<p>^Very similar situation to mine. I actually just became athiest recently. I understand why religion exists and I have my own theories about it, but I would never go back. I’m private about it though…not that I’m ashamed, it’s just that I don’t think it’s anyone’s business. My daughter is too young right now, but I intend on raising her without religion although I will not emphasize atheism. When she is old enough, she can make the choice for herself.</p>
<p>^ Very good way to raise your daughter :).
My parents both believe in something but don’t belong to a religion per se. I was raised with a Jewish grandmother, Catholic “grandfather”, Buddhist grandfather, pagan grandmother, and a atheist-ish grandfather. I went to a Catholic school for 9 years, but my parents always encouraged me to find my own faith. </p>
<p>My belief system does not fit in to any religion I’ve ever encountered. I most closely identify with Wiccan but even that isn’t entirely right. I am the perfect example of a person who selects “no religion” but is certainly not Atheist (more agnostic).</p>
<p>I think the reason that no religion is growing is not because atheism is growing (although it certainly is), I think it is because people in America are no longer necessarily expected to follow a certain religion because that is what their parents or community does. There is much more freedom and openness to outside religion or your own personal religion that doesn’t fit into category X, Y or Z.</p>
<p>That’s probably true, unless you live half a mile from your mother-in-law. :)</p>
<p>I think a lot more people are deists than are reported.</p>
<p>I’m a convinced Quaker, and a theist (though not in the way most folks think of theists.) My wife is a convinced Friend, and a non-theist. Frankly, the differences between our belief systems doesn’t amount to a hill o’ beans.</p>
<p>S has heard a lot of interesting speakers in his two years in college. One last year that sounded particularly so was a debate-- Was man created in God’s image, or was God created in man’s image?</p>
<p>“I can justify the existence of religion, and miss the social network (not to mention the hymns). He doesn’t get the whole thing.”</p>
<p>The music is just so great… makes me nearly believe just because of the hymns…</p>
<p>I am an atheist, and also a Unitarian Universalist. I started going to the UU church a few years ago after my brother died. Watching my parents get tremendous support from their church community (not UU, far from it…) helped me see the social value of belonging to a church. I work in a pretty transient business, and live far from my parents and siblings. While I know my neighbors, we are not particularly close. Friends made thru kids come and go as schools and activities change. Then I went through a divorce, and one of two kids left for college. </p>
<p>So I thought I would give it a try… although I didn’t really believe that even a UU church would be comfortable for an atheist. But once I attended a few times, I felt like I was a UU my whole life, I just didn’t know it. People from many different religious persuasians belong to our church - - the whole idea is that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, even if that opinion is that there is no god. Services can be interesting, as they are often a blend of readings, traditions, and music from various faiths and secular sources (dragonmom, one of my favorite parts is that we get to sing beautiful church music!). You can never be sure what you will get in a given week, so flexibility is important. D1 has started attending with me when she is home, too. She mentioned recently that although it is kind of inconvenient, she is planning to attend the UU church in her college town.</p>
<p>Attending church has become one of the high points of my week (and if you had told me a few years ago that this would happen, I would never have believed it!!). Our church is growing like crazy, by the way :)</p>
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<p>As a UU with atheistic leanings who frequently fills out surveys, I always have a problem with the religion questions. Yes, I go to church at least once per week. Yes, religion is “important” to me. But no, religion does not mean the same thing to me that most people assume that question means!</p>
<p>A Secular America by Controlling Fertility Rates
By Jeffrey James Brownlow
Hitler was described as a tyrant; a mass murderer who wanted the complete extermination of Jews, Gay, and people of color. This paper isnt about killing, isnt about racism, isnt about homosexuality, isnt about Hitler; its about life. Life endures from the power of love, not the love of power (Jimi Hendrix). Life is an ensemble of people suffering and thriving, crying and laughing, and dying and being born; a complex web of triumph and failures. And if youre lucky, a chance to bring new light to this forgotten paradise. This new light is born at random. Randomized religion, randomized birthplace, and randomized class stature will define the culture for this child. We as parents can intersect but the child is ultimately defined by his view of the culture he lives in. A place with such inconsistency, such static, that no one can prevent children from suffering.
Sub-replacement fertility was first seen in the eighteenth century Europe. When achieving socioeconomically growth birthing patterns become static, resulting in lower a birthrate to death rate; subsequently, causing a decline in population. Most modern westernized cultures are experiencing a decline in the amount of persons projected between 2000 and 2025 under the age of 55, with the exception of America. America is the demographic exception. While most post-modern industrialized nations are experiencing birth rates of 1.3 to 1.4 America has a birthrate of 2.0 to 2.1, making it roughly forty percent higher than other post-modern nations. Although Hispanics do have a fertility rate of 2.7 and blacks have a rate around 2.4, excluding them from America will not fix Americas expanding population (2004 N. Eberstadt).
