Atheist Women: Why so few? What Does the Research Say?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 ก.ย. 2024
- Why are there so few women atheists? What do current studies reveal about this disparity? Is this phenomenon attributable to biological, psychological or social factors, and what implications does it have for the secularization of society? Also, why do men tend to abandon religion or adopt atheism at a considerably higher rate than women?
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ATHEISM in Medieval Islam. - • ATHEISM in Medieval Is...
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Bibliography:
• Trzebiatowska, Marta, and Steve Bruce. Why Are Women More Religious Than Men? Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012.
• Mahlamäki, Tiina. 2022. Why Are Men More Likely to Be Atheists Than Women? In Teemu Taira (ed.) Atheism in Five Minutes. Sheffield: Equinox Publishing. Pages 105-108.
• Brewster, M. E. 2013. “Atheism, gender, and sexuality,” in S. Bullivant and M. Ruse (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Atheism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 511-24.
• Edgell, Penny, Jacqui Frost, and Evan Stewart. “From Existential to Social Understanding of Risk: Examining Gender Differences in Nonreligion.” Social Compass 4(6) (2017): 556- 574.
• Schnabel, L. 2016. “Religion and gender equality worldwide: a country level analysis.” Social Indicators Research 129(2), 893 907.
• Guenther, K. M. 2019. “Secular sexism: the persistence of gender inequality in the US New Atheist Movement.” Women’s Studies International Forum, 72, 47 55.
• Chavez, M., Anderson, S. L., and Eagle, A. 2014. “National Congregations Study, cumulative dataset (1998, 2006 2007, and 2012), V2.” Distributed by the Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA). Available at: www.thearda.com/conQS/qs 236 .asp.
• Bloom, P. B. N. 2016. “State level restriction of religious freedom and women’s rights: a global analysis.” Political Studies 64(4), 832 53.
• Brewster, M. E. (ed.) 2014. Atheists in America. New York: Columbia University Press.
• Gaylor, A. L. (ed.) 1997. Women Without Superstition: No Gods No Masters: The Collected Writings of Women Freethinkers of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. Madison, WI: Freedom from Religion Foundation.
• Mooney, C. 2011. “The future of irreligion, part 2: a conversation with Barry A. Kosmin.” Free Inquiry 31(8), 44.
• Kosmin, B. A. 2014. “The vitality of soft secularism in the United States and the challenge posed by the growth of the nones,” in J. Berlinblau, S. Fainberg, and A. Nou (eds.) Secularism on the Edge. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 35 49.
• Woodhead, L. 2007. “Gender differences in religious practice and significance,” in J. Beckford and N. J. Demerath III (eds.) The Sage Handbook of the Sociology of Religion. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 550 70.
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Dear, what is the name of the place where the brains of the "society of mutual autopsy" are held on display in France?
Hmm, funny how you said (churches would struggle without women) as I have come to the same conclusion a few years ago,
I have always said that ( men make the "culture/society" but women preserve them),
although I do also say ( men don't know how to blend the modern and traditional, but women can blend them easily without trying),
if there is a way to blend contradictory ideas (secularism and religious sexism), women do it everyday, men would be saying it's impossible
Can I ask you what made you feel the need to make a video on this topic? Some significant event that was going on during that time, personal relationships, inspiration from another TH-camr's video? What was it?
Same reason women are more successful in school.
@@aaad3552 That doesn't answer my question at all.
I think it's, among many things, a result of a sunken cost fallacy. While men do suffer the effects of purity culture and religious guilt, women are subjected to more severe trauma and limitations. Many christian women see their unhappy marriages, wasted youths, and truncated careers as "spiritual investments". So they find the thought of having sacrificed so much for nothing -unbearable-.
in my research I focus on ex-clergy most of whom are male and they share similar thoughts but I see what you mean.
This sentiment does seem true to me regarding women with children who seem to have a problem with women who choose not to have children. It’s as if the decision others make not to breed diminishes something in their own decisions.
There's also the literal costs of not having as much financial security as a man.
@@religiologEngI had a thought in support of the original comment. I spent years studying in yeshiva specifically because I felt the need to understand my "true" religion. It was such a huge loss to conclude it wasn't true. If I had not been dedicated to logic and evidence, I doubt I would have overcome my biases. In other words, maybe clergy have huge sunk costs, but they are also in the very business of finding truth in their religion. Women - often excluded from religious leadership - might be less exposed to the sort of religious analysis which leads to overcoming the psychological defenses against loss.
