Census 2011

silurian1980

With the state and the church relying on people ticking the 'Catholic' box every census for statistics and to exert influence on much of our society such as schooling, do you think next year's census will see a drop in the number of 'Catholic' box tickers and an increase in 'No religion' box tickers?

Stercus Accidit

If the Atheist Ireland crowd got round to raising awareness of the census, what it influences, and the contradictions in our society between the secular constitution and how our schools are run, people might take note and ensure they don't tick option 'C' just because they had water thrown on their head as a baby.

It would be more worthwhile than the angelus campaign.

demonspawn

What, no "Agnostic" box? I feel discriminated against now.

silverhare

Isn't it usually a case of writing the name of your religion?

With the huge influx of foreign nationals we've seen in the past few years I'm hoping that the Catholic percentage will go down significantly.

demonspawn

silverhare wrote: »

Isn't it usually a case of writing the name of your religion?

With the huge influx of foreign nationals we've seen in the past few years I'm hoping that the Catholic percentage will go down significantly.

Polish and Africans? Don't hold your breath. The Chinese will definitely make a difference though.
I love the influx of foreigners though, so don't take that the wrong way.

Dades

silverhare wrote: »

Isn't it usually a case of writing the name of your religion?

There is an "Other" option.

silverhare wrote: »

With the huge influx of foreign nationals we've seen in the past few years I'm hoping that the Catholic percentage will go down significantly.

I'd say the vast majority of the new influx are believers of some form - with a huge jump in the evangelical churches.

demonspawn wrote: »

What, no "Agnostic" box? I feel discriminated against now.

I bet you are an unsuspecting atheist that doesn't realise you can be agnostic at the same time.

silurian1980

Stercus Accidit wrote: »

If the Atheist Ireland crowd got round to raising awareness of the census, what it influences, and the contradictions in our society between the secular constitution and how our schools are run, people might take note and ensure they don't tick option 'C' just because they had water thrown on their head as a baby.

It would be more worthwhile than the angelus campaign.

Certainly agree with you there. It might be worth writing to AI to see if they have any plans for the event.

demonspawn

Dades wrote: »

I bet you are an unsuspecting atheist that doesn't realise you can be agnostic at the same time.

Nope, I'm definitely an agnostic that can happily say I just don't know if there's a god or not. And to be honest, I really don't care. I seriously doubt an omnipotent power gives a flying f**k about what we humans do. We'd be like germs to it. So, I choose not to waste my precious time on this planet worrying about things that don't concern me.

Dades

silurian1980 wrote: »

Certainly agree with you there. It might be worth writing to AI to see if they have any plans for the event.

A facebook campaign was suggested here a while back.

That would be the best way to reach the people who have their own views but whose mammy's historically marked them down as catholic. And free.

I'd be very surprised if AI didn't run some kind of an promotion for 'honesty' in filling in the Religion box on the 2011 Census.

Dades

demonspawn wrote: »

Dades wrote: »

I bet you are an unsuspecting atheist that doesn't realise you can be agnostic at the same time.

Nope, I'm definitely an agnostic that can happily say I just don't know if there's a god or not. And to be honest, I really don't care. I seriously doubt an omnipotent power gives a flying f**k about what we humans do. We'd be like germs to it. So, I choose not to waste my precious time on this planet worrying about things that don't concern me.

Did you even read my post?

Perhaps you should have a quick read of this thread, or at the very least the first post, and re-ask yourself what you are.

goingpostal

Dades wrote: »

I bet you are an unsuspecting atheist that doesn't realise you can be agnostic at the same time.

Spot on. Anyone that cannot say "I believe in God", for whatever reason, is, by default, an atheist. Argue your way out of that one, agnostics.

goingpostal

I intend to get out my markers, crayons and pencils, and draw a little box on the form and next to that box I am going to put the word "hell-bound atheist" and then I am going to put a lovely little tick in the box I have drawn. And then I shall have a lovely cup of cocoa.