Americas view on values and immigration standards are the main components for increasing fertility rates. America values its government as providing freedom while European socialist view government as guaranteeing individual needs. Freedom provides incentives for immigrants to migrate from third world countries to the United States. If America had a fertility rate of just below 2.0, America could maintain stability with just 100,000 immigrants; consequently, America is faced with over one million immigrants annually. Higher levels of migration coupled with high levels of birthrates among minorities helps add to the population growth. Unlike in European counties where the fertility rate is around 1.4 and the level of migration is insufficient to create stability regarding population growth the population of European counties is decreasing (2007 N. Eberstadt).
With a gross domestic product of 47,000 dollars in 2008, America had the leading GDP of all other counties. Now using the statics from the CIA, you can compare the GDP and fertility rates of different nations and witness a negative correlation (2009 CIA). Using macro-statistics we can show how decreased economical gain is contributing to higher birthrates. So what about individual economical differences in America? At Yale University, T. Paul Schultz wrote a paper labeled Income and Fertility, showing that higher income yields better, less ignorant children. Ignorance a I define is someone who is uneducated and/or in poverty. In his study he displayed a diagram which indicated a negative relationship correlating income with fertility concluding lower income families produce more children (T.P. Schultz 2005).
Educational difference among women is another key factor for increased fertility rates. According to a study conducted in 1994 from the National Center for Health Statistics, a womens education level is the best predictor as to how many children shell have. With women in their twenties and forties without a college degree the NCHS forecast high birthrates, while women with college degrees forecast high birthrates in their thirties. The National Center for Health Statistics states that educational attainment is a critical difference for womens fertility differences. Women with college degrees can expect to have a fertility rate around 1.7 to 2.0, women who graduated high school can expect a fertility rate of around 2.7, women with about nine to eleven years of schooling expect to have a fertility rate of 2.3, and finally, women with 8 or less years of education will have a fertility rate of 3.2 (T.J. Mathews 1994). With 72% of women in 2005 over 25 that havent obtained a bachelor degree and half with half all women being mothers; you can see the urgency of this cataclysmic problem concerning over-population (2007. U.S. Census Bureau).
Religion is a concerning factor affecting fertility rates as well. Religious people that go to church more often tend to have more offspring. With an average fertility rate for those that attended church regularly at 2.5 compared to those that never attend at a rate of 1.6, you can see a positive correlation that explains that the more religious the family is the more children they will have (Wikipedia). Comparing people who believe in God and education levels you can make a conclusion that people with higher intelligence tend to forgo religion and belief of a high being. Religion can be assumed to be absent among those with higher education, or at least subsiding. Note that eighty percent of all atheists are male and forty percent have a six-figure income (2008 C. Basinet). These statistics leads me to think that education leads to secular views with a high change to become wealthy, which by itself show characteristics for lower birthrates.
Earlier I defined ignorant people as people who are uneducated and have low-income, who as a result tend to believe in God. Ninety percent of America believes in God or a belief in an afterlife of some sort. In conclusion, ninety percent of America is ignorant. I feel that something needs to be done to defeat this, something unconstitutional but fair. I feel that we need regulations for breeding. I think restrictions on how many and who can breed should be implemented. So how can we weed out ignorance?
Licenses are needed in everything, associated with almost anything. Licenses are needed for agriculture, automotive, banking, construction, education, employment, environment, healthcare, housing, and list goes on. The solution to this religious circus is to limit the number of children someone can have, and who can breed. I not going to be Hitler on this subject and discriminate against race or color; but I will sort out the differences between pluralist people, those being education and monetary gain. I propose that we create a merit standard for persons trying to have a family based solely on education level and monetary gain. Examples of standards would suggest that women need to complete more than sixteen years of school and that a couples shared income needs to accumulate over one hundred thousand dollars. This would entail that they could birth one child. If the mother has sixteen years of education and the combined income reaches two hundred thousand then they can have two children. Finally if they both, male and female, have a required sixteen years of education each and make two hundred and fifty thousand dollars they can have three or four kids. This, in turn, will create a highly educated family, with enough money so that their children wont suffer, and since atheism is more prevalent among highly educated and wealthy persons, religion will gradually weed out.
An excerpt from Scientific American talked about lowering the global population because of the scarcity of our natural resources. It said that as nations become more advanced the amount of resources an individual will use will go up, thus increasing the amount of resources needed to support this demand. As the worlds population increases exponentially, more and more of our precious resources will be excavated from our world (J. D. Sachs 2006). We need to remember, that religion brings about an egalitarian perspective. Religious people believe that their religion is the only religion; this egocentrism thus transfers over to nature. Nature suffers from people that believe that god created them instead of believing that this beautifully abnormal accident occurred naturally. This world is something that needs to be guarded, something that needs to be respected, something real, and this something needs our protection. By reducing fertility rates we kill two birds with one stone. First we reduce the amount of resources needed to sustain a civilization and we say good riddance to the antagonistic form of nature, the falsehoods of stories built on astrology, the egotistical prowess of ignorance, Organized Religion.