@@benjaminplotke4716 I know someone (a former pastor) for whom this was very true.
I have met a large number of atheist and agnostic women. I am one myself. I believe part of it may be an identification issue. Atheism can sometimes be seen as “harsh” and many people see themselves as “neutral”. I would argue that the number is skewed when polls are taken for % atheists men and women.
Of course, I’m not saying it’s equal, but we exist!
thank you for sharing this
Atheism vs agnosticism, atheism vs pantheism ("mystical atheism"?), hard atheism vs soft atheism...
Anyway, as I said in a separate comment, in my country, where disbelief rose like a tsunami after the death of Christo-fascist dictator Franco, women are definitely as likely to be atheist (or similar: agnostic, etc.) as men. Most people are nonbelievers anyhow (same in France and Catalonia and growingly across all Western Europe).
Very true about the "harsh" part. Atheism should just be a lack of a belief in a god, but some seem to use it as hatred of the concept of a god too. That's why I think some people prefer the term "Agnostic" by itself even though it's supposed to be used alongside "atheist, theist, deist" etc. to more accurately describe the belief system.
*WHO IS the DUDE in your AvaTar???*
@@Justin.MartyrSOSEKI NATSUME FROM GREAT ACE ATTORNEY!
I'm a white male. But I am disabled, autistic, have no family support, and have always struggled financially. I do not possess high social or.economic status. So why am I an atheist? I think autistic people, due social deficits and isolation, are more likely to be less religious because we don't participate in social structures.
great question. Thank you so much for sharing this. I'll check if there are any studies in that regard, but your hypothesis sounds legit. Here I found some studies but haven't read them yet - escholarship.org/content/qt6zh3j3pr/qt6zh3j3pr.pdf; brill.com/view/journals/arp/40/1/article-p1_1.xml; www.mdpi.com/2227-9067/10/8/1417
@@religiologEng
*ALthough I gave him an UP VOTE, I CouLd OnLy Understand 1/2 of his words!!!*
*I had to QUIT Watching at 1/2 way Point!!!!*
@@Justin.Martyr Just why are you spamming this dumb comment?
I don't think it has to do with social deficits and isolation and much more with the way autistic people process information, there is more rigid analytical thinking.
Could it also be that you tend to analyse things, and frankly...most religions do not stand up to scrutiny.
New Atheisim in the form of the 'skeptic' community deciding to declare war on Feminism back in the day certainly didn't help. I've been an atheist my entire life but those online spaces are only relatively recently becoming welcoming spaces for women and LGTB+ people.
Many thanks to channels like ConcernedApe and Genetically Modified Skeptic for being way more welcoming and actually rational about social issues (as in, recognising that they actually exist instead of dismissing them).
thanks for sharing it!
The New Atheists didn't declare war on feminists, feminists declared war on the New Atheists.
That is one of the important factors about Atheism. is that it's not a religion with the requirements of a religion. and anyone is welcome to join the Atheist community. and there's no obligation to stay an Atheist. although the Atheist community would hate to see someone leave. they wouldn't force anyone to stay or ostrosize a person for leaving. it's on of the most appealing concepts of Atheism.
I am a woman. My mother and I are atheists. So are most of my (girl) friends.
However, I think that a lot of women are living a life of oppression and that believing in a better afterlife will help make the nasty present bearable.
good point
So I'm a woman and I would probably describe myself as "Heisenburg's belief system" or basically agnostic, if I'm simplifying. My mom was atheist because she was raised Calvinist in the 70s. In the midst of race riots it's hard to sit in church and hear that God loves "all" the little children when all the ones you see are white. She became atheist somewhere between 8 and 11 yo and never told her mom bc it would just make her worry for no good reason. She still finds prophecy and comparative religion an interesting topic, and found the Baha'i Faith because of various religious prophecies that seemed to fit. My dad was a very lapsed Catholic and converted after just reading the Baha'i books around the house. I have no serious qualms with the Faith, and don't regret being raised with religion at all, but I simply find it doesn't suit my life. Both of us kiddos (now grown) have decided to kinda go our own way and our parents are supportive and suitably inquisitive and informative.
There has never been a present that is more bearable. How long do you think climate controlled buildings, as an example, have existed?
@@maclectic 1) I live in Europe and AC is not the norm. We do not need it, and it is terrible for the environment, so no reason to get it. 2) Things have moved very quickly, and there are vast swathes of the world where being a woman=being oppressed until quite recently (living memory, so mentalities are still limping behind) and other big swathes where women's life still is.
@@elenamariatudela56 Thank you for sharing these interesting paths!
I remember when I was a kid in the late 70's my mom was buying a car. She was an RN, single mom, owned a house, etc. the sales manager asked if her husband knew she was buying a car. My dad called and he told them she was her own woman and she can do whatever she wants.
Your dad is a legend ❤
As an atheist woman I find this fascinating!
glad you liked it
@@religiologEng very dumb video, it's because women are Neurologically different than MEN, people are not blank slates.
*ALthough I gave him an UP VOTE, I CouLd OnLy Understand 1/2 of his words!!!*
*I had to QUIT Watching at 1/2 way Point!!!!*
All the women I know are atheist, but I met most of them at university in my science classes.
@@Justin.Martyrtry turning on Closed captions. They seem 100% accurate to what he is saying.
And no worries, unfamiliar accents are hard for everyone! Maybe listening to this channel will give you a new skill better understanding Ukrainian English accents.
Also recall having to hide my atheism during my teenage years in order to not offend my working class mother, and other member of the small town I grew up in back in the 1980’s when everyone attended their local church.
thank you for sharing your experience
I often wonder how many people throught history were secretly atheists. They only pretended not to be atheists to survive.
I'm not an atheist. But I always jump on online proselytizers who think prayer cures illness when it does not.
Only Clorox and uv rays cure illnesses.
Yes! Pray to God if you want, but tie up your camel!
the belivers know it doesn't work. because if they really beleived, they'd be hanging around hospital wards trying to cure people. it's a con, and they know it
@@elenamariatudela56are you muslim? What you are referring as an example of taking care of your life before puting your trust in god is from an islamic hadith.
I'm a working class, small town, women with little formal education, but I've been an avid reader all my life. I'm handicapped by trauma, PTSD. I'm also about 60 years old and live in the USA. I've been completely atheist since the noughties, and left my childhood religion in my teens.
More men are apt to announce their atheism, while women just leave religion and the idea of god behind. Are you sure you are counting correctly? because it seems women have more reason to leave these thoughts behind.
good hypothesis , it could be
Excellent points...and you are proving what I always say: you do not have to study to stimulate your brain. Learning comes in many guises. Anyway, when I went to the US, I said I was atheist. I was 18. The lovely people I was with were shocked (especially as I am culturally Jewish). They asked a few questions, and decided that I was agnostic. I thought about it when I went to bed that night, and decided to gp along with this. Not because it was true, but because age 18, in a foreign country, surrounded by Jews who, unlike my family, did believe, it was just more diplomatic. I think Auschwitz etc, and how my grand dad was treated when the Russians "liberated" his camp killed the idea of god for us.
Once I was back in Europe, I was free to be honest, and I have never pretended again, but it gave me some insights into social pressure.
I agree. We leave our respective faiths within any fanfare. When I was 12, all I said to a few close friends was that I 'd given up Catholicism for Lent.
I think this question comes up in regard to a lot of statistics involving the differences between men and women - whether it's just the nature of our culture making women more likely to stay under the radar on certain matters. Kind of by definition it's hard to tell if-or-how-much it's the case, but it's always worth keeping the possibility in mind.
@@Dabordi Well, when I was younger I kept my ideas etc. to myself and am much more outspoken now that I am older. Society seems to favor the "quiet" women and also reward the outspoken men. Has a study been done on women only? That would be interesting IMO.
As an atheist woman, I just realize there’s no religion on the planet that treat women equally and fairly and it seems like all religious oppress women
maybe not all, but many do
@@religiologEng what religion treat women equally and fairly? Please let me know
@@toniq30 the pagan religions tend to be more equal, but not all of them. new age tends to be more equal, but one needs be careful to vet them before joining. toxic patriarchy is everywhere.
@@toniq30 If you're interested in a more feminist-leaning version of Christianity, look up Gnoticism or the Gospel of Mary. In Gnosticism, Mary Magdeline is viewed as one of Jesus's only true disciples compared to apostles like Paul and John who did their own thing. Also, the story of Adam and Eve gets flipped in Gnosticism, as eating from the Tree of Knowledge was actually a GOOD thing for the spiritual enlightenment of humanity, and Eve was unfairly punished for her curiosity by the spiteful and evil demiurge Yaldabeoth/"Jehovah". In Gnosticism, Jesus literally came to rescue humanity from the damage Yaldabeoth wreaked on humanity. That includes tearing down worldly systems like misogyny, greed, and other such earthly attachments in pursuit of spiritual awakening and ascension.
