...Breaking NEWS...Atheists are People, too...Survey of Nonbelievers Yields Surprising/Expected Findings...
Dear friends,
As many of you might remember, last year we asked you to participate in a ground-breaking, first-of-its-kind survey of nonbelievers. Thousands of you responded and now we're happy to say the results are in!
Luke Galen, associate professor of psychology at Grand Valley State University in Michigan, has released the findings of his study and published an article summarizing the results in the most recent issue of Free Inquiry magazine, the flagship publication of CFI's sister organization, the Council for Secular Humanism.
In his article, Galen notes that other researchers have collected mountains of data about the attitudes and characteristics of believers, but there's far less information about nonbelievers. Even worse, what little data does exist has often been collected accidentally.
Galen's study is the first to direct a full range of sociological survey questions specifically at our population of "nones" (as nonbelievers have usually been identified by pollsters).
Here's a sampling of what he found:
In addition - and perhaps most significantly - Galen's data calls into question the oft-reported link between strong religious belief and mental health.
Many thanks to all of you who took the time to fill out the questionnaire and respond to the survey. You made this possible! Thanks, too, to Luke Galen for his interest in our under-reported population, and Jeff Seaver, the Director of CFI Michigan, for his assistance with the research.
Sincerely,
The Center for Inquiry and the Council for Secular Humanism
The mission of the Center for Inquiry is to foster a secular society based on science, reason, free inquiry, and humanist values. To learn more and to find out how you can help, please visit www.centerforinquiry.net.
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