Poll Shows Fivefold Increase in Ranks of U.S. Atheists
The survey also shows a downward trend in the number of people who say
they are religious.
By Jeffrey Bloomer | Posted Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2012, at 2:44 PM ET

A new poll suggests that 1 in 20 Americans now call themselves atheists,
a fivefold increase from the last time the survey was taken in 2005.

The Religion News Service reports that, to go along with the jump, just
60 percent of Americans now identify as religious, down from 73 percent
the last time the Global Index of Religiosity and Atheism poll was taken
seven years ago. The decline has also been felt in many other countries
around the world, including double-digit drops in several European and
North American countries.

Here's the question pollsters asked 50,000 or so people from 57
countries and five continents: "Irrespective of whether you attend a
place of worship or not, would you say you are a religious person, not a
religious person, or a convinced atheist?"

Overall, the WIN-Gallup International-conducted poll found about 13
percent of respondents worldwide consider themselves atheists, and also
showed notable disparities in atheism among faiths.

The stark findings set off some expected resistance, including a theory
that the poll shows less a rise in atheists than in people who are
willing to identify as one, especially with the rise of popular,
outspoken skeptics like Richard Dawkins. Others questioned the poll's
international standards. (The complete poll and methodology are here.)*

Sharp as the rise in self-identified American atheists may seem, the
poll also notes that the new findings merely bring the United States in
line with Saudi Arabia, which also reports 5 percent convinced atheists.
China remains the global leader, with 47 percent.

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I'm a liberal because the militant fundamentalist ignorant
science-denying religious xenophobic corporate oligarchy of modern
Republican conservatism just doesn't work for me or my country.