I know this can't be fully known, but would you guess there to be more atheists or believers (of god) today in society. Also in US as compared to other countries.


Meh idk how people can believe in god. Obv I try to live a good life and do good for society but def skeptical on the whole god belief. I believe that once you die, have fun in the ground (obv hope this isn't true.... but prolly is sadly reality).

If the God of the Bible exists, and I am understanding Him correctly, then you'll be much worse off if it isn't true.

As for your original question, I think it's pretty close in USA, but that's just a wild guess.

way more believers than atheists

true for world, even more true for usa.

What's wrong with being dead under the ground? You're not concious. You have no awareness of time. What may be 10 000 years, would be less than a second for you. And...the universe may just give you another go around - in x amount of years. So really, you'd only be dead for less than a second.

Crackpot theory indeed, just to make you imagine all the possibilities, besides the God hypothesis, and in the process - hopefully convey to you that you shouldn't consider such a reality as 'sadly'. Nothing wrong with non-existence.

In many countries, including heavily-populated countries, belief in some sort of supernatural being (or beings) is common. In many countries, atheism is the majority view, but worldwide, "believers" are in the majority. Surveys and official censuses* provide evidence of this being the case.

2000 years ago, the vast majority of the world's population believed the world was flat.

We live and learn.

* In the UK Census of 2001, 390,127 English and Welsh citizens listed their religion as "Jedi". That figure was greater than the total for Judaism, Sihkism and Buddhism. In the UK, atheists laugh in the face of believers. The force is strong in us.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jedi_census_phenomenon

Why not? Does google really not give you any good results?

.

You're not really dead underground. There simply isn't "you" anymore.

My guess is that there are more believers then non believers. US has a higher proportion of atheists than most countries, but a lower proportion of atheists than most western industrious countries.

The US has one of the highest "yes" rates answering questions like do you believe in God, Heaven and hell, and miracles.

More secular parts of the world that answer "no" or "I don't know" to these questions have been shown to have a higher population happiness and well being, as proved by polls and GDP/economic numbers. Also, better healthcare and better schooling.

Ah yes, schooling. It is widely also shown in documentaries and in hard numbers that the US is becoming more scientifically illiterate and declining in test scores for as far as I can remember, and I am only 26.

There is an uncanny strong correlation between being raised in a secular, well educated environment and not believing in god. As per being raised in a lower class religious family that is not as educated, because in NY the way schools get funding is through property taxes. You live in a ****ty neighborhood? Have fun being interested in learning when your ceilings are leaking. Poverty and religious belief have been shown to also have a strong positive correlation.

You are indoctrinated as per your country, I was raised roman catholic because that's what my mom and grandmother were, my dad went to church but was never really into it.

For most people, your religion you are indoctrinated into, becomes your default position, it is nothing but BRAINWASHING.

American's are becoming dumber, our believers are rising.

More secular countries are smarter and happier, there belief levels are decreasing as a positive correlation, and arguably a direct cause and effect because of there logical and reasoning abilities also going up by means of applying science to your everyday life as well as increasing your critical thinking skills.

Believers, definetly. Probably more than 75% of total world population. In the US, it's close to 95% believers. In Japan, it's less than 30%. In Europe it's also pretty low, I think like 50%-ish give or take 20%.

LULZ so you are saying since i don't believe in something that doesn't exist (especially no factual evidence that it does), im going to hell? This statement is the nutlol. Live a good life where you don't commit crime but don't believe and go to hell.

Also I would like a poll of the top 100 intelligent people in the world. I wonder what the % of atheists would be? I'm pretty sure very high.

Maybe i was unclear. You were saying it would be worse if there was nothing after death. I am saying that if my God exists, and I am correctly understanding what happens to unbelievers, then non-existance would be far better than the alternative.

Appx. 85-90% of the National Academy of Scientists, which include a slew of Nobel Laureate's do not believe in a personal God, aka one of the three major monotheism's.

I am not sure what the numbers are of whom believe in the deist god, but im sure you can look the numbers up.

Like I said before, as intelligence, logic and reasoning abilities increase, so does ones disbelief in anything supernatural including god

I would guess that there would be more people who claim to believe in God then those who don't. But i would also guess that the majority of "believers" don't actually believe and would quickly switch sides if it meant becoming part of the majority.

I don’t think that’s the whole issue. I think most non-believers don’t believe because they don’t believe the promise (the afterlife/heaven) not because they’re unwilling or too intelligent to pay the price (active belief/prayer). For instance, if over the course of a year the final table of every major poker tournament was composed entirely of born again Christians, you’d see a whole lot of formally atheist poker players suddenly see the light.

want to add that although the vast majority of national academy members consider themselves atheist, the people conducting that study polled PhDs at random (sorta, sent questionaires out at random) found that ~half of all biologists and physicist believed in a personal god.

I seriously doubt that.

Source?

I disagree. While certainly unexpected and in need of an explanation there are certainly other possibilities to explain the success of born again christians (causation / correlation).

I believe in atheism.

Seriously though it is a false seperation of atheists/ believers. We all believe in something. And you are collecting all believers into a group. As far as a i can see since they believe in things that don't exist they spend most of their time defining what it is they believe in. So i doubt one "believer" really shares their belief with anyone else.

Such as?

This!

Why do theists so quickly whip out Pascal's Wager? It's such a silly argument.

The way I see it is this (throwing all scientific evidence/arguments aside):

If God is real, and we're operating under the wager, that it's smarter to take the God option because it's the safest, I see that as effectively losing my free will.

It's like a cosmic gun being pointed at my head - Believe in me (on the mere chance it's real), devote your entire life to these principles, spread my word, etc., and spend eternity in blissful existence with me and your fellow believers

OR,

Burn in hell and suffer unimaginable pain for all of eternity.

How is that even a choice? Sure, I guess technically, I can "choose" the latter, but who in their right mind would choose that option? Even Lucifer didn't choose it.

The thing that bothers me is the fact that why should I believe in something that really has no evidence pointing toward its existence. I really think god and the bible are only created for the sole purpose of defining good vs. bad and trying to cause people to live "good" lifes where they don't do harm to others and society.

And what makes it wrong to not believe in something that has no evidence pointing towards its existence. I mean science basically tells us that god doesn't exist and that organisms evolve.

Finally not trying to piss anyone off with my beliefs. I hope there is a god obviously but I try to be a realist and will not believe in something that has no evidence pointing towards its existence.

I was merely pointing out that there could be something worse than non-existence.