I’ve only had two of my Mormon peers/friends/relatives reveal to me after knowing them for a substantial amount of time that they are atheists. Based on that, I would guess the percentage of active Latter-day Saints that are closet atheists is pretty low, around 1%-3%?
That implies that you have more-or-less a hundred close friends/peers/relatives, who you have known for a substantial amount of time and would expect them to tell you if they are closet atheists.
Edit: Downvoted for something the majority probably agrees with, because I haven’t wrapped it up in condescending niceties? We’re talking about the Book of Mormon and following a charlatan like Joseph Smith. If that’s still too ambiguous to render an opinion, what isn’t?
Edit2: Becoming a rationalist and believing in some ancient religious scrolls are mutually exclusive. Dear reader (in most cases), you know this, I know this. People have seen the arguments presented a hundred times. Some of them still choose to believe in nonsense. At what point are we allowed to point out the stupidity of that belief? At what point can we stop politely rehashing arguments, and say “look, you’re smart yet you abuse your smarts to rationalize nonsense”.
That’s the most dangerous kind of person, not some harmless peasant who can’t know any better. A university educated student who can take flying lessons. A nuclear scientist who believes in some fundamentalist islamic regime. The smarter you are, the less excuses you have. What’s the alternative, saying “well, I presented my arguments, you say your belief is perfectly rational. Let’s leave it at that”?
because I haven’t wrapped it up in condescending niceties?
Being nice is important.
If that’s still too ambiguous to render an opinion, what isn’t?
Kindergarten level insults like “Mormon sort-of-rhymes with Moron” aren’t just an expression of opinion. Mormon would be sort-of-rhyming with Moron, even if Mormonism had been true. What you instead expressed is a cutesy and juvenile way of insulting someone: “The mormon is a moron, the mormon is a moron, hahahaha!”
I downvoted your comment, not because I don’t enjoy a good takedown of sloppy religious reasoning (even in the form of a snappy comment), but because this was nothing of the sort: it’s a completely boring instance of saying “Boo X”, without any content or even cleverness. It’s just noise within the discussion.
Over twenty-three years the numbers add up. I think I could easily find more than a hundred active Latter-day Saints just counting members of my extended family that I routinely encounter every year.
How many of your younger Mormon peers and friends do you think are secretly atheists?
I’ve only had two of my Mormon peers/friends/relatives reveal to me after knowing them for a substantial amount of time that they are atheists. Based on that, I would guess the percentage of active Latter-day Saints that are closet atheists is pretty low, around 1%-3%?
That implies that you have more-or-less a hundred close friends/peers/relatives, who you have known for a substantial amount of time and would expect them to tell you if they are closet atheists.
Mormons have lots of friends, and lots of relatives.
Mormons. M-o-r-m-o-n-s. The ‘m’ is silent.
Edit: Downvoted for something the majority probably agrees with, because I haven’t wrapped it up in condescending niceties? We’re talking about the Book of Mormon and following a charlatan like Joseph Smith. If that’s still too ambiguous to render an opinion, what isn’t?
Edit2: Becoming a rationalist and believing in some ancient religious scrolls are mutually exclusive. Dear reader (in most cases), you know this, I know this. People have seen the arguments presented a hundred times. Some of them still choose to believe in nonsense. At what point are we allowed to point out the stupidity of that belief? At what point can we stop politely rehashing arguments, and say “look, you’re smart yet you abuse your smarts to rationalize nonsense”.
That’s the most dangerous kind of person, not some harmless peasant who can’t know any better. A university educated student who can take flying lessons. A nuclear scientist who believes in some fundamentalist islamic regime. The smarter you are, the less excuses you have. What’s the alternative, saying “well, I presented my arguments, you say your belief is perfectly rational. Let’s leave it at that”?
Being nice is important.
Kindergarten level insults like “Mormon sort-of-rhymes with Moron” aren’t just an expression of opinion. Mormon would be sort-of-rhyming with Moron, even if Mormonism had been true. What you instead expressed is a cutesy and juvenile way of insulting someone: “The mormon is a moron, the mormon is a moron, hahahaha!”
I downvoted your comment, not because I don’t enjoy a good takedown of sloppy religious reasoning (even in the form of a snappy comment), but because this was nothing of the sort: it’s a completely boring instance of saying “Boo X”, without any content or even cleverness. It’s just noise within the discussion.
Seriously, you know you can do better than that.
Over twenty-three years the numbers add up. I think I could easily find more than a hundred active Latter-day Saints just counting members of my extended family that I routinely encounter every year.