Which religion do you affiliate with?

[Nugatory]

Your wish is my command: https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=766157

Remind me to be more careful about what I wish for in the future...

 

[Evo]

Well to be frank, I think the poll is as it should be. I wouldn't consider atheism a religion at all, nor agnosticism. And since the poll asks what religion your afflicted with, I think none is an appropriate answer given the question.

I like the fact the OP used "None" as an option. It's always nice to see when someone bothers to get it right, ie: not labeling atheism as a religion.

Exactlly, it seems only the religious feel that the non religious require labeling, the non-religious do not.

 

[Matterwave]

So few Christians in here. This poll does not seem to reflect the standard demographics.

 

[jtbell]

the poll asks what religion your afflicted with

Look again. (I added the boldface.)

Micro, did you intend the word "affiliated" to mean specifically "member of some religious group" or simply "what you believe"?

There are people who have religious beliefs but don't belong to an organized church or other religious or spiritual group; and there are people who do belong to such a group but don't personally (privately) subscribe to its creed or dogma.

 

[micromass]

Look again. (I added the boldface.)

Micro, did you intend the word "affiliated" to mean specifically "member of some religious group" or simply "what you believe"?

There are people who have religious beliefs but don't belong to an organized church or other religious or spiritual group; and there are people who do belong to such a group but don't personally (privately) subscribe to its creed or dogma.

Oh, it's simply what you believe or feel most comfortable with. You don't have to be an official member.

 

[B. Elliott]

So few Christians in here. This poll does not seem to reflect the standard demographics.

The standard demographics of a Science forum?

 

[WannabeNewton]

So few Christians in here. This poll does not seem to reflect the standard demographics.

That may be because it's a website for physics...

 

[DavidSnider]

Exactlly, it seems only the religious feel that the non religious require labeling, the non-religious do not.

Non-religious is just as much of a label as atheist. Non-religious is different label than atheist though.

 

[Astronuc]

The list is apparently from Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_religious_groups#Largest_religions

The smallest of these groups (Hoahaoism) is listed as having 1.5-3 million followers.

Wikipedia's article on Unitarian-Universalism gives 800,000 followers, using this page as a reference:

http://christianity.about.com/od/unitarian/a/unitarianprofile.htm

In terms of this poll, one could argue for counting it under either "Christianity" or "Other", depending on whether the primary criterion is historical origin or current creed (or rather, lack thereof). Individual UU's are all over the map in terms of personal belief.

Indeed, Unitarian-Universalism is a small group, and it's somewhat disparate with UU's in different nations having essentially developed independently.

I have an affiliation with the UUs, but I don't restrict myself to anyone denomination. If I have what is considered a religion, it's a personal one, derived from my experiences with different religions.

The UU profile on about.com is rather deficient, since they omitted several key founders or leading theologians, such as William Ellery Channing and Andrews Norton, and later Theodore Parker (who inspired Lincoln's "government of the people, by the people, for the people," which related Parker's vision of democracy), Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and many others.

Joseph Priestly discovered oxygen independently of an earlier discovery by Carl Wilhelm Scheele, in Uppsala. Unfortunately, Priestly was a supporter of phlogiston theory, so he lost credibility as a scientist.

 

[Evo]

Is there a label for the non-fairyiest or the non-alienest? How about the non-monster-in-my-closetest? Does a person require a label for everything made up by man that they do not believe in? Or just some things? And who decides? And why?

 

[Matterwave]

That may be because it's a website for physics...

Physics is not mutually exclusive with religion...

 

[WannabeNewton]

Physics is not mutually exclusive with religion...

Well no one said it was. But you were saying the poll is not indicative of the demographic. The demographic here is of users of a physics dedicated site and it is simply true that such a demographic has a much higher concentration of non-religious people than the general population so there is nothing to be surprised about.

 

[Matterwave]

Well no one said it was. But you were saying the poll is not indicative of the demographic. The demographic here is of users of a physics dedicated site and it is simply true that such a demographic has a much higher concentration of non-religious people than the general population so there is nothing to be surprised about.

Indeed that seems to be the case. :)

But the way you phrased your response seemed like it would be self-evident that physicists would not be religious, as if the two positions are mutually exclusive.

 

[leroyjenkens]

It strikes me as a fairly serious defect that there's a single "None" category instead of separate categories for atheism, agnosticism, and non-sectarian monotheism. When 73% of the respondents choose a singe answer in a 16-choice poll, we're losing a far amount of resolution.

From what I understand, atheism refers to belief and agnosticism refers to knowledge, so they're answers to different questions.

 

[Vanadium 50]

Exactlly, it seems only the religious feel that the non religious require labeling, the non-religious do not.

I'm not sure I agree. I have an atheist friend who is very unhappy when the different flavors of non-believers get lumped together.

 

[micromass]

I was hoping it didn't have to come to this. But please be respectful of other people's opinions, even if you don't agree with them. For example, calling religion/lack of religion delusional is not tolerated. Saying that a knowledge of physics somehow prevents you from being religious is also not tolerated.

I really don't want to lock this thread, so please don't make me :tongue:

 

[jtbell]

Five years ago, the Pew Foundation did a survey of scientists (specifically, members of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, which publishes Science magazine) about their religious beliefs:

http://www.pewforum.org/2009/11/05/scientists-and-belief/

One result surprised me: the percentage who believe in God or some other "higher power" is larger for younger age groups:

• Age 18-34: 66%
• Age 35-49: 51%
• Age 50-64: 50%
• Age 65+: 46%

 

[OmCheeto]

I didn't see "All of the above", so I chose "other".

I'm pretty certain that atheists view me as a bible thumping christian, and bible thumping christians think I'm going to hell for my heretical beliefs/questions.

Call me an OmCheetist: "Nothing is really certain. Heisenberg said so."

ps. Above all else, I believe in the angel called Karma. She hath smote me more than once.

 

[WWGD]

Indeed that seems to be the case. :)

But the way you phrased your response seemed like it would be self-evident that physicists would not be religious, as if the two positions are mutually exclusive.

There is a statistical method for testing whether the proportion of believers in
both populations --PF'ers and general population-- is the same. It may be interesting
to do this test for each poll, tho it seems difficult to determine what the 'general population' should be in this case, since PF'ers come from many countries. One can test against populations of different countries, tho.

 

[Evo]

I'm not sure I agree. I have an atheist friend who is very unhappy when the different flavors of non-believers get lumped together.

But does he actually *want* a label or just object to they type of label chosen for him since it misrepresents him? Which is why I oppose any label, what ever they think the label they use means may have nothing to do with my thoughts.