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Permalink Reply by Dominic Florio on December 17, 2012 at 11:55am

Atheist Census’ back online after hacker attack

Posted: 17 Dec 2012 05:40 AM PST

Atheist Alliance International reports that its Atheist Census, an attempt to count the world’s atheists, is now back online after hackers took it down more than a week ago.

“It seems that there are people who do not want atheists to be counted, who do not want to accept that as more people question and think critically about religion atheists are a growing demographic. It is a measure of the project’s success – even at this early stage – that some people wanted to shut it down,” Carlos Diaz, the organization’s president, said in a prepared statement.

The group launched the census on Dec. 7 and it fell to a Denial of Service attack about 17 hours later. At the time that the census site was attacked, about 8,800 people had completed the survey, with another 2,300 pending.

Participation in the Atheist Census is free. Since the return of the site, about 20,000 total people have submitted their information to the effort, which is attempting to collect demographic information about atheists throughout the world, including their education levels, age, gender identity and country.

The Atheist Census can be found at http://www.atheistcensus.com/

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Permalink Reply by Secular Forces 2013 on April 25, 2013 at 6:56am

DOS. yep.. that's about all they have .. instead of tears of failure. ; P

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Permalink Reply by Darren Jackson on December 28, 2012 at 1:21pm

Hi Atheist and proud, I was brought in as a child with Religon but not heavily pushed, I sang in a church choir although mostly for pocket money till I was around 10 yrs old. I had no issues with family saying I was  non believer.  

I recently was told about the site by a friend who lives in America and was shocked at how judgmental people still were over religion and joined the site to understand some of the issues a American atheist goes through.

  

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Permalink Reply by Larry Taylor on December 28, 2012 at 10:31pm

I grew up in an open-minded family. My parents dragged us to church every Sunday, but did this out of guilt. When I was 12 years old I rebelled and refused to go again. I denied the existence of god and confounded my parents with the MANY flaws in the bible. Yet, they still respected my views. When my brother was in high school he "found" god and became a "born again Rambo." He is now a methodist minister and oh so miserable.

When my brother converted he drove my parents crazy. When my open-minded father found out he had stomach cancer, he too found god and turned on me. He died trying to "bring me to jesus." For me, that was the most painful part of my father's death. It was both amazing and depressing to watch a man like my father go from open mind--willing to see other points of view--to intolerable fundamentalist bullshit. I would love to blame my brother, but I cannot. He is too steeped in the same bullshit and is miserable.

The sad thing about it all is that I have not changed my position since I was 12. I am now 55. Suddenly, I am evil! I never gave my atheism any thought until just recently. The political environment has made atheists a convenient target. Even some of my more liberal friends have advised me not to advertise my atheism. I never did! If someone asked, I would tell them. Now I skirt the issue. I find it easier to tell those who question that I was "born and raised in the methodist church." It is a true statement and usually satisfies them. Am I in the closet? I have never hid my atheism, but now I retreat to the closet at times because suddenly I am not a "good person" and condemned to a fiery place.

Our current political climate has made people like us think about the closet. I am not a big Obama fan, but I voted for him because the republican alternatives were abhorrent. I am hoping that the re-election of "Bronco Bama" will usher in a renewed enthusiasm for science and reason. It seems as though--hopefully--the fundamentalist idiots are digging their own hole in the ground. They have become a joke of themselves.             

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Permalink Reply by Robert Badgett on December 29, 2012 at 3:12pm

Coming out is a lot like quitting smoking, alcohol, or other drug abuse. It's uncomfortable for a short while but becomes quite liberating with time. You will very likely kick yourself for not doing it sooner. You are you...not your religion.

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Permalink Reply by Atheist Andrea on December 29, 2012 at 9:16pm

Big thanks to all of you for commenting since I posted this. I have enjoyed reading your stories and and love seeing new responses in my inbox. 

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Permalink Reply by Richard Goscicki on December 30, 2012 at 7:54am

 

We are growing in numbers so fast, especially in the younger generation, that we won't even need these people.  I myself do perfectly well socially spending almost all my time with humanists and skeptics. 

