Monday, August 25, 2008

Belief in God Continues to Decline, Highest Among the Old and Uneducated

A recent Gallup poll reports that god-belief is slowly being squeezed out of society, with the number of atheists slightly increasing, and a large shift from traditional religious views to a more general belief about a "universal spirit". This would be more evidence against the frequent claims that the Angry Atheists (tm) such as Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Christopher Hitchens, and Sam Harris have hurt the cause of spreading more enlightened views about religion. We still await the first shred of evidence that would have us believe atheists to be the first oppressed group in history whos social status improves more when they take a quiet and conciliatory approach to dealing with their oppressors.

Of additional interest is yet another bit of evidence that the prevalence of religious beliefs is inversely related to education.



That's right, contrary to all the pie-in-the-skyism out there, religious belief is tied to ignorance, just as so many of us have said for so long. It should be an obvious relationship not needing empirical support, but for those who need it, there it is. Postgraduate students are 20% less likely to be infected with God. Education people, that's all, in the long run, it takes.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Only 9% don't believe in God. That's not saying much. That means that 91% of people believe in a higher power, to put it in more loose terms. Of course, I do see a 4% rise in atheism when comparing those with a H.S degree or less and those who are post-graduate. Still, 4%? Is that it? If education really was such a bastion for atheism, I would think the numbers would be more drastic, no? Personally, I think that belief in God is something you're raised into. That being said, I've met some hillbillys who have no religion. Strange as it seems, it does happen.