users are godless heathens?
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Atheist and undecided is the same thing. As for agnostic, it is not mutually exclusive so one could be either agnostic atheist or agnostic theist etc.
A better poll would have been
Atheist
Theist
Pantheist
Deist
Pan-deist
Ignosticism
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On September 20 2010 13:25 TwoToneTerran wrote:
Agnostic Atheist, as being agnostic in and of itself is a form of not believing in God. I don't think the two should really be separated on the poll.
I disagree, they are very different. An atheist says "I do not believe in God." An agnostic thinks that Atheist is just as ludicrous for claiming a disbelief in God as the religious person is in claiming a belief in God. While they both imply a degree of belief less than that of a religious person, their religious views are far from being identical.
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No, there is a substantial difference. Agnostics typically believe that it is impossible to determine whether or not there is actually a god, and therefore take the firm stance that declaring either that god exists or that god does not exist is an exercise in futility and is generally pointless. They are not about to change their minds and become religious or atheists anytime soon. In comparison, someone who is undecided may be reading religious texts for the first time, having an interior struggle with what they believe in, and just generally haven't sorted the details out yet in their minds sufficiently to reach a conclusion. In short Agnosticism != Undecided. If people would still like a clearer differentiation to make a more informed decision in the poll, let me know and I will try to apply my sleep-deprived brain for a more lucid explanation. = )
Agnosticism isn't that specific, it represents a broad range of beliefs ranging from "I'm not sure" to "We can never know" to "I believe in my own personal god, like, one who doesn't doesn't encourage [Amoral Suggestion]".
I'm a hardcore Athiest, but I occasionally attend a community church, and used to go on a weekly basis with my gf (before we broke up last year lol). I don't really view my Atheism as that big of a deal, but at the same time, I'm very certain of it. I probably wouldn't have even posted if I hadn't procrastinated for a good six hours over the last day trying to get work done and instead ending up on that religion thread down yonder lol.
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This poll ultimately lacks options and lacks thought.
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I define god as that which created us and the universe. I believe the main scriptures of the world's religions to all be fiction with good morals at times.
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I'm agnostic
because none of us really know!
your undecided poll pretty much fits in with agnostic btw
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I thought atheist means they believe there is no god? Also could you put in some options for those who don't believe in 'God' but are religious, like druidism etc...would just be interesting to see the variety 
as for myself i'm agnostic. can't say there isn't a god, but not very much evidence in my opinion that there is one.
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Atheist I guess but I'd prefer anti-theist or "sane" would have done just nicely.
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I believe all religious deities were actually aliens.
Don't see an option for that on the poll..
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For the first two options it seems like you're being specific to a single God. It might be better phrased as "I believe in the existence of God(s)", or maybe even just "I follow a religion."
Just wanted to point this out because i think (not entirely sure), when you use "God" with that kind of grammar it refers to Jesus. If that were the case then you're missing a ton of other religious options.
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On September 20 2010 13:30 Evil_Monkey_ wrote:
This poll ultimately lacks options and lacks thought.
Sometimes it is best not to get too specific to try and capture more general attitudes than it is to list every possible sub-category of religious (dis)belief. But if you really feel that it misses the mark by that much, feel free to improve upon it and create your own poll. = (
edit: On September 20 2010 13:32 Khul Sadukar wrote:
I believe all religious deities were actually aliens.
Don't see an option for that on the poll..
<333
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EPT
