How many agnostics are there in the world

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This pressure stems from the place religion—Christianity in particular—holds in African-American history. The secularizing West is full of white men. The general U. There are a few theories about why people become atheists in large numbers. Some demographers attribute it to financial security, which would explain why European countries with a stronger social safety net are more secular than the United States, where poverty is more common and a medical emergency can bankrupt even the insured. Atheism is also tied to education, measured by academic achievement atheists in many places tend to have college degrees or general knowledge of the panoply of beliefs around the world hence theories that Internet access spurs atheism.

The U. The social factors that promote atheism—financial security and education—have long been harder to attain for women and people of color in the United States. Around the world, the Pew Research Center finds that women tend to be more likely to affiliate with a religion and more likely to pray and find religion important in their lives. That changes when women have more opportunities. Religion has a place for women, people of color, and the poor.

Prominent atheists Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins have awful reputations for misogyny, as does the late Christopher Hitchens. Bill Maher, the comedian and outspoken atheist, is no nonexistent angel , either.

Even people who are white, male, and educated may fear the stigma of being labeled a nonbeliever. These were years of war, when Islam was painted as a threat and Christianity infused U. In the U. But the national backlash to religious legislation has become faster and fiercer than ever before. Donald Trump is not outwardly religious and his attraction of evangelical voters has raised questions about the longevity and the motives of the religious right.

Their reticence about religion reflects the second largest religious group in the country they hope to run. The number of Americans who seek divine intervention in the voting booth seems to be shrinking. However, this broad use is actually quite controversial, as there are those who argue that merely being unaware of or indifferent toward the idea of deities is instead "non-religion" or "irreligion," and that true atheism requires the individual to have considered, but dismissed the possibility that deities exist.

Perhaps ironically, atheism is protected by many of the same constitutional rights that protect religion. Atheists share a single common trait—a lack of belief in God or gods —but do not share a belief system, sacred scripture, or religious figurehead such as the Pope.

As such, atheists hold a wide range of positions of any given idea or issue, and cannot be categorized as a particular demographic or group of people. Rather, atheists exist in countless variations across all races, ethnicities, ages, political affiliations, sexual preferences, social classes, and geographical boundaries.