Much like America itself, soon Atheism will no longer be over populated with old white guys.

Courtesy of The Guardian:  

When you think of atheists, the face that probably comes to mind is male, white, older and a little bit nerdy. There’s more than a grain of truth to this reputation. Atheist groups in America have traditionally been dominated by older white men – but that may finally be starting to change. 

The Barna Group, a Christian polling firm, recently released their 2015 State of Atheism in America report. Based on a year of research on the non-religious demographic, Barna found not just that atheists and agnostics’ numbers are growing rapidly, but that they’re very quickly becoming more diverse. 

The most important finding in Barna’s report is that women are joining the atheist community by the millions. In 1993, just 16% of nonbelievers were women, but in 2013, that number was 43% - representing a nearly threefold leap. And this shift isn’t because men are leaving the community, which would bring the gender balance closer to parity. Barna found that the absolute numbers of both male and female atheists have increased in the last twenty years, but the number of women has grown far faster. 

The atheist community is becoming more racially and ethnically diverse as well. In 1993, people of color made up just 20% of nonbelievers. The change in these numbers hasn’t been as dramatic, but there’s been change nonetheless, with the number rising to 26% in 2013. Many of these religious skeptics have come from the Hispanic and, especially, Asian communities.

Well this is one older white guy who is really looking forward to more diversity within the Atheist community. 

I personally am of the mind that the growth in the Atheist community has much less to do with people suddenly deciding they are not religious, and much more to do with people feeling comfortable in coming out as Atheists or Agnostics.

That's why it is critical to continue having the conversation, and opening it up to as many people as possible.

My personally held belief, and yes I understand the irony of using that term, is that the majority of the people on this planet are actually atheist but are just too intimidated to admit it. Even to themselves.

In the next decade or so we will see if I am correct as the label shakes off it's negative connotations and becomes more and more accepted by the public at large.

Margaret Doughty awarded citizenship after USCIS retracts request for proof of religious affiliation.

For those of you who may not remember, we covered the USCIS's bizarre request of Margaret early this month.

Courtesy of Divided Under God:

Ms. Doughty’s case was brought to the attention of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, who wrote a letter to the USCIS on her behalf, as well as the American Humanist Association, who did the same. Ms. Doughty’s local Congressman, Blake Farenthold, also got involved, helping to get her case escalated to the highest levels of the USCIS for review. 

Today, she received an email from the congressional office with the following message from the USCIS included: 

“This Service hereby withdraws the request for evidence (RFE) issued on June 7, 2013. This Service accepts your detailed statement in satisfaction of the information requested by the RFE. Your application for naturalization has been approved.” 

Margaret Doughty’s case can be seen as a victory for the non-religious in the U.S., many times referred to as the “nones” (based on religious affiliation questionnaire categories). Often called the fastest growing demographic in the country, those not affiliated with a religion are said to make up about 20% of the population. Atheists fall into this category, are widely misunderstood, and just as in this case, often discriminated against by the religious majority. Recent polls have shown atheists to be the least trusted group in America.

This is a huge victory for those of us who self identify as Atheists, and really everybody in this country if you think about it. 

The idea that just because you do not find anything reasonable about suspending your disbelief to embrace one religious faith or another it makes you a less trustworthy person is completely bizarre to me.

Of course I see it as quite the opposite, but recognize that I remain in the minority.

While we are on the topic I thought I would share with you Richard Dawkin's observations about Atheism and the people who embrace it.

We still have a long way to go, but I see the movement for the acceptance of Atheists in this country to be ultimately as important as the acceptance of the homosexual community.

The difference in case you were wondering.

Of course that does not describe EVERYBODY on either side, but still it IS a pretty good base line.

Good night my friends, but before you sleep, do you want to see something beautiful?

View from the ISS at Night from Knate Myers on Vimeo.

Every frame in this video is a photograph taken from the International Space Station. All credit goes to the crews on board the ISS. (If video does not play click here.)

That is quite an amazing planet we live on, isn't it?


“Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality. When we recognize our place in an immensity of light‐years and in the passage of ages, when we grasp the intricacy, beauty, and subtlety of life, then that soaring feeling, that sense of elation and humility combined, is surely spiritual. So are our emotions in the presence of great art or music or literature, or acts of exemplary selfless courage such as those of Mohandas Gandhi or Martin Luther King, Jr. The notion that science and spirituality are somehow mutually exclusive does a disservice to both.” 

― Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

It's Sunday, so let's start the day with a little Chistopher Hitchens in honor of the Sabbath, shall we?

There were a number of things on which I did not see eye to eye with Hitch. He could also be very arrogant, and abrasive, which did not always help people keep an open mind ot the things he was saying.

However he was often very good at whittling down an argument to its most succinct points, and then stating them bluntly and with no apologies to those who might take offense.

Gotta love that about him.

President Obama understands the importance of maintaining a secular nation.

You know to me this should simply be the universal point of view in this country, IN fact it is the very point of view that our nation was founded on.  And yet we find ourselves becoming more and more irrational when it comes to religion, and less and less rational when it comes to reason.

BTW for those who are uncertain that this quote is indeed Obama's you can find it here in this rather famous speech. (Link fixed now.)