Non believers across the world: Any study from India?

Country	Total country population (2004)	% Atheist/ Agnostic/ Nonbeliever in God	Number of Atheists/ Agnostics Nonbelievers in God (minimum - maximum)
Sweden	8,986,000	46 - 85%	4,133,560 - 7,638,100
Vietnam	82,690,000	81%	66,978,900
Denmark	5,413,000	43 - 80%	2,327,590 - 4,330,400
Norway	4,575,000	31 - 72%	1,418,250 - 3,294,000
Japan	127,333,000	64 - 65%	81,493,120 - 82,766,450
Czech Republic	10,246,100	54 - 61%	5,328,940 - 6,250,121
Finland	5,215,000	28 - 60%	1,460,200 - 3,129,000
France	60,424,000	43 - 54%	25,982,320 - 32,628,960
South Korea	48,598,000	30 - 52%	14,579,400 - 25,270,960
Estonia	1,342,000	49%	657,580
Germany	82,425,000	41 - 49%	33,794,250 - 40,388,250
Russia	143,782,000	24 - 48%	34,507,680 - 69,015,360
Hungary	10,032,000	32 - 46%	3,210,240 - 4,614,720
Netherlands	16,318,000	39 - 44%	6,364,020 - 7,179,920
Britain	60,271,000	31 - 44%	18,684,010 - 26,519,240
Belgium	10,348,000	42 - 43%	4,346,160 - 4,449,640
Bulgaria	7,518,000	34 - 40%	2,556,120 - 3,007,200
Slovenia	2,011,000	35 - 38%	703,850 - 764,180
Israel	6,199,000	15 - 37%	929,850 - 2,293,630
Canada	32,508,000	19 - 30%	6,176,520 - 9,752,400
Latvia	2,306,000	20 - 29%	461,200 - 668,740
Slovakia	5,424,000	10 - 28%	542,400 - 1,518,720
Switzerland	7,451,000	17 - 27%	1,266,670 - 2,011,770
Austria	8,175,000	18 - 26%	1,471,500 - 2,125,500
Australia	19,913,000	24 - 25%	4,779,120 - 4,978,250
Taiwan	22,750,000	24%	5,460,000
Spain	40,281,000	15 - 24%	6,042,150 - 9,667,440
Iceland	294,000	16 - 23%	47,040 - 67,620
New Zealand	3,994,000	20 - 22%	798,800 - 878,680
Ukraine	47,732,000	20%	9,546,400
Belarus	10,311,000	17%	1,752,870
Greece	10,648,000	16%	1,703,680
North Korea	22,698,000	15%	3,404,700
Italy	58,057,000	6 - 15%	3,483,420 - 8,708,550
Armenia	2,991,000	14%	418,740
China	1,298,848,000	8 - 14%	103,907,840 - 181,838,720
Lithuania	3,608,000	13%	469,040
Singapore	4,354,000	13%	566,020
Uruguay	3,399,000	12%	407,880
Kazakhstan	15,144,000	11 - 12%	1,665,840 - 1,817,280
Mongolia	2,751,000	9%	247,590
Portugal	10,524,000	4 - 9%	420,960 - 947,160
USA	293,028,000	3 - 9%	8,790,840 - 26,822,520
Albania	3,545,000	8%	283,600
Argentina	39,145,000	4 - 8%	1,565,800 - 3,131,600
Kyrgyzstan	5,081,000	7%	355,670
Dominican Republic	8,834,000	7%	618,380
Cuba	11,309,000	7%	791,630
Croatia	4,497,000	7%	314,790

Source: Zuckerman, Phil. "Atheism: Contemporary Rates and Patterns", chapter in The Cambridge Companion to Atheism, ed. by Michael Martin, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK (2005).

Is there any disadvantage in being a believer and any advantage in being an atheist (or vice versa) since we are all going to die? JCT's question

Is there any disadvantage in being a believer and any advantage in being an atheist (or vice versa) since we are all going to die. Does being atheistic increase the enjoyment derived from life (or is it the opposite)? [JCT's question from the comments section of last post]

I believe that there must be some form of advantage to the individual to be a believer since evolution has favored it in the majority. May be blind belief in an entity larger than life would have enabled a survival advantage in do or die situation, say in a brutal war of domination. Soldiers of the god fearing, ready-to-be-martyr –life-after -death believing tribe may show greater efficiency in killing the enemy compared to resource wise identical soldiers who does not have such beliefs to defend. This is assuming that there is a genetic and hence phenotypic basis for the need to believe in god. So this tribe that showed exceeding efficiency in killing and dominating now has the opportunity in spreading their ‘superior’ genes and hence the phenotype that makes their progeny believe in god.

I hope you have read the one where I compared the emotional load on the agnostic surgeon versus that of the theist surgeon after the loss of a patient. Again there may be some balm in explaining away to another entity when it is actually your actions that caused a disaster.

