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jakesteele
New Member
USA
37 Posts |
 Posted - 09/14/2009 : 12:15:08
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I was wondering if anybody had any stats on the average age and educational background of the average skeptic/atheists is? I list both together because they are very often seen in the company of one another.
I find the average intelligence of a skeptic/atheists to be pleasantly above average so I am trying to see if there is a correlation between age, education (formal or otherwise).
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Sacred Cows make the tastiest hamburgers |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
 Posted - 09/14/2009 : 13:11:40 [Permalink]
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Lemmee skew the findings a bit right from the get-go. I will be 70 in November, if I manage to continue to survive, and have an eighth grade formal education. Plus a GED, for whatever that's worth. I am almost entirely self-educated, again, for whatever that's worth. I am a life-long atheist and a life long skeptic. Well, at least from the time that, as a child who became old enough to care, I realized that I was being bullshitted by almost everyone including parents, various teachers, friends, relatives, authors, movies, and the purveyors of religious clap-trap.
That's me....
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
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bngbuck
SFN Addict
USA
2437 Posts |
Posted - 09/14/2009 : 13:46:27 [Permalink]
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Jakesteele.....
I have been unable to find any formal studies addressing the question of a possible correlation between age and atheism (or, inversely, age and religiosity.)
I strongly suspect, based on an inordinate amount of reading on related subjects, that there is a fairly strong positive correlation between age and religiosity. The average human being is somewhat fearful of death. The closer one comes to the final curtain, the more fear drives a hope for some form of pleasant afterlife. For far too many that translates into a fear of Hell (literally). Jesus , or God, or the FSM will save you from that horrible fate. Thus, the older you are, the more religious you become. ("There are no atheists in foxholes" This is bullshit, there are just as many atheists in foxholes as in any other life situation - not enough!)
Also, as a civilization we are gradually becoming better educated. Technology allows for better distribution and exchange of knowledge and information. Todays kids, at least in the Western world, stand a better chance of not being indoctrinated into superstitious beliefs than kids of even 50 to 100 years ago.
Personally, I join Filthy in skewing the curve to the left (right, depending on your viewstation). I am 81 (in about four weeks) and I am a very thoroughly thought-out strong agnostic. In practice, I am an atheist. I am also a profound liberal, although my personal history and financial circumstances should certainly make me an avowed Republican social and fiscal conservative. I'm afraid that folks like filthy and myself are exceptions to the rule, however! |
| Edited by - bngbuck on 09/14/2009 13:48:45 |
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Trish
SFN Addict
USA
2102 Posts |
Posted - 09/14/2009 : 18:34:23 [Permalink]
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| Gee, I'm 41 and have only an associate of science degree. But considering my paternal grandfather was a devout southern baptist, my paternal grandmother was descended from the German freethinkers that settled great tracts of TX, my maternal grandfather was a disavowed Mason and my maternal grandmother was Catholic, (my mother was a raving Catholic in her latter years and my dad was a major function church attendee as he preferred the church of the Sunday NFL game), I suppose at best I grew up over exposed to religion with the bright spot of a mostly deist rational grandmother who encouraged my interest in finding the answer to why more than the others. |
...no one has ever found a 4.5 billion year old stone artifact (at the right geological stratum) with the words "Made by God."
No Sense of Obligation by Matt Young
"Say what you will about the sweet miracle of unquestioning faith. I consider the capacity for it terrifying and vile!"
Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
They (Women Marines) don't have a nickname, and they don't need one. They get their basic training in a Marine atmosphere, at a Marine Post. They inherit the traditions of the Marines. They are Marines.
LtGen Thomas Holcomb, USMC
Commandant of the Marine Corps, 1943
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Dude
SFN Die Hard
USA
6891 Posts |
Posted - 09/14/2009 : 19:41:47 [Permalink]
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I have been a skeptic since birth.
Honestly, I have no memory of a time in my life where I accepted much of anything at face value or took any person's word as adequate evidence of a claim. I can't say this has always worked to my advantage (I didn't accept the idea that electricity could hurt you until I nearly killed myself when I was about 6), but it mostly has.
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Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
-- Thomas Jefferson
"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin
Hope, n.
The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 09/14/2009 : 23:35:45 [Permalink]
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I'm 64 now. I started becoming skeptical in the 4th grade, when I found I was the only one in my class who raised a hand after our teacher asked who believed in Santa Claus. It took me another 15 years or so to become a reasonably consistent skeptic. So call it about a half century of skepticism.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 09/15/2009 : 03:10:12 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Dude
I have been a skeptic since birth.
Honestly, I have no memory of a time in my life where I accepted much of anything at face value or took any person's word as adequate evidence of a claim. I can't say this has always worked to my advantage (I didn't accept the idea that electricity could hurt you until I nearly killed myself when I was about 6), but it mostly has.
