The Ash Twins Blog

According to the New York Times,

Polls show that the ranks of atheists are growing. The American Religious Identification Survey, a major study released last month, found that those who claimed “no religion” were the only demographic group that grew in all 50 states in the last 18 years.

Nationally, the “nones” in the population nearly doubled, to 15 percent in 2008 from 8 percent in 1990. In South Carolina, they more than tripled, to 10 percent from 3 percent. Not all the “nones” are necessarily committed atheists or agnostics, but they make up a pool of potential supporters. . .

Despite changing attitudes, polls continue to show that atheists are ranked lower than any other minority or religious group when Americans are asked whether they would vote for or approve of their child marrying a member of that group.

I also thought this part was interesting:

At the University of South Carolina, in Columbia, 19 students showed up for a recent evening meeting of the “Pastafarians,” named for the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster — a popular spoof on religion dreamed up by an opponent of intelligent design, the idea that living organisms are so complex that the best explanation is that a higher intelligence designed them.

Andrew Cederdahl, the group’s co-founder, asked for volunteers for the local food bank and for a coming debate with a nearby Christian college. Then Mr. Cederdahl opened the floor to members to tell their “coming out stories.”

Andrew Morency, who attended a Christian high school, said that when he got to college and studied evolutionary biology he decided that “creationists lie.”

Josh Streetman, who once attended the very Christian college that the Pastafarians were about to debate, said he knew the Bible too well to be sure that Scripture is true. Like Mr. Streetman, many of the other students at the meeting were highly literate in the Bible and religious history.

These “proud atheists” retain a taste for religious ceremony and ritual but have lost their belief in the doctrine. Part of that taste for religiosity, it seems, involves proselytism. These born-again atheists can’t help but feel an instinctive need to spread their new “faith,” including lobbying on behalf of their group in politics. It is ironic that the group of individuals who will do the most to spread atheistic beliefs are the most religious at heart.

Belk (1995) offers an idiographic study of the sociology of collecting:

Collecting is a common acquisitive and possessive behavior that is generally regarded by society as more valued and less selfish than other forms of luxury consumption. Based on depth interviews with 200 collectors, an assessment of collecting is offered considering its problems and benefits for the individual collector, the collector’s household, and society. While extreme cases are found in which collecting is addictive and dysfunctional for the individual and his or her family, it is more commonly found to be a beneficial activity, at least for the collector. But interpersonally, collections are found to be perceived as non-human rivals for the affection of collectors in the household and to leave a cultural legacy of material artifacts that over-represent powerful social classes.