Are there more men who tend toward atheism than women?

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InterfaithForums.com-Where your ideas and beliefs count.

That was the demographic that I saw last time. Clearly men are smarter....

Is Atheism a macho thing? The need to be right or ruler itself? Nothing wrong with that, but it is strange that more men would be atheist.

To Asimov's coment:
A man needed a new brain. In the hosipital the family gathered together with the doctor to discuss the operation. To the question how much does a brain cost, the doctor replied: "Well, it depends. A man's brain is $3,000 and a womens brain $300". The men in the family feeling good about themselves, can't hold back to ask:" Now why is this doctor?" "Well one is used and the other brand new".

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May your awareness be perfection

Perhaps atheism is, therefire, merely a recessive gene, an X-chromosome defect? That makes perfect sense, and requires no supernatural explanation at all.

Is there a source for that tidbit?



"Be seeing you...."

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Grassaf, Eolas

Obviously the doctor means that the used one has more knowledge in it and is therefore more expensive.

Whatever LOL

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May your awareness be perfection

The only study I have found to discuss the issue of gender and atheism is a study by Bruce E. Hunsberger and Bob Altemeyer, published in a little book called "Atheists: A Groundbreaking Study of America's Nonbelievers," Prometheus Books, 2006.

The authors admit readily that their study is fairly small, and contains some flaws, so bear that in mind.

In any case, they found that females represented just 39% of the atheist responders (meaning 61% of atheists were men), 46% of agnostics, 57% of inactive believers, 56% of moderately active believers, 58% of regular church attenders, and 51% of high fundamentalists.

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evangelicalhumanist: Greek "eu"=good and "angelos"=messenger. Spreading the good news of Humanism.

That's interesting E.H. But why is it so? I don't see it as a good or bad thing, I just wonder why?

I have always wondered why boys and girls are raised different. I find it strange that some say:" a boy doesn't cry", or worse "big boys don't cry". Or "boys don't play with dolls" or calling a boy a sissy. Or :"boys don't hit little girls".

What are we truly saying when we say these things? I hear....A girl crys, it is wrong for a boy to cry, little boys can cry but not after a certain age, feelings are unwanted, feelings must be surpressed, feelings are wrong or only for girls, babies are a girl thing, only girls care about taking care of others, girls are sissies, it's o.k. to hit big girls and it's o.k. to hit boys!?!

I think many don't realize what they are teaching with words unspoken and left for interpretation.

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May your awareness be perfection

What Viv is hitting on is an unspoken double standard in many parts of the world.

Women are often taught, depending of course on the demographic they fit into and the upbringing of their own parents, to follow what your man says; example: in a church of a friend of mine, a girl kept on having children and finally went to her pastor to find out why and the pastor gave her a birds and the bees speech and she promptly told the pastor he was lying because her husband told her different - and scarily, a true story. Also, to be quiet, obedient, care for the children, and not to speak out.

Men however get to play war games, be loud, rambunctious etc.

It starts from birth, "sweet baby girl" and "bouncing baby boy".

Look at the animal world, females normally make up living groups while the males are rogues, solitary and alone until mating. IE: whales, lions, elephants, buffalo, seals, and horses.

what am I trying to say?

Both nature and nurture gear females for following the group or die...literally in the wild...while males are meant to run around figure things out for themselves and come back just to breed later on.

Which means it would make sense that more men are atheists than women, because for instinctive survival it is better to stay with the pack than to veer off the course.

Another point to think about, perhaps more women believe in god because of the sensation of carrying the next generation to term and bearing the gift (to some) of children.

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- Wisdom comes when you stop looking for it. -
"If God were alive today, he'd be an atheist" - Kurt Vonnegut

Please visit my foster dog blog: The Colbert Report.

As an educator, one of the things I have observed, and worry about, is that boys are enoucuraged to challenge authority, and to strike out in new directions much more than girls. They are rewarded for this behavior with higher marks, with participation in interesting extracurricular activities, with scholarships, etc. But gilrs are subtly discouraged from these things.

Pedagogical studies show that, in every discipline but most especially in the "hard" sciences and math, boys' questions are answered more frequently than girls', and their opinions are discussed more than girls.

It's all very depressing but, given that it is true, it is not surprsing that more men would tend toward atheism, which is perhaps the most absolute challenge to authority tolerated in society.

"Be seeing you..."

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Grassaf, Eolas