Agnosticism / Atheism: What's Hot Now: Atheists & Agnostics at Religious Services

Agnosticism / Atheism: What's Hot Now These articles that had the largest increase in popularity over the last week Atheists & Agnostics at Religious Services 10 Jul 2011, 11:01 am Because theists dominate America most atheists have religious, theistic relatives and this means it's hard for atheists to avoid religious services entirely. According to a 2007 Harris poll, though, over half of atheists and agnostics say they never go to religious services at all. A mere 1% go to religious services every week or more. But why would any atheist or agnostic go to religious services that often? As part of a larger poll on religious belief, Harris Interactive asked people the following question: "Do you attend religious services…?" These are the percentages of atheists and agnostics who agreed with the following answers: Never: 56% Less often than once a year: 30% Once a year: 6% A few times a year 5% Once or twice a month 2% Every week or more often 1% Not sure Less than 0.5% The above numbers come from a poll of 2,455 U.S. adults conducted online by Harris Interactive between November 7 and 13, 2007.   Atheists & Agnostics Attending Church with Family It's no surprise that atheists and agnostics may go to church once or twice a year or less. Because so many atheists and agnostics have family members who are religious theists and active in their religious communities, it's understandable that they would be expected to go to religious services on a couple of holidays. Some atheists don't mind at all because it provides a means of connecting with family members; others object and wish they never had to do it at all. We should assume, though, that for as long as religious theists remain a majority in America then it will be somewhat common for atheists to attend religious services once or twice a year.   Atheists & Agnostics Attending Church Regularly But what about those atheists and agnostics who go to religious services every week or more? Are they young people who are forced to go to regular services by parents? Are they simply masochists who can't get enough of torturing themselves? I'd love to know some of their stories because under normal circumstances, being atheist or agnostic isn't very compatible with regular church attendance. Are they doing it out of a sense of obligation? Do they enjoy it? Do they hate it?   Atheism, Agnosticism, and Religious Worship Or do you disagree? Do you think that it can make sense for atheists or agnostics to go to regular religious services â€" whether weekly or monthly? Is this something you've had to do for any period of time? Can you think of any reasons for why an atheist or agnostic would attend religious services weekly or monthly? You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed.