atheism

‘A’ Week: 20-26 March 2011. Raising awareness of how many are ‘Good without God’.

The idea of ‘A’ Week is simple – to raise awareness of how many people are ‘Good without God’ and don’t need religion to influence their lives.

You take part by changing your Facebook profile picture to the ‘A’ for one week.

This year ‘A’ Week runs over the March Equinox from 20-26 March 2011. If just a handful of people were to change their profile pictures almost no one would notice – but with many thousands taking part, and using the same ‘A’ at the same time, it gets noticed all over the world.

‘A’ Week is not about being disrespectful to religion or people who have religious views, it’s about quietly showing that there are more people than may be realized who are ‘Good without God’ and who don’t need religion to influence their lives.

A 2006 University of Minnesota study revealed that atheists are the most despised minority in America. But this is not news to atheists, it’s just the most recent in a long series of surveys showing that Americans are very bigoted and prejudiced against atheists. For as long as organizations have been asking Americans about atheists, Americans have been responding that they wouldn’t treat atheists as equals to theists and Christians.

Sample question from this most recent survey:
This group does not at all agree with my vision of American society…

Atheist: 39.6%
Muslims: 26.3%
Homosexuals: 22.6%
Hispanics: 20%
Conservative Christians: 13.5%
Recent Immigrants: 12.5%
Jews: 7.6%

There is a lot of anti-atheist bigotry in the US and around the world, in spite of the fact that atheists are among the most moral people. Statistics consistently show that atheists (on average) are smarter and display more tolerance toward others than theists. They are also more likely to stay married and are less likely to end up in jail or commit crimes.

Divorce rates by religion (1999):

Jews: 30%
Born-again Christians: 27%
Other Christians: 24%
Atheists, Agnostics: 21%

The Federal Bureau of Prisons keeps statistics on religious affiliations of inmates (1997):

Catholic: 39.164%
Protestant: 35.008%
Rasta: 1.987%
Jewish: 1.773%
Church of Christ: 1.744%
Pentecostal: 1.463%
Jehovah Witness: 0.890%
Adventist: 0.831%
Orthodox: 0.502%
Mormon: 0.399%
Atheist: 0.209%

Atheists consist of about 10-15% of the US population but are only 0.21% of the prison populations. So, the vast majority of atheists are morally sound without the need of a supernatural watchdog. It is important for atheists to stand up and be recognized in order to break the negative and wrong stereotypes of atheism.

‘A’ Week

Atheists are the most despised minority in America

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