Personally, there's a bit of weird mythological hooey involved with that religion, but it's philosophically similar to Hermeticism and Buddhism. I'd say Gnosticism is the version of Christianity most aligned with Jesus's teachings.
@@toniq30 islam 😂😂
It makes the woman do nothing except serving her husband
I wonder if these same phenomenon are responsible for women more stereotypically believing in astrology
great question
I believe a lot of women who leave organized religion typically end up following some other spiritual practice, like Wicca or paganism. It's very common on the female-dominated part of TH-cam.
Women are spiritually superior. We maintain a connection with the spiritual, whether it's Christianity or Paganism.
religious belief and belief in astrology or tarot cards or the like gives women a sense of power they don't feel in a patriarchal world. even a sense of power is better than feeling powerless.
@@idk-ill-figure-smn-outmostly because it's the opposite of the patriarchal religion they been part of before, most women who go into wicca or paganism tend to focus their belief into empowering and empowered woman, like Hecate, Demeter, the divine feminine, I don't think it's just belief playing a part, it's also community, I don't believe in anything and I still go visit rituals from non abrahamic religions, specially the African diasporic ones that exist in my country, because they are much more inclusive people.
Bank account story from my great-granny Maximina Madariaga: she went to open a bank account (early 20th century, not sure the year, maybe the 30s) and she was turned back and asked to bring someone to sign for her. The next week she returned and declared that she would sign for herself... and (somehow) she got her bank account. That's at least what my historian sister has recolected.
interesting, thanks for sharing this story.
Maybe it wasn’t “illegal” in that State, just it was not a “right” like it is now
@@letsomethingshine - We had peculiar laws (Basque charters) but unsure how they may have applied. The question is that she was stubborn and got what she wanted.
All right, I see that I have to explain.
The secular women that seem to be missing largely identify as new age, neo-pagan or wiccan. In those communities there's a gender gap in the other direction.
Women tend to have suffered from misogynic discrimination and violence from an early age, leave their religion and look elsewhere.
Spiritual-but-not-religious communities are generally a place to heal emotionally, and many look forward when they recover. So they look at atheist and secular activist groups.
And are met by men talking among themselves about how they are inherently more intelligent, more rational, and how those pesky women keeps wanting to talk about social justice. Instead of just being an elitist group scoffing at religion while ignoring the real harm it does.
Men are less likely to suffer harm from patriarchal religion (still happens, definitely), and are more likely to deconvert for academic reasons. Women see the harm first, and is more concrete than the priest's rationalizations for doing said harm.
thank you, makes sense
Thank you, this is exactly my thoughts.
Interesting. But I do not really know men like the ones you describe.
I'm sure this is your experience, and likely many others. I'm not sure we're all quite so reactionary, though. Like many things, I find it's a spectrum. (then again, I was raised religious but not oppressively and not Christian, that likely makes a huge difference)
Atheist men definitely have their own brand of toxic misogynists among them (obligatory “not all”), but they tend to fall more along the lines of biological essentialist thinking rather than “Eve doomed mankind”.
I liked this video. The emphasis on social position and on social security, makes me thing it is important as an atheist not to demonize those who follow a religion as this could easily lead to discrimination against more vulnerable people with essential good hearts.
good point!
I’m an atheist woman who became atheist again after years in woo or pagan beliefs after years of Christian belief that started at age 15. I wonder about estrogen and belief, because I started believing around the time I would be getting the hormone rush and stopped around menopause. This didn’t occur to me until just now lol.
interesting
@rise do you think some neonatal infantile attachment mechanisms may be a contributing factor?
@@you_jay well I was vocally atheist from the time I read my dad’s comparative religion textbook in 2nd grade until 15 (when I got double whammied by the love bombing and coerced spiritual experience). It’s an interesting question.
@@riseofdarkleela very very interesting!!!
@@riseofdarkleela It seems like your dad really contributed to the way you see the world around. I wonder the name of that text book based on comparative religion.
It definitely has nothing to do with women in religions being denied birth control, education, jobs, and other rights that make it beyond difficult to be a woman and support yourself. Talk to a woman who survived being raised Mormon and you'll know all you need to know about why it is harder for women to leave religion.
for example?
@@religiologEng the fact I can't get my tunes tied and I'm not even religious.
