VJack of Atheist Revolution discovered -- through the highly scientific technique of internet polling -- that his readership is more than 97% non-theist.
"Ha! I can do better than that," thought I. And -- especially after his first commenter remarked on what a shame it is that religious people don't read atheist blogs -- I decided to put my stats where my mouth is and post my own poll:
I realize this one isn't nearly as amusing as my earlier poll (Who is the sexiest atheist blogger?) -- that's why I decided to use the tropical vacation poll theme. So you can pretend you're taking a tropical vacation while taking this poll. Don't let that influence your answer, though...
The Adventures of a Friendly French-American ExMormon Atheist Mom Living in Switzerland!!!
18 comments:
It's interesting that you included atheist and agnostic in the same category. Often people list them separately and are sensitive about distinguishing between the two. Is there a reason you included them in the same category (or was it from the original poll)?
Hey Aerin!!!
No, actually, the original poll separated them. The reson I lumped them is that I'm more interested in distinguishing other points, especially Mormon-ness. (I'm actually kind of surprised by the high proportion of nevermo non-theists.)
I also thought of listing a bunch of different religions rather than just the categories "monotheist" and "polytheist", but I didn't want my choice list to get totally out-of-hand. ;^)
Looks like your readership is quite atheistic, after all.
I put "other monotheist", although my view of God is sufficiently ambiguous and unconventional that I could probably be accused of atheism with some justification.
Hey Chris!!!
Wow, that surprises me! I thought you were a Christian.
I mostly just lurk, but I do read your blog regularly, and I'm Jewish. In a nutshell, I'm from a mixed Jewish/Anglican (quasi-Pagan/Buddhist/New Age) interfaith, "kinda spiritual not religious" upbringing.
I'm non-theist (agnostic-atheist, humanist) with Mormon heritage, albeit a very short heritage; my parents were affiliated with the church for only two years.
Of course, I turned eight during that time and was dunked into membership.
I'd have to agree with Chris; your poll seems to be backfiring on you.
when i did a similar (but ultimately less ambitious and more mormon-centric poll, I found that 25% of my my readership are orthodox believing Mormons, 16% are liberal/NOM (but still believing.) 27% were never Mormon, and the rest were ex/former/disaffecteds.
...I have no idea what the number would look like now...
I appreciate the atheist/agnostic category. When I have to choose between them, how I answer depends on whim, or how demanding of or lenient on myself that I'm being.
Hey Scholastica!!!
Wow, I'm not quite sure I have a category for that...
Hey Steelman!!!
LOL, great timing!
Hey Andrew!!!
That's OK. If I've been operating under the delusion that I have more religious readers than I really do, then it's useful for me to get a more realistic picture.
Or maybe I'll just go troll the Bloggernacle a bit and see if I can't attract some more Mormons to swing by. ;^)
Hey Sam-I-Am!!!
There are a lot of people who would fit into both categories (eg. "I think there's no God, but I'm not sure"), so I didn't want to make people choose between them.
That's also why I left of "Buddhist". I have at least one Buddhist reader who also identifies as a non-theist exmo, and I didn't want to make him pick between them. I was trying to make my categories as mutually exclusive as possible...
I weighed in as a non-theist (atheist, agnostic) with a Mormon heritage, but I think I would like to note that my "Mormon heritage" consists of having converted at age 16, followed by years...no, decades...of trying to separate myself from the Mormons.
I also think I should clarify that I am an agnostic who leans toward suspecting the existence of some "higher power" (for lack of a better term), but not in any sort of Christian sense of that concept. I still call myself an agnostic because while I suspect that there might be some sort of higher power (or powers) in existence, I also believe it/they would be so "other" that even if we could find evidence showing that existence, we have just about zero chance of "knowing the mind" of that power.
Hey LittleMissAttitude!!!
That's cool. It's nice to see some diversity in the not-quite-theist crowd. The atheists seem to be the most visible (or vocal) component, but, in fact, there's quite a range of thought.
It will be tough to outdo your sexiest blogger poll, but this one is still fun.
I was wondering, were you expecting (or hoping for) something different?
Thanks Chaplain!!!
Hey Mathmom!!!
Well, I kind of thought (hoped?) I had more than three believing Mormons reading my blog. But, actually, I'm glad to see that my blog isn't just a Mormon-interest blog, but rather has a more general readership.
>>Wow, that surprises me! I thought you were a Christian.I do consider myself a Christian. Most other Christians, though, would not consider me one. So I usually try to qualify my religious identification so people know where I'm coming from (or at least where I'm not coming from). ;)
Hey Chris!!!
Sounds a little like the situation of Wayne (Beat Dad, the Buddhist). He said he considers himself an atheist (since he doesn't believe in God), but that atheists might not consider him an atheist because of some other supernatural beliefs he holds.
I am a polytheist.
Hey Kullervo!!!
Yes, I've seen some of the stuff you've written about your polytheism on your blog. Thanks for voting to help improve the polytheist team's showing! :D
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