MovieChat Forums > Root of All Evil? (2006) Discussion > Wow I Knew He Would Be Attacked....

Wow I Knew He Would Be Attacked....

posted 16 years ago by helob
5 replies | jump to latest

In all honesty Europe is about 95% atheist where as America is about 95% religious the idea that the perspective of the person isnt known on both sides. What I mean is people in this country England don't have the perspective of being religious and people in America don't have the perspective of being an atheist but being atheist people seem to be more reasonable in this are rather than have religious fanatics just shouting at me 'I am heathen'. Doesn't it stand to reason that may be the atheists are actually more well level headed.

Noted anyone who replies like a total *beep* pretty much proves my point.

''Im reading a book, its like forums but longer.''

[–] jeroenberndsen1 16 years ago

I kinda doubt 95% of europe is atheist, but dawkins does try to show us a negative correlation between intelligence and religion, being that the higher you climb the IQ ladder, the fewer religious people you are bound to meet...

surveys being held under fellows of the royal academy for sciences and nobel prize winners.

Source: Dawkins, the god delusion

God's a prankster....He likes to watch...And up there, He's laughing His sick *beep* ass off!

[–] rad25 16 years ago

I wouldn't go as far as to say Europe is 95% atheist. I believe Spain, Italy, and some of the Slavic speaking countries are still very much religious.

Having said that, I can only talk about the Christians and Atheists the I came in contact with here in North America. Most of the atheists that I have met seemed to me very understanding, and level headed (very few exceptions). The majority of Christians that I came in contact with have displayed a staggering amount of hypocrisy with a varying amount of hate and spite towards people outside their faith. Somewhat ironically, born-again Christians seemed to be the worst of all.

__________________________________
The straightest line between a short distance is two points.

[–] jpcaetano 16 years ago

This is coming from someone who lives in a european country, Portugal.
Religion in this country isn't really discussed.
People might call themselves catholics but only 10% of those practice it daily or are church goers.
It's mroe of a cultural thing. A thing you call yourself because people ask you to call yourself something.

Most people today here live atheistic lives, they have no need to call god in on anything. Religion isn't on anybody's mind. Especially the 15-21 generation.
First if someone says they go to church it's seen as lame, people will practically raise their eyebrows.
Not because of the beliefs themselves, but because it isn't practiced anywhere.
It just went innocently secular.
People aren't on Atheist demonstrations on the streets.
If you were to do that in Portugal, for example, it would be pointless screaming.
I can assure you that if there was such a thing as crazy evangelical mega churches brainwashing people and tons of tv channels with priests and people trying to put creationism in the sceince classroom, people would get up and scream at the religious.
But...
Religion simply isn't an issue.

If people call themselves catholics it's either because they were baptized, and they think that makes them catholic for life, or they think they need to call themselves something. For this they usually look around their close relatives and see what is more widespread.
If they were shaken into the possibility that you can call yourself atheist, or non religious, people would do that.
But because it isn't an issue, TONS of non practicsing "catholics" tick the catholic box nonetheless, very much out of culture, not personal beliefs.

[–] yrussell 13 years ago

I'm not sure if the OP was claiming to be precise in the 95% figure either way. I think he/she was just trying to point out the big difference in religiosity... which is mainly true BUT...

Some people say "Europe" when they really mean western Europe, especially England, Germany, Scandinavia, etc. There are actually 42 countries in Europe and when I have travelled in eastern Europe I have seen an intense religiosity which rivals anything you see in the US.

But I live in England, having moved here from Canada and I notice that atheism is almost mainstream here. It shows up in popular media and nobody gets angry about it. There are plenty of religious people... but it is usually kept quiet. People keep it to themselves. I am very comfortable living as an atheist here.

I think it's hard to generalize intelligence based on religious faith. I agree that academia is full of atheists, but there are religious people too. I have liked and disliked people who are both religious and non-religious. Some people are awfully good at maintaining their religious beliefs simply by making a point never to think critically about them, even if they are scientists. However, I think there is a germ of truth to the idea that atheists are more rational. After all, most of them arrived at the state of non-belief after extensive thinking. In contrast, most religious people are religious because they were born into a tradition, and are encouraged not to think critically about their beliefs. YR

[–] njwilson-1 13 years ago

In contrast, most religious people are religious because they were born into a tradition, and are encouraged not to think critically about their beliefs.

I think, in the UK at least, this is often true of many de facto atheists. In various surveys on religious/spiritual belief, when given the choice between 'non-believer' and 'atheist', only a small proportion of the unbelievers choose 'atheist' (even though it's the same thing).

I also suspect that a lot of people who, in surveys, identify as Church of England are atheist/non-religious also - but see C-of-E as a cultural tag rather than a theological one. My parents, for every census, have always put C-of-E, even though they've not been to church since Sunday school and are deists of the wishy-washy "there's maybe something out there" type.

Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.