Mercy Clinics in Missouri denied me my tubal because the people who own the clinics are catholic and think I should pop out as many kids as I can. Fun fact, my body doesnt want more babies either, I've had four miscarriages in the past year and a half and I'm almost 30 with a child. The ONLY reason they don't help me is because of THEIR religion. Freedom of Religion has been overstepping for years with overreaching policies that are borderline Christian. And this is not a Christian nation no matter how much yall pray and hope for it because it never was Christian and it'll never be Christian. Theocracy is beyond inhumane and is basically another form of a dictatorship. As someone who had to deconstruct from this religion themselves, growing up a young girl in church, I seen and heard it all. It was never about love or acceptance, it's all about control. God, then Husband, then wife, then children. The famous umbrella rule of Christianity literally outlines a hierarchy, in which women are not equal to men and children are even less so. Wake up and actually look at what you support, it's disgusting and overall does more harm than good.
Weird my long winded response got deleted
Its okay, I'm a woman I don't need right apparently. Deciding if I want to end my baby making days should be my decision alone, but thank to catholics in my state a doctor is unable to give me a tubal despite having health issues and already having a kid. Friendly reminder I'm not religious so idgaf what anyone's "god" thinks, it's my body and as an adult woman in her late 20s I'm not going to just quit having sex so I don't get pregnant. My partner of 5 years would probably hate that just as much as me, but apparently that doesn't matter
@@religiologEng It is much more difficult and risky for a woman to leave a religious community or family than for a man to leave. A woman is more likely than a man to be forced into marriage at a young age. It is then harder to leave because she has children and getting custody and supporting them will be difficult if she was never allowed to work or get an education. It is also risky for women to make it obvious they are leaving, physically stronger male relatives will attempt to restrain her. In many cultures the men don’t even have to use violence. Just the threat of being forced out of the house and the “protection” of the male members of the family is enough is societies where violence against women is prevalent.
As an atheist woman... No there aren't few of us. A great majority of women are atheists in Spain, where I'm from. Same in Scotland where I'm currently living. It's just the US that is so overwhelmingly religious (if we're talking the western world) 😂
thank you for sharing your experience
It's actually not true for the US either, if you look at the statistics, is pretty equal among genders and places like Latam are much more religious, the most common correlation we see with atheism is income.
I do expect a certain contingent of women in the US T say they're religious rather than be the center of a scandal. Southern Baptist women might ask a coworker which church they go to, and if it's the one across the street, they go all "steel magnolia." Or say to your face you'll burn in hell. Because it's my specific pastor or hell, apparently... *facepalm*
@@elenamariatudela56 gods that sounds awful
Atheist woman from the United States here. While I do concede your point, the US is not the only overwhelmingly religious country on the planet. Look in to the rates and practices of Islam in modern day Islamic Theocracies and what's going on in Africa.
I am a woman and though I was raised Christian i now considered myself an atheist. Its true that most of my peers are spiritual wether through organization trad religion or new age religion. I find that im often alone in my lack of belief in anything supernatural.
One superstition or another 👍
too sad and I completely feel your situation
*ALthough I gave him an UP VOTE, I CouLd OnLy Understand 1/2 of his words!!!*
*I had to QUIT Watching at 1/2 way Point!!!!*
@@Justin.Martyruse closed captions.
@@Justin.Martyr You poor martyr, have you spent your own life listening to one sort of accent only? If this is the case, then stick at it: understanding accents come easy if you exercise it, and it can be a very useful skill. Alternatively, click on the caption button, right side of the screen, 3rd from right.
Science is also incredibly misogynistic. A lot of times reason/logic/science will be used as an antidote to religion, but when these are misogynistic, religion seems just as valid of an option.
I do get what you're saying in some sense, but have to point out that most religions are way more misogynistic than science could ever be
@@misslayer999yes, but religions have a bunch options, lots of women leave the patriarchal religions and go into more inclusive or matriarchal religions, there is a reason there are so many women going into paganism and new age, you can actually customise it.
Modern science is at best very biased. Almost all medical studies are done on young white men in their 20s or 30s. Where I grew up, autism help disappears as soon as you turn 13. (nevermind nobody was talking about it in my teens) and autism is one of many issues that have been noticed in men and dismissed in women. Black people often show as having too little vitamin D in blood tests because the metric for the available kind was set based on... White people. My husband's BMI is insane, but mountain people tend to be short and stocky, so not acceptable in Western beauty standards. He's all ribcage and tree trunk muscle legs. Yeah science is biased by money and all kinds of things... But it's not usually doctrine that women are the cause of all our suffering.
