Religious Self Identification

[AB Editor]

 

This poll is closed.

Do you self identify as one of the following?

• Atheist - 147 votes
• 36%
• Spiritual (but not necessarily "Religious") - 107 votes
• 27%
• Religious - 83 votes
• 21%
• Agnostic - 66 votes
• 16%

See final stats

Stats until: 09:09 Sun 28th Apr 2024 (Refreshed every 5 minutes)

© AnswerBank Ltd 2000 - 2024. All Rights Reserved.

[AB Editor]

"Agnostic must be the equivalent of the pollsters "Don't know", eh, Ed ?"

I think, to be fair to agnostics, it's the opposite shade of "spiritual (not necessarily religious)" - their default being "I don't believe, but would if shown" where as the "spiritual" answer is "I believe in something, but I'm not sure which one/flavour/if anyone has it right"

:)

[AB Editor]

DaisyNonna - You don't have to take part if you don't want. In fact, if you plan to be so petulant on all our polls it might be best if you didn't bother posting at all.

[jno]

some agnostics don't know; but some say it's impossible to know.

[jno]

... which I now see old geezer has already said.

[Khandro]

Ed.; 4 classifications really isn't enough to cover the various nuances of religious viewpoints. Clearly we know the position taken by group A, but there is an enormous amount of subtle variations can be applied to groups B,C, and D.
For example it is possible to believe in God, and not belong to any organised religion, or even belong to a religion which isn't predicated on God. Equally one can belong to a religion (or not) and believe that the concept is beyond human knowing, etc. etc.

[naomi24]

Khandro, //Clearly we know the position taken by group A,//

Clearly you don't, but suffice to say Group A is devoid of belief in supernatural entities/gods. As for the other groups, the quirks and nuances of various flavours and gradients of religious belief aren’t in question, and therefore a simple poll is adequate for purpose. Do stop trying to complicate matters, there’s a good chap. ;o)

[AB Editor]

"For example it is possible to believe in God, and not belong to any organised religion,"

You mean "Spiritual (but not necessarily "Religious")"?

"or even belong to a religion which isn't predicated on God."

Religious? I mean... the clue is in the description?

"Equally one can belong to a religion (or not) and believe that the concept is beyond human knowing, etc. etc."

None of the above really say anything about "knowing" - it's merely about how YOU self identify YOURSELF, given those options.

You can self identify as an atheist and be "unsure,". You can self identify as Religious without being "sure" of particular element.

It is funny how people can get drawn into this stuff - I don't think we've ever had a poll where someone hasn't said "you missed out other/don't know/niche opinion that only I hold" or similar. I think it must be the nature of these things.

[Khandro]

//Do stop trying to complicate matters,//
Do stop being argumentative, of course I, and everyone knows what an atheist is; "One who disbelieves or denies the existence of God or gods" that is unequivocal, what is your definition and why do you say I don't know this? Also if it is so straightforward, would you care to define B and C ?

[Khandro]

ed. the above post was directed at naomi.
But while I'm here, how can you be an unsure atheist ?

[naomi24]

Khandro, I’m not being argumentative – just straightforward.

//everyone knows what an atheist is//

Are you sure? How do you know some atheists wouldn’t define themselves as Group B?

//would you care to define B and C ?//

No, I wouldn’t. The poll asks for ‘self-identification’, not Naomi’s definitions of various conditions of mind.

[jomifl]

Khandro, i think we've been here before, atheist don't 'disbelieve' as that notion accepts that there is a choice. Atheist just don't do the belief bit at all and that is it. They can of course be spiritual too. You couldn't have been paying attention the last time this came up.

[naomi24]

Jom, I think he's in denial. :o)

[Khandro]

naomi; //How do you know some atheists wouldn’t define themselves as Group B?//
Would that make them Group A negative, or Group B positive?
Actually, my dictionary defines Spiritual as "of or concerned with the spirit, religious, divine inspired", so they might be Group B negative, that is regardless of their blood group. :-)

[naomi24]

Khandro, //Would that make them Group A negative, or Group B positive? //

No idea. Self-identification. Not my problem.

[Khandro]

jomifl; Without God there would be no atheists. Also, [atheists].... //They can of course be spiritual too//. Would you please explain this assertion. - See above definition.

[mibn2cweus]

Religious
Spiritual (but not necessarily "Religious")
Agnostic
Atheist

Lacking any referents in reality (beyond arbitrary belief) all of the above terms are inherently too ambiguous to be meaningful, thereby rendering such terms useless to any form of productive rational debate. They are all simply smoke screens intended to obscure the fact that ones desire is not to weight and consider reality but rather to escape from it. Identity applies only to something which actually exists, apart from which there is no identity to be ascertained, definition to be established nor any meaning to be derived.

It's all hocus pocus dressed up in the emperor's clothes with no emperor in sight and no place to go . . .

[AB Editor]

mibn2cweus - Could you attempt to back up any of your assertions please? You seem to be all puff and no trousers.

[naomi24]

//all of the above terms are inherently too ambiguous to be meaningful, thereby rendering such terms useless to any form of productive rational debate.//

In this instance the terms aren't intended to produce any form of productive rational debate.

[doctordb]

Khandro - 'without god there would be no atheists'?

Or - 'without 'a belief in' god there would be no atheists'

[jomifl]

Khandro, according to my dictionary, the word 'spiritual', amongst it's many meanings can and /or does refer to the higher workings of the human mind, as in appreciation of art, literature or music and beauty in natural phenomena. The religious minority may have tried to claim the word for themselves but as it appears that there are no higher intellectual workings than the human mind then we are stuck with that. It is also valid to say that since the religious meaning of spirituality is an invention of the human mind (there being no supernatural beings) it also falls into the category of 'workings of the human mind'.
Everything is much clearer when deities don't fog the view.