Irreligion

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Coloured world map indicating irreligion in the world.       data not currently available
Coloured world map indicating irreligion in the world.
      data not currently available

Irreligion, irreligiousness, or nonreligion is an umbrella term which, depending on context, may be understood as referring to atheism, agnosticism, deism, skepticism, freethought, secular humanism or general secularism.

Irreligion has at least three related yet distinct meanings:

  • absence of religion (either due to not having information about religion or to not believing in it)
  • hostility to religion
  • behaving in such a way that fails to live up to one's religious tenets

Although people classified as irreligious might not follow any religion, not all are necessarily without belief in the supernatural or in deities; such a person may be a non-religious or non-practicing theist. In particular, those who associate organized religion with negative qualities, but still hold spiritual beliefs, might describe themselves as irreligious.

Contents

Secular humanists base their moral systems on reason, deriving values from an awareness of evidence and consequences of their actions. [1]

Irreligion around the world
Country Percentage stating they have no religion Source
Sweden 46%-85% Zuckerman, Phil. "Atheism: Contemporary Rates and Patterns", chapter in The Cambridge Companion to Atheism, ed. by Michael Martin, Cambridge University

Press: Cambridge, UK (2005)[2]
China 59-93% Various publications[3]
Albania 78.9% US Department of State - International Religious Freedom Report 2006[4]

L'Albanie en 2005[5]
Various publications[6]
Estonia 75.7% Dentsu Communication Institute Inc, Japan Research Center (2006)[7]
Czech Republic 59% (plus additional 8% did not fill in anything) Czech Statistical Office (2001 census)[8]
Japan 51.8% Dentsu Communication Institute Inc, Japan Research Center (2006)[7]
Russia 48.1% Dentsu Communication Institute Inc, Japan Research Center (2006)[7]
Belarus 47.8% Dentsu Communication Institute Inc, Japan Research Center (2006)[7]
Vietnam 46.1% Dentsu Communication Institute Inc, Japan Research Center (2006)[7]
The Netherlands 44.0% Social and Cultural Planning Office[9]
Hungary 42.6% Dentsu Communication Institute Inc, Japan Research Center (2006)[7]
Ukraine 42.4% Dentsu Communication Institute Inc, Japan Research Center (2006)[7]
Latvia 40.6% Dentsu Communication Institute Inc, Japan Research Center (2006)[7]
South Korea 36.4% Dentsu Communication Institute Inc, Japan Research Center (2006)[7]
Belgium 35.4% Dentsu Communication Institute Inc, Japan Research Center (2006)[7]
New Zealand 34.7% (of the 87.3% who answered an optional question) Statistics New Zealand (2006 census)[10]
Chile 33.8% Dentsu Communication Institute Inc, Japan Research Center (2006)[7]
Germany 32.7% German Worldview Research Group (2004)[11]
Luxembourg 29.9% Dentsu Communication Institute Inc, Japan Research Center (2006)[7]
Slovenia 29.9% Dentsu Communication Institute Inc, Japan Research Center (2006)[7]
France 27.2% (23.9% of women, 30.6% of men) INSEE (2004 survey)[12]
Venezuela 27.0% Dentsu Communication Institute Inc, Japan Research Center (2006)[7]
Slovakia 23.1% Dentsu Communication Institute Inc, Japan Research Center (2006)[7]
Mexico 20.5% Dentsu Communication Institute Inc, Japan Research Center (2006)[7]
Lithuania 19.4% Dentsu Communication Institute Inc, Japan Research Center (2006)[7]
Denmark 19% Eurobarometer(2005)[13]
Australia 18.7% (of the 88.8% who answered an optional question) Australian Bureau of Statistics (2006 census)[14]
Italy 17.8% Dentsu Communication Institute Inc, Japan Research Center (2006)[7]
Spain 17% Centre of Sociological Investigations (2005)[15]
United Kingdom 16.8% (of the 92.7% who answered an optional question) UK National Statistics (2001 census)[16]
Canada 16.2% Canada 2001 Census[17]
Argentina 16.0% Gallup-Argentina poll, April 2001[18]
South Africa 15.1% Statistics South Africa Census 2001[19]
United States 15.0% (of the 94.6% who answered an optional question, out of a sample of 50,281 households in the 48 contiguous states) American Religious Identification Survey (2001), as reported by US Census Bureau [20]
Croatia 13.2% Dentsu Communication Institute Inc, Japan Research Center (2006)[7]
Austria 12.2% Dentsu Communication Institute Inc, Japan Research Center (2006)[7]
Finland 11.7% Dentsu Communication Institute Inc, Japan Research Center (2006)[7]
Portugal 11.4% Dentsu Communication Institute Inc, Japan Research Center (2006)[7]
Puerto Rico 11.1% Dentsu Communication Institute Inc, Japan Research Center (2006)[7]
Bulgaria 11.1% Dentsu Communication Institute Inc, Japan Research Center (2006)[7]
Philippines 10.9% Dentsu Communication Institute Inc, Japan Research Center (2006)[7]
India 6.6% Dentsu Communication Institute Inc, Japan Research Center (2006)[7]
Serbia and Montenegro 5.8% Dentsu Communication Institute Inc, Japan Research Center (2006)[7]
Ireland 4.5% Central Statistics Office Ireland Census 2006[21]
Peru 4.7% Dentsu Communication Institute Inc, Japan Research Center (2006)[7]
Poland 4.6% Dentsu Communication Institute Inc, Japan Research Center (2006)[7]
Iceland 4.3% Dentsu Communication Institute Inc, Japan Research Center (2006)[7]
Greece 4.0% Dentsu Communication Institute Inc, Japan Research Center (2006)[7]
Turkey 2.5% Dentsu Communication Institute Inc, Japan Research Center (2006)[7]
Romania 2.4% Dentsu Communication Institute Inc, Japan Research Center (2006)[7]
Tanzania 1.7% Dentsu Communication Institute Inc, Japan Research Center (2006)[7]
Malta 1.3% Dentsu Communication Institute Inc, Japan Research Center (2006)[7]
Iran 1.1% (Atheism and Agnosticism are illegal) Dentsu Communication Institute Inc, Japan Research Center (2006)[7]
Uganda 1.1% Dentsu Communication Institute Inc, Japan Research Center (2006)[7]
Nigeria 0.7% Dentsu Communication Institute Inc, Japan Research Center (2006)[7]
Bangladesh 0.1% Dentsu Communication Institute Inc, Japan Research Center (2006)[7]