Pushtrak

I don't think the upcoming one will be as significant as we'd hope. I've a feeling it'll end up being the one after it or the next. Here's hoping I'm proven wrong, and there is a substantial shift in numbers in this upcoming one though.

demonspawn

Dades wrote: »

Did you even read my post?

Perhaps you should have a quick read of this thread, or at the very least the first post, and re-ask yourself what you are.

I read your post. I'm not an atheist because I hate them and they smell like poo.

Dades

Well you sure smell like one to me.

demonspawn

Dades wrote: »

Well you sure smell like one to me.

I know, the damn power shower is broken and I hate cold showers.

ShooterSF

demonspawn wrote: »

I read your post. I'm not an atheist because I hate them and they smell like poo.

Militant agnostic? Malty would like you

The Mad Hatter

See, I have to wonder how diluted the "Atheism" option gets between people writing "Atheist," "No religion," "None" and other such, as well as the many Mammy-Catholics of course.

goingpostal

What is a Mammy-Catholic? It sounds serious, whatever it is:D

goingpostal

goingpostal wrote: »

What is a Mammy-Catholic? It sounds serious, whatever it is:D

"Of course my child is a catholic, I'll fill that in for him/her"

lynski

It seems there was an opportunity to propose questions or changes to the 2011 census, the closing date was sept 08 and the decisions on changes were made in dec 09.
A strong campaign needs to be run by AI to make sure that people know how important it is that non-believers state their preference. Maybe we will see some movement on schools then.

Galvasean

Im not expecting a drastic shakeup, but I'd say there will be a bit of a noticable increase in the non-religious alright. I'd say it will climb steadily overthe next few censusizes.

Dave!

Stercus Accidit wrote: »

If the Atheist Ireland crowd got round to raising awareness of the census, what it influences, and the contradictions in our society between the secular constitution and how our schools are run, people might take note and ensure they don't tick option 'C' just because they had water thrown on their head as a baby.

It would be more worthwhile than the angelus campaign.

Agreed! Hopefully Michael Nugent gets a whiff of this and then diverts some resources to it. Gwan Mick, get on TV and the raydee'oh and urge people to examine their beliefs and make a decision as to whether they are actually Catholics, or whether they're just going along with tradition.

I would also suggest that Atheist Ireland 'instructs' (for lack of a better word) suggests that non-believers to just go with one option on the form, so that we get a better indication of the number of atheists in Ireland. In previous years, some people ticked 'no religion', others wrote 'atheist' in the empty field, and others put down 'Jedi' or similar.

Also, maybe encourage people to fill out their own section themselves, as I know during the last census a few of us on here (certainly me!) have been marked as Catholic by parents who were filling in the form.

It would be cool if this could happen.

The Mad Hatter

Dave! wrote: »

I would also suggest that Atheist Ireland 'instructs' (for lack of a better word)

May I suggest "suggests"?

Galvasean

Dave! wrote: »

I would also suggest that Atheist Ireland 'instructs' (for lack of a better word) non-believers to just go with one option on the form, so that we get a better indication of the number of atheists in Ireland. In previous years, some people ticked 'no religion', others wrote 'atheist' in the empty field, and others put down 'Jedi' or similar.

I would have assumed all atheists count as 'No Religion'. People who write Jedi are marked down as religious. Heck, knowing this country they probably count handwritten 'Atheist' among the religious. :rolleyes:

Dave! wrote:

Also, maybe encourage people to fill out their own section themselves, as I know during the last census a few of us on here (certainly me!) have been marked as Catholic by parents who were filling in the form.

In my defense, I was away that week!

Dave!

Galvasean wrote: »

I would have assumed all atheists count as 'No Religion'. People who write Jedi are marked down as religious. Heck, knowing this country they probably count handwritten 'Atheist' among the religious. :rolleyes:

Yes I agree, that would be my choice too

silverhare

demonspawn wrote: »

Polish and Africans? Don't hold your breath. The Chinese will definitely make a difference though.
I love the influx of foreigners though, so don't take that the wrong way.

