Conservatives More Likely to Become Atheists than Liberals
Someone recently said: "I would love to see conversion rates to atheism between creationist/conservative Christians (like John Loftus) and more liberal Christians." The implication is that conservatives leave their faith and become atheists more often than liberals do.
By proxy this shows liberalism is a better brand of Christianity. I suspect both implications are correct. Conservatives have already rejected liberalism as outsiders to liberalism, and for good reasons. So once they reject their own conservative Christianity it's probable that a high number of them eventually become atheists.
Unlike former conservatives though, liberals have probably never critically examined their faith from an outsider's perspective, and this makes all the difference. Since liberals believe in less then liberalism is harder to reject, for the less you take on faith the better it is. ;-) Of course, since that's true agnosticism (understood as a position against all metaphysical claims) would be better than liberalism. And atheism (understood as no religious beliefs at all) is the best conclusion of them all.
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There are some attention-grabbing points in time on this article however I dont know if I see all of them heart to heart. There is some validity however I will take hold opinion till I look into it further. Good article , thanks and we want more! Added to FeedBurner as effectively Braun Rasierer honer Pepper spray video Amaranth
I don't see any data to back up the claim that atheists are more likely to come from the conservative side... though it is an interesting question.
Anecdotally I was quite the conservative for many years, and my increasing liberalism followed rather then led my change from Christian to Atheist.
I give permission to Opposing Views to publish what I write on my blog. Perhaps my title was just too long for this site. My title was "Why Former Conservatives Become Atheists More Often Than Liberals Do"
And you can find that blog piece right here:
http://debunkingchristianity.blogspot.com/2011/01/why-former-conservatives-become.html
Cheers
Your title is no better... as it makes the same claim as the OP.
As I said it is an interesting claim, and one that would make for a very interesting study... but your article treats the claim as though it were based on evidence, yet you provide none.
There are a number of elements to a Conservative church that could serve to drive people away... talk of fire/brimstone, intolerance towards 'the others, and rejection of Scientific theories, etc... but at the same time those who walk away risk becoming 'the others and thus face ostracism from the more hard line elements.
I was expecting some statistics, some study, not "the implication is that conservatives leave their faith and become atheists more often than liberals do" - this little article seems devoid of any "facts on the ground."
discover their lack of faith.
Conservative Christianity is kind of one of those Oxymoron things. How can one really be a Christian and Conservative? They don't go together in reality.
How can being pro death penalty be a Christian thing?
Me I am pro death penalty, pro choice (although abortion makes me sick), and Anti marriage no matter the gender. I like guns .
Then there is one of my favorite sayings. "Don't ask me to tell you the truth"
Opinions change for me as time goes by and the same I would hope for everyone else.
Look at abortion . It is right up there with capital punishment. But instead of taking the life of the worst of humanity, as most conservatives support, abortion is taking the life from the most innocent and voiceless among us. Not very Christian.
The plural of 'anecdote' is not 'data'.
Neither group could pass through the eye of the needle, of Christianity. How can we call either, Jesus like when both embrace murder? I could see much stricter rules on abortion , but it still falls short of the pope. I'm not liberal to the point of ignorance.
The extreme being the pope with no birth control whatsoever and no death penalty .
To let a Man in Rome in a funny hat decide what I do or say is out of the question.
I am left of center not far from right of center.
Common sense and logic rule my thinking (I hope)
The extremes of both Ruling parties are a little over the top, be they Theist or Atheist to put it mildly.
Conflating the two is an indefensible position.
Capital punishment, and the instances where it is meted out has little to do with this Pope or any other. In fact, it is written in pretty clear language in both old and new testaments.
http://www.free-bible-study-lessons.com/capital-punishment-204.html
This is not to say that I am using the bible to support my argument that capital punishment is better than abortion , rather it is to illustrate how a practicing Christian is well within the bounds of their religion to accept capital punishment while not running afoul of their religious teachings.
The plural of 'anecdote' is not 'data'.
Christians that feel about it the way I put it.
Interesting page, I'm not a theologian so I would have to say the pope has the best interpretation. I don't know what that is :)
I personally have no reservations about the death penalty .