Bibliography
(1) Birth and Fertility Rates by Educational Attainment: United States, 1994," by T. J. Mathews and Stephanie J. Ventura. 1997. April 28, 2009. [National</a> Center for Health Statistics Mother’s Educational Level Influences Birth Rate -<a href=“2”>/url</a> Lower Fertility: a Wise Investment. Jeffrey D. Sachs is director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University and of the U.N. Millennium Project. September 2006 Scientific American Magazine. April 28, 2009. [url=<a href=“http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=lower-fertility-a-wise-in]Lower”>http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=lower-fertility-a-wise-in]Lower</a> Fertility: a Wise Investment: Scientific American<a href=“3”>/url</a> Fertility and Income. T. Paul Schultz. Yale University. October 2005. April 28, 2009. <a href=“http://www.econ.yale.edu/growth_pdf/cdp925.pdf[/url]”>http://www.econ.yale.edu/growth_pdf/cdp925.pdf](<a href=“Adoption | Adopting.org”>Adoption | Adopting.org)</a>
(4) Women’s History Month: March 2007. U.S. Census Bureau. March 2007. April 28, 2009. [US</a> Census Press Releases<a href=“5”>/url</a> Why atheism is a rich mans world - and how we can change it. Edger, making the new Atheism sexier. Chris Basinet. Aug 14th, 2008. April 28, 2009. [url=<a href=“http://theedger.org/2008/08/14/feminism/]Why”>http://theedger.org/2008/08/14/feminism/]Why</a> atheism is a rich man’s world - and how we can change it. | Edger<a href=“6”>/url</a> License Types, Forms & Requirements. The Official Website of the Office of Consumer Affairs & Business Regulation (OCABR). 2009 Commonwealth of Massachusetts. April 28, 2009. <a href=“http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=ocatopic&L=3&sid=Eoca&L0=Home&L1=Licensee&L2=License+Types%2C+Forms+%26+Requirements[/url]”>http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=ocatopic&L=3&sid=Eoca&L0=Home&L1=Licensee&L2=License+Types%2C+Forms+%26+Requirements](<a href=“http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/009383.html]US”>http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/009383.html)</a>
(7) Godless Science. April 28, 2009. [Intelligence</a> & Religion<a href=“8”>/url</a> The World Factbook. CIA. 23 April 2009. April 28, 2009. <a href=“https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html#People[/url]”>https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html#People](<a href=“http://kspark.kaist.ac.kr/Jesus/Intelligence%20&%20religion.htm]Intelligence”>http://kspark.kaist.ac.kr/Jesus/Intelligence%20&%20religion.htm)</a>
(9) America the Fertile. The Washington Post. Nicholas Eberstadt. May 6, 2007. April 28, 2009. [Nicholas</a> Eberstadt - America the Fertile - washingtonpost.com<a href=“10”>/url</a> Four Surprises in Global Demography. FPRI. Nicholas Eberstadt. July 2004. April 28, 2009. [url=<a href=“http://www.fpri.org/ww/0505.200407.eberstadt.demography.html]Watch”>http://www.fpri.org/ww/0505.200407.eberstadt.demography.html]Watch</a> on the West: Four Surprises in Global Demography - FPRI<a href=“11”>/url</a> Demographic-economic paradox. Wikipedia. April 28, 2009. [url=<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographic-economic_paradox]Demographic-economic”>Income and fertility - Wikipedia]Demographic-economic</a> paradox - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/04/AR2007050401891.html?hpid=opinionsbox2]Nicholas”>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/04/AR2007050401891.html?hpid=opinionsbox2)</p>
<p>^^ ???</p>
<p>Is this a joke? It’s virtually impossible to plow through the turgid prose (sorry), but you have to be kidding, right?</p>
<p>“One also can be atheist and have a religion. For instance, some Buddhists are atheists, yet depending on the survey, may check that they are religious.”</p>
<p>Good god almighty, what kind of nonsense is this?</p>
<p>I just finished reading Losing My Religion, a story which had many parallels with my loss of faith:</p>
<p>[Book</a> Review - ‘Losing My Religion,’ by William Lobdell - NY Times Review](<a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/26/books/review/Oppenheimer-t.html?ref=books]Book”>http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/26/books/review/Oppenheimer-t.html?ref=books)</p>
<p>I recommend it.</p>
<p>Interesting re: the influential books! I was a bit too persuaded for my own taste by Christopher Hitchens’, so read a number of books from a differing perspective. “Speaking of Faith” by Krista Tippet (of NPR) had an equally intelligent approach to faith; addressing some of the difficult questions raised by Hitchens (kind of let you say, “whew! I don’t have to hum a tune and ignore my brain to believe!”)</p>