Fair point, I also keep forgetting the huge number of Indians who have been raised in one or other of the christian faiths.

strobe

If AI, or this forum or any other group do choose to run some sort of campaign for the census I really really think they should encourage everyone to mark themselves as "No Religion" rather than "Atheist". You just have to look at some of the threads people start and posts they make in this forum to see that a lot of people have a pretty disjointed view of what atheism actually means. I agree everyone should be encouraged to go with one option rather than putting in Jedi or whatever and it really should be "No religion" as opposed to anything else. I'm completely positive a campaign with that focus would have a much higher success rate.

I was in a genuine conversation with someone only about three weeks ago that went something like this:

Strobe: Cool chain. So why a crucifix? You Christian yeah?
Atheist: Oh, no. I'm not religious at all. I just thought it looked savage.
Strobe: Cool, so you don't believe in god?
Atheist: Nah not at all.
Strobe: Yeah same here. So how long have you been an atheist?
Atheist: Whoa, I'm not an atheist I just don't believe in god or religion.
Strobe: I see....

Dades

strobe wrote: »

If AI, or this forum or any other group do choose to run some sort of campaign for the census I really really think they should encourage everyone to mark themselves as "No Religion" rather than "Atheist".

Yeah, you're probably right - for consistency's sake. (Though I did both last time.)

ShooterSF

I know I will be urging my religious friends to consider at least whether they are catholic or christian. As I know which I would consider the lesser of two evils..

ShooterSF

strobe wrote: »

I was in a genuine conversation with someone only about three weeks ago that went something like this:

Strobe: Cool chain. So why a crucifix? You Christian yeah?
Atheist: Oh, no. I'm not religious at all. I just thought it looked savage.
Strobe: Cool, so you don't believe in god?
Atheist: Nah not at all.
Strobe: Yeah same here. So how long have you been an atheist?
Atheist: Whoa, I'm not an atheist I just don't believe in god or religion.
Strobe: I see....

So you've met demonspawn in real life?

MagicMarker

strobe wrote: »

If AI, or this forum or any other group do choose to run some sort of campaign for the census I really really think they should encourage everyone to mark themselves as "No Religion" rather than "Atheist". You just have to look at some of the threads people start and posts they make in this forum to see that a lot of people have a pretty disjointed view of what atheism actually means. I agree everyone should be encouraged to go with one option rather than putting in Jedi or whatever and it really should be "No religion" as opposed to anything else. I'm completely positive a campaign with that focus would have a much higher success rate.

I was in a genuine conversation with someone only about three weeks ago that went something like this:

Strobe: Cool chain. So why a crucifix? You Christian yeah?
Atheist: Oh, no. I'm not religious at all. I just thought it looked savage.
Strobe: Cool, so you don't believe in god?
Atheist: Nah not at all.
Strobe: Yeah same here. So how long have you been an atheist?
Atheist: Whoa, I'm not an atheist I just don't believe in god or religion.
Strobe: I see....

It looked savage?

*shakes head in desperate disbelief*

MagicMarker

ShooterSF wrote: »

So you've met demonspawn in real life?

He doesn't wear a crucifix, he sports the following...

liamw

ShooterSF wrote: »

So you've met demonspawn in real life?

Ye demonspawn still won't accept he's agostic atheist like most of us. You an ATHEIST demonspawn, get over it. You have no morals!

Galvasean

To paraphrase Dara O' Briain; "Now, I don't believe in God... Don't worry, I'm still Catholic!"

sonicthebadger*

MagicMarker wrote: »

It looked savage?

*shakes head in desperate disbelief*

Savage is about the most accurate description of the practice of nailing a human being to a cross as I've ever heard.

wonton

I'm also curious as to the percent of muslims in ireland now, it certainly looks like it has shot up.

If anything i'd say this census will be worse for atheists.

I can imagine even people being more inclined to put catholic because of the mass immigration.