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I have two extremely vivid, very early memories. One was burning my hand on the wood stove and the other was shoving a fingernail file into a wall jack. Of the two, it's the latter that still makes me shiver slightly. I sympathize!
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist!
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Gorgo
SFN Die Hard
USA
5310 Posts |
Posted - 09/15/2009 : 03:42:53 [Permalink]
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My average age is about 1 (55/55). My average intelligence is kind of foggy, with occasional, complete stupidity.
I am a high school graduate, which fully entitles me to claim to know everything.
"Skeptic" is a title that probably ought to be used by people other than yourself to describe you. Skepticism is something that you either do or don't do, not something that you own a title to, but being only a high school graduate, I can call myself a skeptic, and I am an atheist because I am a skeptic. Or rather, I was born an atheist and had to use skepticism to rid myself of years of indoctrination. |
I know the rent is in arrears
The dog has not been fed in years
It's even worse than it appears
But it's alright-
Jerry Garcia
Robert Hunter
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| Edited by - Gorgo on 09/15/2009 03:44:36 |
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BigPapaSmurf
SFN Die Hard
3192 Posts |
Posted - 09/15/2009 : 09:47:49 [Permalink]
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| I'm 31, no higher education, I was never indoctrinated into anything (thanks Ma) and have been a devout skeptic since I can recall. As for my intelligence, I'll just say that unlike my friends I've never been in jail, gotten someone preggers unintentionally, been bankrupt, been in a bar fight, injured myself doing something really stupid, gotten a DUI and last but not least Ive never had a hangover. (which is trickier than it sounds) |
"...things I have neither seen nor experienced nor heard tell of from anybody else; things, what is more, that do not in fact exist and could not ever exist at all. So my readers must not believe a word I say." -Lucian on his book True History
"...They accept such things on faith alone, without any evidence. So if a fraudulent and cunning person who knows how to take advantage of a situation comes among them, he can make himself rich in a short time." -Lucian critical of early Christians c.166 AD From his book, De Morte Peregrini |
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Gorgo
SFN Die Hard
USA
5310 Posts |
Posted - 09/15/2009 : 10:01:37 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by BigPapaSmurf
I'm 31, no higher education, I was never indoctrinated into anything (thanks Ma) and have been a devout skeptic since I can recall. As for my intelligence, I'll just say that unlike my friends I've never been in jail, gotten someone preggers unintentionally, been bankrupt, been in a bar fight, injured myself doing something really stupid, gotten a DUI and last but not least Ive never had a hangover. (which is trickier than it sounds)
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You're young yet. You have time. I wonder though, if you think you haven't been indoctrinated, you probably have.
That's a pretty good list. 3 out of 8 ain't bad for me. Wait, does being outside a bar count? Wasn't really a fight, I was sucker punched and just about knocked cold. |
I know the rent is in arrears
The dog has not been fed in years
It's even worse than it appears
But it's alright-
Jerry Garcia
Robert Hunter
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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13476 Posts |
Posted - 09/15/2009 : 10:38:37 [Permalink]
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I left college after two years to pursue my rock and roll dreams of success. I am now a general contractor and I specialize in cabinetry and finish carpentry. (Let that be a lesson you you kids!) I am pretty much self educated. I'm going on 60.
I have been an active skeptic for about 15 years now and and more casually for, well, for a long time. (The moment I realized that I was a "skeptic" was while reading a Skeptical Inquirer back in the early eighties. I found out that there were people out there who were questioning implausible claims, as I was, and they were even somewhat organized. So that was a real turn on for me.) I always, as long as I can remember, had a habit of asking embarrassing questions about the truth of some claim or other.
The thing is, I have been to many TAM events. And the ages there run from early twenties, and sometimes younger, to old fogies like me. And older. What we seem to have in common is a love of science, no matter what we do to make ends meet. Being with over a thousand skeptics is a real eye opener. Skeptics come in all ages and all levels of education. As for intelligence, I don't know. We are an intelligent bunch but it could be that it's our love of science that brings out the skepticism in us.
What we are trying to do is to get beyond the science thing as almost a requisite for being a skeptic, and demonstrate to people that critical thinking can be done by anyone with a lick of sense, to their benefit and ours.
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Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
Genetic Literacy Project |
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bngbuck
SFN Addict
USA
2437 Posts |
Posted - 09/15/2009 : 10:41:50 [Permalink]
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BPS.....
You've barely lived. In 81 years, I have managed to land in no fewer than three jails, impregnated two young ladies (one was my wife), avoided bankruptcy (far worse than death!) by the skin of my teeth, been in numerous bar fights (lost most of them), broke a leg riding a motorcycle recklessly, had one DUI and had more hangovers than I can recall!
