Are atheists REALLY a minority or is there a much higher percentage of "closet atheists" than is publicised because of fear, peer pressure, etc...? (in your opinion)
by 
parleamonculmateteestmalade
ANSWERS: 12
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Atheism is without a doubt, one of the more vilified groups. About 12-15% of the world's populaton- officially. But unbelievers are denigrated for not being a member as well. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_atheism
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I think there is a large amount of "closet atheists' as you put it.
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I think atheists are both the minority and that there are many in the closet. Most people are brought up with some form of religion and it just never occurs to them to question it deeply. Especially in the faiths where questioning itself is frowned upon. Luckily truth isn't a popularity contest. +5
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There are many more people who don't believe in the Christian God than will admit to the fact. But most have made gods of themselves or their toys.
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Well unkless you have had to deal with a group of nut balls, you really never appreciate just how far in the insane world these "Believers" live in and it only gets worse as times get tough, it's a form of social manipulation as the conflicts are by design to stack the deck, real truth is irrelevent if they could they would have us all "Believing" that the world is flat once more if they had the chance and you would be surprised how many creatures have gone extict because they are not listed in "The Book" and are "Works of the Devil" and must be destroyed ... > It really does not matter majority, minority or what ever our type of Democracy and the laws there of was NEVER intended to place religion at the for front of our political structure but a set of simple priciples that have been so compomised as to be non existant and who takes over the Government well religions of course, 4 from "OTHER" parts of the world the same 4 that wash over all humanity like a bad dream or more like nightmare that you cannot wake from ... ~Nemo~
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It's not a matter of fear of admitting it is simply the fatc they they hate being criticized by believers. Most atheists choose to stay out of other peoples business. Proportionally, more religious people poke their beliefs into others which is what causes the argument. But there are atheists who do this aswell. The people who don;t admit simply dont care enough to make a deal of it.
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My opinion is I don't have one. I spend very little time guessing what others feel, think or want. Even when they say, many to most do not know how to be honest because of about a thousand different reasons but mostly it's because they just are not aware. +5
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I think there are a lot of people who don't really think about it much, but when asked claim the religion of their community. They don't particularly want to make a stand, they are confused about the difference between atheist and agnostic, they want to have access to church or equivalent for traditional births, marriages and deaths. These people are not atheists/agnostics, in that their underlying belief seems to be that there probably is a God because so many people say so. But their lifestyles suggest that they don't really believe that, even if they think they do. They act agnostic when their mouths say theist.
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What's the point of being an atheist? There's no penalty for not being an atheist, so (according to the most basic rules of economics) most people won't become atheists.
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I think there are far more atheists than are counted in the census. It all depends on how the question is asked. Many Buddhists are atheists, but they may mark Buddhist instead of atheist on a survey. Also, some agnostics identify themselves as both atheist and agnostic, while some surveys put atheist and agnostic as on single category. Add to that the plethora of other labels (brights, free thinkers, humanists, etc.) and it is difficult to tell exactly where people stand.
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The fact of the matter is this. Atheism is merely the act of NOT believing in god(s). The vast majority of people who don't believe never tell anyone. I believe there are quite a few people who go to church ONLY because their SO or other pressures drag them in and they suffer in silence as the idiot preachers drone on about imaginary boogie men. I'm now past the part of my life where i questioned it. Now I'm completely convince the god idea is nothing but a manipulation tactic to grab money from people out of fear of death. If we knew for fact what happened after death the churches would empty out so fast and there would only be a handful of droning idiots standing in them wondering how they would pay the goddamned rent. PTGDL..Praise the goddamned lord..do I hear an amen?
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I'm sure that there are plenty of "closet atheists." I'm also sure that, even if you could count them, atheists would still be in a minority group. Unless you start questioning whichever religion you're in from an early age, you probably aren't ever going to question it. Most people don't ask many questions when their young, so most people don't ever realize that nothing about their religion adds up.
Moongrim 
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