Comments on: Survey on Coming Out As An Atheist

By: D

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 15:52:16 +0000

Done! I hope there are some interesting results that come out of this.

By: Christophe Thill

Christophe Thill — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 15:38:06 +0000

I was embarrassed by several questions that felt irrelevant. I never really felt I was “in the closet” or “coming out”. I suppose most people around me have no strong feelings about religion, even the believers among them. So there’s just not much talk on the subject, or not at all. Why would it be most difficult to mention my atheism to my coworkers? Because there really aren’t opportunities to discuss the subject (at work there’s usually other stuff to do).

By: Sean the Blogonaut

Sean the Blogonaut — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 23:44:11 +0000

Done. I hope you will post the results when it is completed

By: JSug

JSug — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 23:00:40 +0000

It should probably be specified that this survey only applies to people that identify as atheists, even though one of the first questions asks you to pick a label for yourself that includes things like “agnostic” and “humanist” which are not the same thing. Also, the wording of some of the questions and responses seem… poor to me.

For example:

3. Which of these factors was most significant in holding you back from acknowledging to yourself that you were an atheist?
* Fear of the reaction of others who are believers

Um, how would acknowledging it to myself invoke a reaction from others?

Also, this:

4. Who did you “come out to” first?

I don’t feel like this question, or any of the responses applies to me. I don’t feel like I was ever “in” since my immediate family is not religious (this was asked earlier). Do I select the “I’m not out” option?

And, apparently, the only thing anyone is allowed to miss about religious affiliation is “the social aspect.” But take heart, because you can miss it to varying degrees.

By: Something to do

Something to do — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 21:42:59 +0000

[...] here’s something for ya’ll to do. Some professor (via Friendly Atheist) is doing a survey of atheists about coming out of our various closets and I thought I’d pass [...]

By: Polly

Polly — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 20:12:43 +0000

What? They didn’t tell me my fortune or even guess my sign!

Actually, what would be cool is if they offered a discount coupon for CafePress merch.

By: Sisyphus Fragment

Sisyphus Fragment — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 19:59:45 +0000

I’m in the process of completing it as we speak.

By: Jim

Jim — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 18:54:12 +0000

Done. Easy. Only took 5-10 minutes.

By: amiable

amiable — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 18:26:19 +0000

took it.

i wish there was a way to differentiate between where i live and where i was raised (unless i missed it). wasn’t sure how to answer some of the questions because of that.