If you'll just get at it, you too can experience life before you die! A puppy (31) like you still has a chance to become a real son of a bitch! |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 09/15/2009 : 11:37:30 [Permalink]
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I've been shot, stabbed, burned and multiply snake-bit, and carry the scars to prove it. Never impregnated but one woman (that I know of) and really, that's enough. Got locked up a couple of times, and that too, is enough. I'm an alcoholic and at one time was a recovering one, then returned to my roots after 17 years dry -- but I too, have never had a DUI. I'm much smarter than the av-er-age lush. I've been involved with motorcycles since 1954 and don't want to live without one, preferably a Shovelhead Harley. I raced HD K-Models, off & on, on the flat track for some 8 seasons with an astounding lack of success. I haven't broken as many bones as Eval Kneval, but I'm in the running. I served 10 years in the military. Through it all, I've been a skeptic and will remain so, and be damned to those who are not.
In short, I've wasted my life, but y'know what; I'd change very little.
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist!
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Dude
SFN Die Hard
USA
6891 Posts |
Posted - 09/15/2009 : 12:37:31 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by filthy
Originally posted by Dude
I have been a skeptic since birth.
Honestly, I have no memory of a time in my life where I accepted much of anything at face value or took any person's word as adequate evidence of a claim. I can't say this has always worked to my advantage (I didn't accept the idea that electricity could hurt you until I nearly killed myself when I was about 6), but it mostly has.
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I have two extremely vivid, very early memories. One was burning my hand on the wood stove and the other was shoving a fingernail file into a wall jack. Of the two, it's the latter that still makes me shiver slightly. I sympathize!
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My grandfather was, in his spare time, something of a handyman. He did a lot of home improvement stuff for my mom (like custom build cabinets, hand made wood floors, things almost no one knows how to do these days, and would cost you bigtime to get done now). He made this device to check electrical circuits, it was basically two bare wires attached to a light socket and bulb with some electrical tape on part of the wire so you could hold onto it. Stick the ends of the wires into an electrical outlet, if the light comes on you had it wired properly.
I saw him use that thing dozens of times with no harm, I didn't believe those who told me it was dangerous to play with that thing. So I got a hold of it one evening and jammed the ends into an electrical outlet....fortunately for me my dad saw me and was walking towards me to confiscate the device, so he was well positioned to knock me away from the outlet as I was getting a feel for 110.
Lets just say that to this day (34 or so years later) I still mentally pause to assess things before I plug anything into any electrical outlet.
As for religion, my parents were never really religious people. My mom would probably be one of those who answer "spiritual but not religious". My dad is, these days, an atheist. When I was 6-12 or so my mom made me go to the local Episcipal church (my grandmother was active there, so the family went on sundays) youth activity sessions on wednesday evenings. I think it was just to get rid of me for a few hours... can't say I blame her really! So between sunday school and wednesday evenings they tried to do their best to indoctrinate me into the belief system. Never worked, and in hindsight it is funny remembering some sincere and well meaning member of the church try to explain to a curious 10y/o exactly how Cain had children, or how did Noah's granchildren get husbands/wives that weren't 1st cousins...
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Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
-- Thomas Jefferson
"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin
Hope, n.
The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth |
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BigPapaSmurf
SFN Die Hard
3192 Posts |
Posted - 09/15/2009 : 13:06:59 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Gorgo
Originally posted by BigPapaSmurf
I'm 31, no higher education, I was never indoctrinated into anything (thanks Ma) and have been a devout skeptic since I can recall. As for my intelligence, I'll just say that unlike my friends I've never been in jail, gotten someone preggers unintentionally, been bankrupt, been in a bar fight, injured myself doing something really stupid, gotten a DUI and last but not least Ive never had a hangover. (which is trickier than it sounds)
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You're young yet. You have time. I wonder though, if you think you haven't been indoctrinated, you probably have.
That's a pretty good list. 3 out of 8 ain't bad for me. Wait, does being outside a bar count? Wasn't really a fight, I was sucker punched and just about knocked cold.
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You notice how I left out all of the stupid things Ive done... |
"...things I have neither seen nor experienced nor heard tell of from anybody else; things, what is more, that do not in fact exist and could not ever exist at all. So my readers must not believe a word I say." -Lucian on his book True History
"...They accept such things on faith alone, without any evidence. So if a fraudulent and cunning person who knows how to take advantage of a situation comes among them, he can make himself rich in a short time." -Lucian critical of early Christians c.166 AD From his book, De Morte Peregrini |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26020 Posts |
Posted - 09/15/2009 : 21:06:19 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by filthy
I'm much smarter than the av-er-age lush. |
Know what the difference is between a drunk and an alcoholic?
Drunks don't have to go to those goddammed meetings. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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average age of skeptic/atheist?
