• RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.worldEnglish
    15·
    6 months ago

    “….or a universal spirit.”

    That leaves a lot of beliefs that can be lumped into the data that are not God. Even agnostics would fall into this camp. “I don’t believe in any god but I cannot rule out the possibility of an omniscient creator…”

    • E_coli42@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      6 months ago

      I think this is to incorporate religions that don’t have an Abrahamic concept of God like Hinduism, Daoism, Zen, Sikhism, Buddhism, etc. I’m sure if you asked a Hindu, for example, “How certain are you in the existence of God”, their answer would probably be something like “Which one?” or “What do you mean by ‘God’?”. If you include the idea of a" universal spirit", they might be more inclined to say “Ah yes that kind of sounds like Brahama to me.”

    • That Heathen Guy@piefed.socialEnglish
      1·
      13 days ago

      Not to mention the many faiths that believe in multiple gods or other spirits. This is heavily biased toward monotheistic religions.

  • Blackmist@feddit.ukEnglish
    8·
    6 months ago

    The bottom right person has been disappeared to the El Salvador concentration camp.

  • binarytobis@lemmy.worldEnglish
    6·
    6 months ago

    The fact that this graph doesn’t differentiate between “I don’t believe in god but I’m open to being convinced” and “I am absolutely certain god does not exist” really says everything you need to know about the quality of the data.

    • surewhynotlem@lemmy.worldEnglish
      25·
      6 months ago

      No one is certain that god does not exist. Or if they are, they’re an idiot who doesn’t understand how proof works.

      Every atheist I’ve ever met was open to being convinced (myself included). And every religious person I’ve ever met has never had anything convincing to show.

      • binarytobis@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        6 months ago

        There are plenty of gnostic atheists. I would say noticeably so in atheist exclusive spaces, where they say things like “God doesn’t exist” instead of the more data-driven “There’s no proof god exists”. I could pop over to the atheism community here to find plenty of examples of gnostic atheists, but it’s really not worth the effort.

        You’re correct that it’s not a rational position to hold, it’s really more of a belief. People get pretty upset when you point it out, so I tend to stay silent about it. I’ll usually refer to myself as “Agnostic”, because people get confused about what I mean when I say “Agnostic Atheist”. It seems like everyone has their own set of definitions for all of these words anyway. We agree on 90% of the important stuff, no point ruining my day with a fight.

        • Gathorall@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          5 months ago

          Well it depends on your definition of God. And omnipotent being if they existed would clearly be evil. Are they then still divine?

          Does merely being powerful then qualify a being for divinity? Gods in many mythologies do not have to be immortal either.

          Thus if we use one of the looser definitions of god, every US president in over a century can be considered a god as could various historical figures, gods therefore definitely exist.

          I do believe that for many definitions of god, it can be proven they do not exist. And if you define God merely as a powerful entity deserving of human fealty one clearly doesn’t exist.

      • Gathorall@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        5 months ago

        I look at the world and see no gods exist. Can some powerful jerkasses outside our understanding exist? Certainly. But I reject the notion of divinity.

  • daannii@lemmy.worldEnglish
    51·
    6 months ago

    They say atheists are such a small minority. Idk. I realize I surround myself by like minded people but most people my age that I know and younger, are atheists.