  1. ^ Humanist Manifesto 2000
  2. ^ http://www.pitzer.edu/academics/faculty/zuckerman/atheism.html
  3. ^ http://www.adherents.com/Na/Na_473.html
  4. ^ http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2006/71364.htm
  5. ^ http://www.membres.lycos.fr/instantanesdalbanie/image/dossierdepresse.pdf
  6. ^ http://www.adherents.com/Na/Na_472.html
  7. ^ 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 (Japanese) http://www2.ttcn.ne.jp/~honkawa/9460.html English source requested
  8. ^ http://www.czso.cz/csu/edicniplan.nsf/o/4110-03--obyvatelstvo_hlasici_se_k_jednotlivym_cirkvim_a_nabozenskym_spolecnostem
  9. ^ http://www.scp.nl/publicaties/boeken/9037702597.shtml
  10. ^ http://www.stats.govt.nz/census/2006-census-data/quickstats-about-culture-identity/quickstats-about-culture-and-identity.htm?page=para012Master
  11. ^ http://www.fowid.de/
  12. ^ http://www.insee.fr/fr/ffc/chifcle_fiche.asp?ref_id=NATCCF05501&tab_id=451
  13. ^ Eurobarometer on Social Values, Science and technology 2005 - page 11. Retrieved on 2007-05-05.
  14. ^ http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/7d12b0f6763c78caca257061001cc588/6ef598989db79931ca257306000d52b4!OpenDocument
  15. ^ (Spanish) http://www.cis.es/cis/opencms/-Archivos/Marginales/2600_2619/e260200.html
  16. ^ http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=293
  17. ^ http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census01/products/analytic/companion/rel/contents.cfm
  18. ^ http://www.prolades.com/amertbl06.htm
  19. ^ http://www.statssa.gov.za/census01/Census/Database/Census%202001/Census%202001.asp
  20. ^ http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/population/religion/
  21. ^ http://www.cso.ie/census/documents/Final%20Principal%20Demographic%20Results%202006.pdf Final Principal Demographic Results 2006

v • d • e
Irreligion
Atheism Ludwig Feuerbach
Ludwig Feuerbach
Agnosticism
Nontheism
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