On the front page of yesterday’s Sunday Times was an article that stated that “nearly half the British think that religion is harmful”. This is a surprise for me because I seriously though that my views were in a small minority.
Personally I think the division of Believer, Agnostic or Atheist is too narrow. I prefer Dawkins’ seven point scale of religiosity. The Times poll showed the following results:
- Only 16% of those polled called themselves atheists;
- 28% believed in God;
- 26% believed in “something” but were not sure what;
- and 9% regarded themselves as agnostics.
Putting aside that this adds up to only 79% which indicates that the journalist cold be twisting the statistics for his own ends in some ways (I’m a skeptic, what’s your point) I still find it interesting that there are reportedly more Atheists than Agnostics.
I’ve set up a Facebook poll based on the seven point scale if you want to join in and add your own personal rating. I’m going to leave it running for a while.
If you don’t use Facebook then the poll is repeated here:
How would you rate your personal belief in the divine?
- Absolutely believe in my deity\deities and take the holy book literally.
- Believe in my deity\deities and think that the holy book is right even though parts of it are allegory.
- Believe in a deity\deities but no particular religion has it right.
- Don’t know\not interested\Agnostic.
- Don’t really believe in a deity.
- Don’t believe in any deity but am open to new evidence.
- Absolutely believe in the absence of all deities. Nothing could change my mind.
Does the poll surprise anyone?
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The Magnificent Frog 