Why should you have to “come out of the closet”?  Religionists should be the ones ashamed of their whacky beliefs like Eve was created from Adam’s rib, or God created you knowing you were going to hell but still loves you.

There're Baptist reform schools that have closets called “The get-straight room,” where they imprison kids for hours for minor infractions like saying something the elder didn’t like.  These are the people who should come out of the closet.

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Permalink Reply by Joan Denoo on December 30, 2012 at 2:33pm

I left my church community and religious dogma because the only help they offered was for me to submit and obey, both of which were not only sick but also just plain evil things to say to a family living under violent parenting rule. "Spare the rod..." and "yield to authority" are damaging to spirit and body and mind for growing children. Dobson's imperatives only added rationale for cruel, brutish behaviors. 

Running away from such conditions was the only option I could find. My religious community assured me that I would burn in hell and my flesh would be replaced to burn for eternity. I was terrified. I had no idea what I would do to restore sanity to my little family because my parents were violent to each other and to me. I learned from the crib how to be violent to gain compliance. I did not learn care, compassion, or communication skills.   

My former employer guided me to a program at Whitworth University that focused on democratic principles in business and empowering all members of a team to work together using skills of problem solving, conflict resolution, thinking in the future tense to create preferable goals. I learned how  to identify unmet needs and processes to get basic needs met. They taught me how to look for resources, and to anticipate trouble areas. Great emphasis was learning how to assert oneself and how to active listen; identifying "stinkin' thinkin'" and being aware of self-delusions. We had to develop action plans and then do some project that involved long-standing unresolved problems and develop strategies to overcome differences. Evaluation provided a way to test if we knew whether we were on or off track; if we wanted to change directions or do more or less or continue "off course" because it was a better solution. The project was judged "Passed" if problems and conflicts were resolved for the organization. 

My three children and I used these processes from 1979 until they were grown and had families of their own. My daughter and her husband in Spokane and son and his wife in Denver took a similar course and as their children get to about school age, they learn these skills in a children's version. 

The net result is that each family unit and our combined families all know and use excellent interpersonal skills. We enjoy life, even as we honor each individual and participate in contributing to the benefit of the entire family. Our family functions as a motivated team. 

The program my children and grandchildren are taking and my great-grandchildren will take is through Landmark Education. 

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Permalink Reply by futilethewinds on February 10, 2013 at 2:01pm

Pretty much everyone knows that I am an atheist, including my professors at school. So yeah, I'm pretty "out."

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Permalink Reply by MikeW on March 3, 2013 at 2:07pm

I am out and have been for some time.  I am 63 years old, and I don't give a damn what anyone thinks about my atheism.  Most of my family is well aware of it.  No one tries to "bring me back into the fold", as it were.  I have learned vastly more about different religions, Christianity in particular, than I ever knew when I was still Roman Catholic.  (subject for it's own thread that).  Being out has not cost me any friends or family so far.

I have actually read the entire Bible since de-converting.  Something I had never done as a Catholic.  The RCC didn't encourage Bible reading when I was a child in Catholic School.  They were probably afraid of all the questions they wouldn't be able to answer without resorting to brute authority.

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Permalink Reply by Richard Neil Harrison on April 25, 2013 at 6:47am

Here in England, Atheism seems to be so prevalent that the 'coming out' thing doesn't seem to be an issue, or even a requirement. If you announce to someone here that you are an atheist, it is not viewed as unusual at all, and often the response is a shrug of the shoulders, or indifference. At secondary school, quite a lot of my friends, like me, just sort of agreed that religion was made up, and the ones I am still in contact with appear to have maintained their stance. Where I work, I would say that at least a third of us are atheists, from what discussions we have had over the years. I do realise that I am incredibly lucky to live where I do, and sympathise greatly with Atheists in the U.S. 'bible belt' and Middle Eastern countries, where a 'coming out' thing is probably a very daunting neccessity.

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Permalink Reply by Secular Forces 2013 on April 25, 2013 at 6:56am

lucky! home of Dawkins. I'd be stoked.

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