Yes. I think there are some advantages in being a believer.

However, this advantage conferred to the individual or the tribe may come with a price for the species in the long term. By long term, I mean the time when technology has sufficiently advanced that the tribes possess weapons that can destroy each other completely that there is no domination for either: the nuclear age.
I am pretty sure that if the cold war standoff was between nuclear armed Christians versus equally capable Islamic bloc instead of between capitalist and communists, we would have been reading this blog in a nuclear winter now.
Religion allows such blind rage that nuclear holocaust would have been assured. No logic , not even that of mutual assured destruction would have stood against the blind fury of religious beliefs.

Joy in life:
I believe that joy in life is independent of your belief in god or the lack of it. Some people are happy and some are less so. People are born with a level of happiness that remains remarkably constant despite their belief systems or their socio-economic situation. I personally believe in the hedonic treadmill theory of happiness.
But definitely, there will be lot less unnecessary guilt in the mind of an agnostic compared to the superstitious god fearing individual. [moral values being equal]

Are we all going to die?

Certainly! Even the stars die.
[The theists are born again, live and die happily ever after. Its game all over for the atheist. Ha!]

However I am working on the brain download thing for you!

What about pantheism?

However non theistic it may be, it is a reflection of the human mind that seeks to find meaning in life and nature - as if there is some greater meaning or direction towards which we are all going and what we are part of.
Is it not possible that there is none? I'd like to believe that there is no real reason or greater objective in the way nature plays out. There is no 'greater purpose'. And I am not nihilistic when I say that.

(answering JCT's question)

Does the Indian Government force its citizens to be religious? A few right-to-information questions.

What is secularism?

It is separation of state machinery from religion.

Indian state is secular. However, does it unwittingly encourage religions when it is not supposed to be (atleast when it is supposed to be neutral)? Does it give adequate space to those citizens who would like to identify with no religion or those who would like to give up their association with religions they are 'born into'.

How do you find all these answers?
Why does the Government ask for your religion every other second?

I wanted to find out.
So I thought I'd file a few right-to-info questions to start with. The Govt of India havent yet answered these questions. Ill upload the answers as they come in.

But do take a look at the questions...

1.What are the government documents which require an applicant or a citizen to reveal his religion and caste?

2.Is it obligatory on part of the applicant to fill details of his religion and caste in government documents, applications and forms?

3.If the applicant chooses to leave these areas blank, will that invalidate his application?

4.Are citizens of India free NOT to choose a relgion and disown his caste eventhough by birth or by birth certificate belongs to one?

5.Is it obligatory on the individual to mention religion and caste in birth certificate of one's children?

6.Is it against the law if a private organisation rejects an application solely because the fields of religion or caste were left blank? If it is against the law, are there any exceptions? Which are these organisations and what are these applications? What course of law can be used against such a rejection?

7.Are there separate lists of religions and castes recognised by the Government of India? Please provide me those lists.

8.Is it valid to enter descriptions of 'atheist' or 'agnostic' or 'not applicable' in the fields of religion and 'not applicable' in the field of caste in any government application, form or document?

9.Is it valid to enter descriptions of 'atheist' or 'agnostic' or 'not applicable' in the fields of religion and 'not applicable' in the field of caste in any application, form or document of non-governmental organisations based in India?

10.If India is a secular country, does that give its citizens the right NOT to believe in any god eventhough by birth he/she may belong to one religion?

11.If one's birth certificate , matriculation certificate and other certificates indicate one's religion and caste, are there any legal means to exclude or delete them from these certificates to indicate one's absence of belief in a personal god, religion and caste?

12.If my child's (minor's) birth certificate and other certificates indicate religion and caste, are there any legal means to exclude or delete them from these certificates to indicate that my child is not brought up with a belief in a personal god, religion and caste?

13.Does Indian government ask for details such as religion and caste even if they are not relevant for the pupose of caste and religion based reservation? What purpose is acheived by such enquiries? Are any efforts made to exclude questions asking for such details if they are not relevant?

14.Does the Indian government encourage the practice of religion over non- practice of one? Or is the government neutral to either the practice or non-practice of religion?

15.Does the Government of India encourage identification and classification of its citizens by religion and caste? If not, what steps are being taken to reduce the divisive effects of religion and caste in society in general and government institutes in particular?

16.Does any wing of the government require an individual to swear in the name of god? What are these occasions when a person is required to swear in the name of god? Are there any alternatives if the person does not believe in god?

17.Does the Government of India have any official views on the existance or non-existance of God? Is it funding any scientific or philosophical investigation into the question of existance of God? If so, what are the results of theses investigations?

18.Does secular Indian government encourage the use of religious symbolism in official buildings? Does it forbid the use of explicit religious symbolism in government funded architechture when it is not related to a place of worship?

