“Barry Walsh and William Murphy (July 18th) ask why Atheist Ireland wants the census question on religion to ask “Do you practise a religion? rather than “What is your religion?”
You can, of course, have religious beliefs without practising them. But the purpose of the census is not to categorise the inner beliefs of the people. That is frankly none of the State’s business.
The census has a practical purpose, which is to assist the Government and local authorities in planning the allocation of resources, as well as the size of constituencies for elections.
The CSO website says that the census statistics are essential for planning the provision of education, healthcare, and employment, including likely demand for schools and health care facilities, and areas of relatively high unemployment.It is the practise of religion, not people’s inner beliefs, that is relevant to this purpose.
For example, where is the best place to build a new place of worship, and what are the traffic and resource implications of likely religious ceremonies, etc.Mr Walsh also cites the low figure of people identifying as atheist. This is a result of yet another flaw in the question. There is no tick-box on the census form for atheist. There is, however, a write-in box that says “Other religion, if any.”A small number of atheists write the word “atheist” in that box, either as a result of misreading the question or for some personal reason. But most atheists do not do this, because atheism is not a religion.
So most atheists tick the “No religion” box. It is likely that most people of no religion (about 10 per cent in the last census) are atheists, but the census format does not allow an accurate calculation of the number of atheists in Ireland.
Also, some self-identified Catholics are atheist. At the time of the Eucharistic Congress in Dublin, an opinion poll showed that 15 per cent of Irish Catholics don’t believe Jesus was the son of God, and 8 per cent don’t believe in God, which should be a low hurdle for being a Catholic.”
atheostic reblogged
What are Christians afraid of?
On Twitter, this guy is asking about the fears of Christians. Let’s help him out with some answers.
trashcanbees
- Not being able to discern God’s will from my own desires
- Knowingly choosing sin
- Potentially leading others astray by my own misunderstanding
- Knowing that people you care about have not accepted the gift of salvation
- Failing to rise to what I am called for and not reaching my full potential
salt-and-corn
this but also
6. that my failures to love those around me will result in eternal negative consequences for them
7. loving God for my sake and not purely because he is good and to be loved
8. demons (sometimes but mostly I’m like y’all weak ass punks my Lord can take you any day of the week which means I can too)
9. through my own stupidity and lukewarmness tossing my eternal salvation off of a hecking cliff
This is really interesting.
In the interest of discourse, some of this is stuff atheists never have to fear and some of it is very similar but simultaneously very different.
Not being able to discern God’s will from my own desires
No problem. God’s not real. Anything being toted as “God’s will” is either one’s own will or someone else’s very human will.
And that’s okay. So long as it’s not harming others by infringing on their rights, you do you boo.
Knowingly choosing sin
It’s a religious concept, so as the meme goes
That being said, There are similar fears for atheists.
In my case, for example, I fear not doing the right thing when the moment comes despite knowing what the right thing to do is (e.g. failing to stand up to a bully for someone being picked on, failing to speak out against racism/queerphobia, etc).
Potentially leading others astray by my own misunderstanding
I definitely feel this one but not in the same way as a Christian might. For example, I fear spreading false information and unwittingly furthering information illiteracy.
Knowing that people you care about have not accepted the gift of salvation
As an atheist, my worry’s the polar opposite of this one – I worry for my religious friends because I think they’d be much happier without the religious burdens weighing them down.
Failing to rise to what I am called for and not reaching my full potential
My goal in life is to leave it a better place than I found it. Maybe not in big ways (though that’d be nice), but in small ways that have a ripple effect (e.g. standing up to a bully helps someone feel less alone and gives them the courage to stand up to their bully or to someone else’s bully, doing my part to slowly but surely making society more inclusive, etc).
So in a way, I have a similar fear in the sense of failing to accomplish my goal in the long run.
That my failures to love those around me will result in eternal negative consequences for them
I definitely feel this one, though not in a religious sense.
Loving God for my sake and not purely because he is good and to be loved
Again, no God, so no problem.
Though I feel the need to point out that if not loving God directly means bad consequences for you it means he doesn’t love you unconditionally. You can’t have a condition that the person love you back if you supposedly love them unconditionally.
My loving my mom or my friends/family isn’t based on the condition of them loving me back.
To quote from Neil Gaiman’s Stardust, “I’d wish for nothing in exchange – no gifts. No goods. No demonstrations of devotion.”
Demons
They’re fairytales, no more real than Bigfoot, unicorns, dementors, or Nessie. Why would I worry about them?
Through my own stupidity and lukewarmness tossing my eternal salvation off of a hecking cliff
You don’t need to worry about hell if you think it’s a fairytale. :)
the-irish-brigade
faggot
@the-irish-brigade I’m straight af, actually. I just happen to care about other people like a decent human being should.
Unlike you, clearly.
Not sure how anything I said leads you to think I’m gay.
the-irish-brigade
faggot
Being gay isn’t an insult, you insecure loser.
You can call me a faggot all you want, it doesn’t bother me.
All it does is show everyone how ugly you are on the inside.
And how insecure you are about your own sexuality and manhood.
Btw y’all, he’s definitely a self-hating gay, bi, or pan, as evidenced by their blog’s self-description:
“Arse-bandit/bum-bandit” is a slur in the UK and Ireland regarding gay men.
Famous Nonbelievers
Dave Allen
Nationality: Irish
Comedian, popular on British and Australian television in the 1960s, 1970s and also in the 1990s.
"Allen had little time for those who unquestioningly accept the tenets of any creed or system of thought. He applied this stricture equally to himself, and used humour to undermine even his own skepticism ("I'm an atheist, thank God"). [...] "His baffled humanity," wrote Charles Spencer, the theatre critic of The Daily Telegraph, in 1993, "his perplexity in the face of life's mysteries and irritations, are the qualities that make him such a fine and sometimes moving comedian. He's a blaspheming atheist on the side of the angels." - From his obituary on The Telegraph