Governor

From Yahoo...

In terms of numbers, Christianity is the world's most popular religion, with approximately 2.1 billion followers. This includes just over a billion Catholics, about 350 million Protestants, and the Orthodox and Anglican faiths. The religion statistics resource Adherents.com hosts a fascinating pie graph that breaks down the world's major religions by population.

Islam is the world's second-largest religion, with roughly 1.3 billion followers -- including 940 million Sunnis and 170 million Shiites, as well as those belonging to other Muslim faiths like Sufism. Depending on your resources, the third-largest group is either Hindus or atheists. Both hover just under the billion mark. Traditional Chinese religion (which is related to, but distinct from, Buddhism) takes fourth place with 400 million, and Buddhism trails close behind.

The Hindu organization Om Sakthi hosts a nifty timeline tracking the origin of the world's religions. Islam's rapid growth is impressive, especially considering it's one of the younger major faiths (it was founded in A.D. 622). Right now it's considered the fastest-growing religion in the world.

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JahBohl

Now if we could only get atheists organized. This might be especially helpful in the U.S. where extremist Christian fundamentalism seems to have flourished and continues to flex it's political muscle. Alas, getting two atheists to agree on something (other than lack of god belief) is difficult. It's like getting two stoners to agree on something (other than smoking a bowl).

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Sugar420

you can join the brights!
http://www.the-brights.net/

snapshot

i think its possible that people would release their christian dogma for one that makes more sense.

Maturin

Yeah, i agree it's hard to organize athiests. I'm one myself. I don't really like the feeling of belonging to anything organized. I kinda use the Tao Te Ching as my set of guiding principles, but even that's pretty loose. I'll ocassionally go here a monk speak or something, but that's about it. I don't even mediate that much.

zoltron

Probably the reason that the Islamic faith is so rapidly growing is that if you disagree, they'll kill ya....& "if you touch any of my stuff, I'll kill ya!!"

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The Rev

They just need something to believe in...



The Rev

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deadhead94

They should have strippers and weed at the meetings

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The Rev

I honestly doubt there are a billion athiests in the world. Agnostics, I can believe, but a 6th of the population firmly declaring that God is pretend... no.



The Rev

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deadhead94

what about weak atheism?


that ideology leaves room for a god, at least somewhere.....

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Waves

one discovery will kill religion.

we will all be making fun of the people following ancient rituals and texts in 30 years. mark these words with a high lighter.

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snapshot

weak atheism is an ideology? i didn't even think atheism was an ideology. its just a belief in no god.

bah, i don't even know what an ideology is, and im afraid if i did and used it correctly it wouldn't get understood correctly either.


everyone has a different dictionary in their heads.

Waves

the discovery that religion is all in your head...

the information has been there the whole time but science will make it official.

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PhishDude

what if you're agnostic?

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Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it. -- Buddha

snapshot

then who cares?

Waves

you win!

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shylo666

Ummmm...this is straight outta the dictionary....
Main Entry: athe·ist
Function: noun
: one who believes that there is no deity

Main Entry: de·i·ty
Function: noun
2 : a god or goddess <the deities of ancient Greece>
3 : one exalted or revered as supremely good or powerful

Main Entry: ag·nos·tic
Function: noun
: a person who holds the view that any ultimate reality (as God) is unknown and prob. unknowable; broadly : one who is not committed to believing in either the existence or the nonexistence of God or a god

So weak atheism is really just agnosticism...yah...

deadhead94

Weak atheism (also called negative atheism or implicit atheism) is the lack of belief in the existence of God or gods, without a commitment to the necessary non-existence of God or gods

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weak_atheism


It is similar, but distinct

agnostics have no position either way, weak atheists don't believe in a god, but leave room for one....

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zoltron

It always amazes me when atheists proclaim that there is no God because nobody has seen Him. When someone looks at YOU, they can't see your brain...does that mean you have none?

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deadhead94

nobody can prove shit



so, why don't we all SHUT THE FUCK UP

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