19.Does the Government encourage teaching of religion in Government schools or government aided schools? Does it include religious teaching in textbooks? If so, which religions are taught? What is the basis of choosing which religions are to be taught? When and which government bodies formulated these stipulations. Who were the experts invoved in formulating such guidelines, if any?

20.Is it Govenment's policy to encourage teaching of the belief in god in school children? If so which God of what religion are school children encouraged to believe in through textbooks?

21.Does the Government believe that teaching of moral values in school children is desirable? If yes,is it inextricably linked to belief in god or is it taught independant of the need to believe in God?

22.What is the yearly Government expenditure on religious activities? What are the type of these activities and please inform me the break up of the expenditure.

23.What is the result of the latest census with regard to the percentages of Indian citizens who belong to various religions? What percentage of indian citizens do not believe in any god according to that census or any other census? Was there ever a government mediated census in which it was specifically asked for non-belief in any god or non-identification with any religion?

24.When is the next country wide census planned? Is there a question enquiring about a person's religion or caste in the planned census? Is there a question specifically asking for non-belief in god and non-identification with any religion inorder to accommodate and account for atheists and agnostics? If such a question is not planned, how does an atheist or agnostic express his non-belief in god and non-identification with any religion? Will that not result in misrepresentation of such groups under various religions eventhough such individuals have made a conscious decision not to belong to any religion? Can he/she write 'atheist', 'agnostic' or simply leave the field blank?

Sometimes there is despair. Is life worth no struggle?

Life is a biological entity with limited lifespan and terminates when there is progressive deterioration of its mental subsystems beyond certain arbitrarily defined points.

No soul. No life after death. No judgment day.

A purely physical explanation despite our longing for something more enduring. Is there reason for despair? Yes, may be. Is life worth no struggle? Why we rat race when there is nothing permanent?

Because... you need to struggle to stay happy even in this impermanence. "Now" is everything.

May be we should be happy with this... Whatever you do is settled in not more than a hundred and ten years from now. Lets have no regrets to brood for. No guilty feeling to launder in the church.

For those die hard life-after-death wishers ... wait a few more decades and we might just be able to download your minds and memories into something less carbon based and you might live longer in a cyberworld like in the 'matrix' or may be like the 'lawn mover man'...

Why "Sun God"? Is God beyond science?

Just an explanation why i wrote about the Sun God one post below...
This is also the reason why i prefer to call this blog 'Agnostic India' rather than 'Atheistic India'.

I just wanted to, for a moment, consider the outside possibility of the existence of a supernatural being that created our universe and is watching over us... that is 'God'. The intellectual and physical differences are comparable to the differences found in a bacterium and a human scientist studying them. Is it ever possible for a bacterium in the petridish to realize that it is being grown and is being studied?

One could theoretically argue that the differences between a human and God are such that there is no conceivable way of ever knowing or 'proving' the existance of God. Since everything is being controlled by god, even our scientific instruments, protons, photons and all possible particles, why even the very nerve cells which we use to think, there is no way we can prove or disprove the existance of God. God is beyond science.

Is this possible. Of course yes.
Isn't it a sad situation? Of course it is!

Are Atheist "negative people"?

Are they? What do you think?
No God. No Heaven. No Afterlife.
Then what is left?
Isn't this a negative thought?
Superficially, yes. Especially to someone who believes in those stuff strongly all their life.

But truth is truth.
Truth is in Now. Truth is what you can see, feel and measure. There is nothing negative once you accept certain facts which appeal to one's logic though you could imagine better alternatives. [heaven with immortality and endless happy hours of beer!]

Most importantly atheism is NOT an "anti-religion". Its just a disbelief in God. And atheist has no business campaigning for his cause (except at this site ;-) He/she is happy in his beliefs. Let him/her be...

Sun God

He looked up into the sky and watched the sun till it blinded him. His was a happy family in a burgeoning community. Lots of food for everybody's greed! They fermented with merry and were truly workaholic. But he knew this was too good to be true. He believed in the stories of people being taken away and left under the searing sun for the rest of their lives. Some came back half dead. Most believed that this sun god was kind and infinitely benevolent. They ridiculed his paranoia. Good times were here to stay. No more of hard survival near the garbage dump. The warmth of this palace of glass which their ancestors had found, had magical powers. Sugar would rain down day and night and no one slept hungry.

 

He suspected a pattern of pervasive planning.  Life cannot be this easy! There must be a diabolic twist latent in  all the goodness. Infinite goodness has only source – pure evil. This, he strived to prove.

 

So he and his friend dug through tons of sugar and let it dry. They made huge glaciers of sugary glass lenses that would catch the sun god on the ground. It would take a lifetime of futile effort – his elders thought. But in the end he succeeded.

 

The bacterial community couldn't believe what they saw. There was no mistaking the black silhouette of the microscope watching over them while blinding them with light.

 

A new religion was born…

 

They worked harder in sad silence ever after.