Recently they did a study to figure
out how many different types of atheism there are. Here is what they found.
8 percent are Agnostics, the only
group that isn’t totally atheist.
12 percent are Ritualists who don’t
believe in God, but who go along with the ceremony for their families, or just
because they like it.
4 percent are Nontheists who don’t
believe, but just ignore religious issues entirely.
38 percent are Intellectual atheists
who like talking about religious issues.
23 percent are Activists who like
selling their ideas, not only about religion but also other social issues such
as gay rights and the environment.
15 percent are Antitheists, who
believe, understandably, that organized religion is actually destructive.
Notice that there is no difference
in belief here, with the exception of the first group. Essentially you have 8
percent who are agnostics, and 92 percent who share the same belief: that there
is no God, and that all the other mumbo jumbo – heaven, hell, miracles -- is
wrong. They just differ on how to deal with religious people: play along with
them, ignore them, argue politely, or call them out on their bullshit. So these
groups don’t disagree on belief – just on tactics for dealing with Team God.
Sorry to disappoint you, Jesus People – the atheist movement isn’t going to
collapse into a nasty civil war.
This data explodes two contradictory
myths. First, the myth that those religious “nones” still believe in something:
only 8 percent even allow for the possibility. Second, the myth that all
atheists are angry and argumentative: even the Antitheists aren’t angry – we’re
just calling you out, politely, on your bullshit and nonsense. Which we’re
allowed to do: the First Amendment works both ways. And never are we as hateful
as the crap that Christians throw in our faces, when they’re not bullying gays
or throwing bricks at abortion clinics. We attack bad ideas and logical
fallacies; Christians attack people.
So, we really don’t believe, but we
really don’t hate. Hate is the other team.
And we don’t worship Satan, either.
Why trade one fictional supernatural being for another?
One thing we can expect to see: the
Jesus People cling to the myth that atheists are wild-eyed militant Satanists,
so when they see that some atheists are less adamant about their tactics than
others, they will try to…divide and conquer.
