Metapoll: What options should a religion poll have?

[warpus]

Strong Atheist - God cannot exist (for the commonly accepted value of "God")
Weak Atheist - God is probably false (ditto)
Strong Agnostic - I consider it impossible to become certain regarding God
Weak Agnostic - I am seeking (increased) certainty regarding God

Well, you kinda got these wrong

Strong Atheist - I believe that God does not exist
Weak Atheist - I do not believe that God exists
Strong Agnostic - I believe that it is impossible to know whether God exists
Weak Agnostic - I am not sure if God exists or not

 

[tycoonist]

Strong Atheist - I believe that God does not exist
Weak Atheist - I do not believe that God exists
Strong Agnostic - I believe that it is impossible to know whether God exists
Weak Agnostic - I am not sure if God exists or not

if find that the very nature of belief contradicts atheist arguments, so i would prefer not to use the term when defining them.

 

[scherbchen]

Strong Agnostic - I believe that it is impossible to know whether God exists
Weak Agnostic - I am not sure if God exists or not

thank you for that. just add Gods and Goddesses to that and me love you long time.

 

[scherbchen]

if find that the very nature of belief contradicts atheist arguments, so i would prefer not to use the term when defining them.

not so in my book. atheists are convinced that there is no God. it is, if you will, about as much a belief in an absence of a God as any religion we have (that I have knowledge of) believes them to exist. which is the reason why atheism just seems weird to me.

I believe in God because *reason*
I believe that there is no God because *reason*
enter the agnostic: *reason* is silly because *reason*

and then you go around in circles for a couple of hours

 

[Miles Teg]

In my experience, "weak agnostic" is only applicable as a modifier for theists and atheists.

 

[Huayna Capac357]

Protestant=non-Catholic?

You have 25 options. Might as well use them...

EDIT: Wait, so you think there's more difference between weak and strong agnostics than between catholics and protestants? ...

 

[Kerozine]

An option for the non-religious or the "I don't give a hoot whether or not God exists because it won't make any difference" people.

 

[mangxema]

For a separate poll on faith in god:

non-agnostic atheism
agnostic atheism
agnostic theism
non-agnostic theism

Finally! ... someone who can throw around those terms correctly.

 

[Dachs]

I disagree with the lack of an Ásatrú option.

 

[Perfection]

Atheism isn't a religion, therefore it shouldn't be on the poll.

The correct option for people with no religion is "none"

 

[JohnRM]

Protestants should be split into the following groups.

Conservative Protestant (Southern Baptists, etc)
Moderate Protestant (Anglican, etc)
Liberal Protestant (Methodist, etc)

 

[Birdjaguar]

Since we have regular polls of this nature and someone always complains about the options and there are usually a number of "splitters" and "lumpers" pointing out (probably unintentional) double standards, let's try to get some order in the options early.

Here are my suggestions for 10 major ones, based on my impression of this forum's community:

Strong Atheist - God cannot exist (for the commonly accepted value of "God")
Weak Atheist - God is probably false (ditto)
Strong Agnostic - I consider it impossible to become certain regarding God
Weak Agnostic - I am seeking (increased) certainty regarding God
Catholic Christian
Other Christian (Protestant, Orthodox, unaffiliated)
Non-Christian Abrahamic (Jewish, Muslim, Bahai)
Buddhist
Hinduist
Deist
(And an 'other' option, of course, but that doesn't really count.)
If I had to add another, I'd probably split "Other Christian".

Since this is a metapoll, there will be no poll.

Does anyone want to make a case for a multiple choice poll, or are too few religions non-exclusive for this to be useful?

-The Bahais should not be among the Abrahamic.
-I would separate the Sufis from traditional Muslims even though you probably won't get many responses.
-The mormons are strange enough to get their own listing
-All the atheists should be listed as "none" and then do a separate poll to sort them out if you want.

Do we have any Bahais here?

 

[Miles Teg]

While Atheism may not be a religion, there are enough of them on this forum that not merging the religion/non religious position polls is effective and more concise.

 

[Perfection]

Except it's really messy and annoying to define nonreligious positions.

 

[Miles Teg]

However, they can be grouped broadly into basic groups. Most religious types have some quarrels with their own denomination or local religious leader. Not to different in practice.

 

[Perfection]

However, they can be grouped broadly into basic groups.

The classification schemes all suck. The diffference between an atheist and an agnostic is pretty much how much they're willing to piss off Christians.

 

[Camikaze]

You'd definitely have to break up Other Christian. There would be so many options, though, so you could probably just split it up into Fundamentalist, Conservative, Middle-of-the-road, Reformist, and Radical, or something.

 

[warpus]

if find that the very nature of belief contradicts atheist arguments, so i would prefer not to use the term when defining them.

Some atheists have beliefs regarding God, some don't. The nature of that distinction is what seperates strong from weak atheists.

I agree with Perfection that "None" on a religion poll makes the most sense - if you're going to have a poll about Religion, I mean.

Atheism and agnosticism are ways to categorize people based on their beliefs (or lack thereof) in the existence of God.

Religions are just ways to describe how people come together in organized groups to express that belief (or some life philosophy, in the case of Buddhism, if you're willing to categorize Buddhism as a religion)

It's a subtle difference, but an important one.

 

[Elta]

*Protestant=non-Catholic?

**You have 25 options. Might as well use them...

* It's nonsense I agree.


** I agree, no one ever list Daosim.

I send you all to the hell of your God for skipping it.

 

[tycoonist]

not so in my book. atheists are convinced that there is no God. it is, if you will, about as much a belief in an absence of a God as any religion we have (that I have knowledge of) believes them to exist. which is the reason why atheism just seems weird to me.

I believe in God because *reason*
I believe that there is no God because *reason*
enter the agnostic: *reason* is silly because *reason*

and then you go around in circles for a couple of hours

the nature of belief is unscientific. if you want to say "i believe that there is no God because..." then say "i don't believe that there is a God because..."