Irreligion
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Irreligion (adjective form: nonreligious or irreligious) is the absence of religion, an indifference towards religion, a rejection of religion, or hostility towards religion.[1] When characterized as the rejection of religious belief, it includes atheism and secular humanism. When characterized as hostility towards religion, it includes antitheism, anticlericalism and antireligion. When characterized as indifference to religion, it includes apatheism. When characterized as the absence of religious belief, it may also include agnosticism, ignosticism, nontheism, religious skepticism and freethought. Irreligion may even include forms of theism depending on the religious context it is defined against, as in 18th century Europe where the epitome of irreligion was deism.[2]
It has been estimated that 16% of the world population (1.1 billion people) are "non-religious", including agnostics, atheists, secular humanists, and people who answer "none" or "no religious preference" when asked an open-ended question about their religious preference.[3] A 2012 survey found that 36% of the world population is not religious (including atheists) and that between 2005 and 2012 world religiosity decreased by 9%.[4] According to one source, it has been estimated that 40–50% of non-religious people hold belief in at least one deity, or in some higher power.[5]
Demographics
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/88/Gallup_Religiosity_Index_2009.png/475px-Gallup_Religiosity_Index_2009.png)
The tables below order the percentage of a countries population that are nonreligious from highest to lowest.
Country | Percentage of population that is nonreligious (2006) |
Source |
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46-85 (average of 65.5) | [7] |
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64.3 | [8] |
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46.1-81 (average of 63.55) | [8][7] |
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43-80 (average of 61.5) | [7] |
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60 | [9][10][11] |
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39-65 (average of 52) |
[12] |
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51.8 | [8] |
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51 | [13] |
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8-93 (average of 50.5) | [8][7][14] |
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49 | [7] |
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43-54 (average of 48.5) | [7] |
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48.1 | [8] |
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47.8 | [8] |
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28–60 (average of 44) | [7] |
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42.6 | [8] |
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42.4 | [8] |
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39-44 (average of 41.5) | [7][15] |
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40.6 | [8] |
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36.4 | [8] |
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35.4 | [8] |
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34.7 (from 87.3% who answered the optional question) |
[16] |
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34.6 | [17] |
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33.8 | [8] |
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29.9 | [8] |
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29.9 | [8] |
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27.0 | [8] |
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23.3 | [18] |
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23.1 | [8] |
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22.3 |
[19] |
Country | Percentage of population that is nonreligious (2006) |
Source |
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20.5 | [8] |
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19.6 | [20] |
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19.4 | [8] |
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17.8 | [8] |
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16.2 | [21] |
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16.0 | [22] |
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15.1 | [23] |
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13.2 | [8] |
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12.2 | [8] |
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11.4 | [8] |
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11.1 | [8] |
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11.1 | [8] |
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10.9 | [8] |
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8.0 | [24] |
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7.0 | [25] |
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6.6 | [8] |
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5.8 | [8] |
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4.7 | [8] |
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4.6 | [8] |
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4.3 | [8] |
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4.0 | [8] |
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2.5 | [8] |
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2.4 | [8] |
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1.7 | [8] |
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1.3 | [8] |
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1.1 | [8] |
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1.1 | [8] |
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0.7 | [8] |
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0.1 | [8] |
Template:Multicol-end Although 10 countries listed above have non-religious majorities, it does not mean that majority of the populations of these countries don′t belong to any religious group. For example, 70% of the Swedish population belongs to Lutheran Christian Church, while 56.7% of Albanians declare themselves as Muslims.
See also
- Humanism
- Importance of religion by country
- Irreligion by country
- Nontheistic religions
- Pantheism
- Post-theism
- Skepticism
- Spiritual but not religious
- Transtheistic
References
- ^
- "Irreligion as presented in 26 reference works".
- "Definition including hostility and indifference", Compact Oxford Dictionary
- "Definition including lack and indifference", Collins Dictionary
- "Irreligion", Encyclopedia of Religion and Society, retrieved 2012-02-18 Includes rejection.
- Colin Campbell, "Irreligion", Encyclopedia of Religion and Society, retrieved 2012-02-18
- ^ Campbell, Colin. 1971. Towards a Sociology of Irreligion. London:McMillan p. 31.
- ^ "The Global Religious Landscape - Religiously Unaffiliated". Pew Research Center.
- ^ "Global Index of Religiosity and Atheism" (PDF). WIN-Gallup International. 27 July 2012. Retrieved 24 August 2012.
- ^ "Major Religions of the World Ranked by Number of Adherents". Adherents.com. 2007. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
- ^ The Religiosity Index is a measure of the importance of religion for respondents and their self-reported attendance of religious services. For religions in which attendance at services is limited, care must be used in interpreting the data. (Gallup WorldView)
- ^ a b c d e f g h Zuckerman, Phil. "Atheism: Contemporary Rates and Patterns", from the Cambridge Companion to Atheism, edited by Michael Martin, University of Cambridge Press, 2007
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am Dentsu Communication Institute Inc., Research Centre for Japan (2006)Template:Ja icon
- ^ "Albania". State.gov. 2006-09-15. Retrieved 2011-02-04. US Department of State - International religious freedom report 2006
- ^ L'Albanie en 2005
- ^ "Adherents.com". Adherents.com. Retrieved 2011-02-04. Some publications
- ^ UK National Statistics Bureau (2011 census)
- ^ "Global Index Of Religion and Atheism" (PDF). Redcresearch.ie. Retrieved 2011-11-01. Publications are taken from Gallup
- ^ "Adherents.com". Adherents.com. Retrieved 2011-02-04. Some publications
- ^ CBS StatLine, Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek, Retrieved 2012-06-25
- ^ Statistics New Zealand (2006 census)[dead link]
- ^ "fowid - Forschungsgruppe Weltanschauungen in Deutschland: Home". Fowid.de. Retrieved 2011-09-12. German Worldview Research Group (2010)
- ^ [1] Socialogical Research Centre, January 2012
- ^ "Census shows result of mining boom, with increased cost of housing and higher wages", PIA AKERMAN, The Australian, 21 June 2012.
- ^ “Nones” on the Rise
- ^ "96F0030XIE2001015 - Religions in Canada". 2.statcan.ca. Retrieved 2011-02-04. Canada 2001 census
- ^ "Table Of Statistics On Religion In The Americas". Prolades.com. Retrieved 2011-02-04. Gallup-Argentina survey, April 2001
- ^ [2][dead link] Güney Afrika 2001 census
- ^ "Census 2010; Sistema IBGE de Recuperação Automática SIDRA". Retrieved September 2012.
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(help) - ^ "This is Ireland. Highlights from Census 2011, Part 1" (PDF). March 2012. Retrieved April 2012.
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(help)- "Secular Sunday #14 – Census Special". April 2012.
Further reading
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- John Allen Paulos (9 June 2009). Irreligion: A Mathematician Explains Why the Arguments for God Just Don't Add Up. Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-8090-5918-8.
- Richard Henry Popkin; Arie Johan Vanderjagt (1993). Scepticism and irreligion in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-09596-0.
- Eric Wright (November 2010). Irreligion: Thought, Rationale, History. BiblioBazaar. ISBN 978-1-171-06863-1.