Pew's Evolution Report: Implications for Atheists

A report from the Pew Forum on belief in evolution is remarkable not only for its parsing of the various faiths' perceptions of evolution, but for what it says about how many atheists/naturalists/brights we actually have in America, and indeed, what it says about its own methods of categorization.

Take a look at their handy little graph (h/t Andrew Sullivan) showing what percentage of each religious group thinks evolution is the best explanation for humanity's origins:

Notice something wacky here? No, it's not just that the Jehova's Witnesses have a lot of catching up to do. According to Pew, there are more Buddhists, Hindus, and Jews who accept evolution than their catch-all grouping of "unaffiliated," which according to Pew makes up 16.1 percent of the American population, a number which has often been cited by secularists to demonstrate their potential political heft. But, as I have noted, that label "unaffiliated" only connotes a lack of attachment to a particular organized religion, not a rejection of the supernatural, and certainly not all-out atheism (which is at a mere 1.6 percent). I believe one can put the naturalist/nonreligious at about 10.3 percent (atheists plus agnostics plus the "secular unaffiliated").

And now I am beginning to suspect that this small number might pretty close to correct, as far as Pew's numbers are concerned. Here, we see that only 72 percent of the unaffiliated are down with Darwin. That leaves a whopping 28 percent who think otherwise, and whether the alternative they prefer is God, aliens, or we're-all-in-the-Matrix theories, it is clearly an irrational, unscientific one.

In other words, atheists, as we have come to generally define the term (rationalist, naturalistic, secular, nontheistic) are not in that 28 percent. My 10.3 percent figure (which is about 63 percent of the unaffiliated) squares pretty closely with Pew's evolution numbers (again, 72 percent of the unaffiliated).

Important in terms of Pew's work and of atheists' classification in general, I think that this new report on views of evolution is a nail in the coffin for secularists' use of the 16.1 percent number; if about a third of those within that category are anti-evolution, then secularists (let alone atheists) should not be touting it as a representation of our strength.

As I've said before, a hallmark of atheism, secularism, and rationalism is an adherence to facts, no matter how inconvenient. If our numbers are closer to 10 than 16 percent, we just have to live with it, and be honest about it when we make our case to the believing world.

Oh, and let's here it for those rationalistic Buddhists!

[Cross-post at Bloc Raisonneur]