Atheists and agnostics are not ignorant about religion.
By sup3rdud3
@sup3rdud3 (231)
Indonesia
September 29, 2010 1:04am CST
I just read an article about a survey which shows that agnostics and atheists are actually more knowledgable than religious people about religion. This is the article: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130191248&ps=cprs
This goes to show that agnostics and atheists are not necessarily the kind of people who are ignorant about religion. In fact, they are the ones who are actually seeking the truth in religion and perhaps did not find any and realized that religions are man-made and fake.
The religious people on the other hand tend to be more ignorant because they are simply following their parent's religion. They are kind of like the go-with-the-flow and not-rock-the-boat type of people. These type of people are apparently more common in less developed countries where religion still plays an important role in the society.
1 person likes this
3 responses
@_sketch_ (5742)
• United States
28 Feb 11
I have thought about this fact many times before, but hadn't ever seen an actual study on the subject. This is very interesting, but not unexpected.
"American atheists and agnostics tend to be people who grew up in a religious tradition and consciously gave it up, often after a great deal of reflection and study, said Alan Cooperman, associate director for research at the Pew Forum.
"These are people who thought a lot about religion," he said. "They're not indifferent. They care about it.""
This whole part describes me perfectly. 
I am not a religious person at all, and I do not believe in any god. I only don't consider myself atheist because this word has become synonymous with "athewooism". I am a very spiritual person and have reflected this subject many, many times.
I only disagree with you, in part, concerning one thing. "...where religion still plays an important role in the society." I assume that you are referring to the fact that there isn't freedom of religion in less-developed countries. However, although church and state are supposed to be separate in countries with freedom of religion, but we certainly can't say that church doesn't still have a strong pull in all countries. Just saying. 
I am not a religious person at all, and I do not believe in any god. I only don't consider myself atheist because this word has become synonymous with "athewooism". I am a very spiritual person and have reflected this subject many, many times.
I only disagree with you, in part, concerning one thing. "...where religion still plays an important role in the society." I assume that you are referring to the fact that there isn't freedom of religion in less-developed countries. However, although church and state are supposed to be separate in countries with freedom of religion, but we certainly can't say that church doesn't still have a strong pull in all countries. Just saying. @_sketch_ (5742)
• United States
28 Feb 11
I kind of messed up that last sentence. haha. Hopefully it still makes some degree of sense.
@urbandekay (18278)
•
29 Sep 10
There are naive believers and non-believers. Imagine a person that new all there was to know about how a television worked but had never switched it on, that is the 'knowledge' atheists and agnostics have.
all the best urban
@_sketch_ (5742)
• United States
28 Feb 11
I disagree. Many atheists and agnostics were brought up into a religion, and then decided that it wasn't for them. Many have also attended many different churches in their search for religion or spiritual growth.
I would say that a more suited analogy would be a religious person who has always stayed on the same channel, while the atheist person has surfed all the channels and has decided that they don't really like watching tv, and the agnostic simply can't decide which channel to watch.
@nerein (283)
• United States
5 Dec 10
Now I myself grew up being raised as a christian. Both baptist and apostolic. Then when I got older I started looking into other religions and could not find any kind of truth in them. Although along the way I have become very knowledgeable on religion and different types of religions. I personally don't like it when these people from these different religions quote there verses from there religious texts and try to make it as truth and try to shove it down your throat. I do believe that the article is right and that agnostics and atheists are more knowledgeable than the people that are following the religions.
