Freethought & Rationalism Archive

SweetReason · 10-23-2006, 02:43 PM

A lot of conversations about how people became atheists, humanists, freethinkers, or whatever seem to assume that either a person was raised in the nonreligious family, or they were raised by a strongly, conservatively religious family, and they are reacting against that. Sometimes I make that assumption myself! But recently I got some interesting information by surveying the readers of my column. Okay, it's a small sample, but it's food for thought, and I'm trying to get a bigger sample by polling you.

In my survey, 15.9% said they came from a nonreligious background, 23.2% said they came from a conservative religious background, and 37.8% said they came from a liberal or moderate religious background.

In this poll, I'm going to give a couple more options, and post in a couple of different forums to try to reduce sampling bias. Let's see what we learn, and thanks for helping!

JustBlazed · 10-23-2006, 03:04 PM

I tend to overuse the term "fundie" to describe my family but they were far from it. At best, they were more moderate than liberal.....but they were still Republicans if that helps.

Although we went to church every single week, we were UCC which today actually support issues like gay marriage. Yep, you guessed it....I still ended up Atheist.

Anat · 10-23-2006, 03:09 PM

What does conventional or ethnic religion mean? There's no option for my own parents, AFAICT: hypocritical about religion (probably did not believe, but followed some religious customs and presented scripture as true).

Toto · 10-23-2006, 03:13 PM

My mother was a nonbeliever, but I didn't know that until her funeral, when the Methodist minister conducting the service said that at the end, he thought she was finally starting to believe in God. (She died at the age of 91, in a state of health in which she had trouble communicating anything. So I think he was dreaming). I almost smacked my head in public and said "NOW they tell me."

sakrilege · 10-23-2006, 03:46 PM

Locked until issue of poll started multiple times can be sorted out.

sakrilege
Mod@Large

RBH · 10-23-2006, 06:09 PM

Go here for the open version of this poll.

RBH, IIDB Admin

View Poll Results: What was your background before you "deconverted"?
Conservative religious family	0	0%
Liberal or moderate religious family	3	60.00%
Nonreligious family	1	20.00%
Family's religion conventional or ethnic, not dogmatic	0	0%
Minority religion in community	1	20.00%
Voters: 5. You may not vote on this poll

10-23-2006, 02:43 PM	#1
SweetReason Regular Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: CA Posts: 148	What's your story? A lot of conversations about how people became atheists, humanists, freethinkers, or whatever seem to assume that either a person was raised in the nonreligious family, or they were raised by a strongly, conservatively religious family, and they are reacting against that. Sometimes I make that assumption myself! But recently I got some interesting information by surveying the readers of my column. Okay, it's a small sample, but it's food for thought, and I'm trying to get a bigger sample by polling you. In my survey, 15.9% said they came from a nonreligious background, 23.2% said they came from a conservative religious background, and 37.8% said they came from a liberal or moderate religious background. In this poll, I'm going to give a couple more options, and post in a couple of different forums to try to reduce sampling bias. Let's see what we learn, and thanks for helping!

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version	Search this Thread: Advanced Search

10-23-2006, 03:04 PM	#2
JustBlazed Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: New England Posts: 2,673	I tend to overuse the term "fundie" to describe my family but they were far from it. At best, they were more moderate than liberal.....but they were still Republicans if that helps. Although we went to church every single week, we were UCC which today actually support issues like gay marriage. Yep, you guessed it....I still ended up Atheist.

10-23-2006, 03:09 PM	#3
Anat Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: home Posts: 3,715	What does conventional or ethnic religion mean? There's no option for my own parents, AFAICT: hypocritical about religion (probably did not believe, but followed some religious customs and presented scripture as true).

10-23-2006, 03:13 PM	#4
Toto Contributor Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Los Angeles area Posts: 40,549	My mother was a nonbeliever, but I didn't know that until her funeral, when the Methodist minister conducting the service said that at the end, he thought she was finally starting to believe in God. (She died at the age of 91, in a state of health in which she had trouble communicating anything. So I think he was dreaming). I almost smacked my head in public and said "NOW they tell me."

10-23-2006, 03:46 PM	#5
sakrilege Veteran Member Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Cleveland, OH, USA Folding@Home Godless Team Posts: 6,211	Locked until issue of poll started multiple times can be sorted out. sakrilege Mod@Large

10-23-2006, 06:09 PM	#6
RBH Contributor Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Ohio Posts: 15,407	Go here for the open version of this poll. RBH, IIDB Admin

Freethought & Rationalism Archive

The archives are read only.