Also I watched a Netflix thing a while back about Adam and eve. Interesting story: not about the origins of humanity. At all. They were a king and queen of a city-state that was polytheistic and they wanted to stay that way so they could stay in power. The serpent crawling on the ground is not some devil, but a representation of angelic/ancestor-type spirits (represented by winged snakes) no longer being considered acceptable worship. This is a relic of when Jews became monotheistic, as well as some angry guys with women problems and all the pens.
@@bluester7177 right that's why I said most religions. Also I'm a neuroscience student, and I have yet to encounter any misogyny. Hell all of my professors are women and there's a growing trend of more and more women getting science degrees. Just because men have been more prevalent in the field in the past doesn't mean it has to stay that way forever. You can make the misogyny argument about a lot of things, but I don't think avoiding certain careers, interests or ways of life is the way to change that. Personally I love science and nobody is going to stop me from following my passion. People(both women and men) become atheists and go with science over religion because religion isnt real and they're sick of being fed bullshit mythology. Once you realize the truth, it's not something you can just unsee and ignore anymore
Anyone who listens to iq stuff is likely both atheist and closet racists. It's a thing. If humans are not divine they don't matter. Which is funny, they'll deny free will but not believe in a higher power. Greatest cognitive dissonance possible.
I ended up joining the community of Apostate Aladdin 2ish months ago, who I actually found out about because he commented on one of your previous videos, and found it fascinating that his private server (almost all ex-muslim atheists) had a lot of women, possibly even more than half. I directly asked him about this and he takes pride in it and says it reflects in his general viewership as well, having significantly more (although still a minority) general female viewership than his peers. He's also about as un-angry as atheists get and I've loved his content precisely because he's fantastic at helping me as a lifelong non-religious person understand how it feels, both good and bad.
There's a lot of reasons I could discuss for why so many women are there - and I've asked a number of the women themselves what their opinion is on it - but I found it quite interesting either way since I think it spoke a lot both to the idiosyncrasies of that specific religion (VERY patriarchal), the fact that all of them could speak English (implying some baseline level of education and affluence), and the approach of the channel itself, that I think has more of a "stereotypical feminine appeal", focusing a lot on people's experiences and morality and less on the standard white Western atheist talking points of "logic dictates X so you should believe it, end of story."
Not to say that those people don't have good points, just that I think it is fair to acknowledge that not everybody likes the same stuff, and a combination of being raised to be submissive and a lack of testosterone means they wouldn't be nearly as attracted to the more standoffish modern atheist communities, as you noted well in the video itself.
Also, love that you go into this topic and look forward to you exploring it more. I think this is a really under-explored question. Atheism is still a touchy subject, and many minorities are the most religious since they are the poorest, least educated, and most badly in need of community. On the same note, treating women as equals in all social contexts is still a contentious issue getting its edges hammered out. Atheism tends to be a needless complication in any of these causes, but the end result is that even atheists who support women and minorities aren't likely to feel it's a good idea to try to do both of those issues at the same time.
Comes back to why I immediately got hooked on Apostate Aladdin so much. As a non-white guy born in the non-West with a lot of female participation, I think he speaks to the massive silent majority whose religion is utterly intertwined with dealing with adversity they were born into... and perpetuating it.
Thank you, Dabor! I think I feel why AA gets many female views. It is not typical for ex-Christian-atheist channels, if I may call it this way. I am sure GMS et al. have much more male views. On my Russian channel its approximately 80% to 20% in favor of male views. On this channel 92% males and only 8% females. But AA appeals to those suppressed under "very patriarchal", as you put it, framework. So, its understandable. Thanks for the comment.
Aladdin support hamas what do you mean...he's against ex Muslims now...unfortunately
@@Mujisu5102 I can guess what sort of channels YOU watch. He literally just flew home from Oslo where he was invited to speak at a huge ex-Muslim conference a few days ago. Citation Needed.
(Also I've literally had private conversations with him on the topic, and with many members of the community he has grown. And I'm Ashkenazi at that. Either you think he's the single stealthiest Hamas supporter ever, making cartoons of Mohammed just to throw us off his trail, or you're watching too much AP or Hassan Radwan (edit: I'm a dummy, meant to type Harris Sultan) with too much gullibility and not enough fact checking.)
@@Mujisu5102 I am Jewish (culturally, else I am an atheist) and I disagree with you, based on what I know of Aladdin.
@@vivianalva944Women having more feeling and empathy is probably why we commit fewer crimes. No, if you listened to the video: women are less educated=they end up basing their opinions on hunches, feelings, and that's what religions capitalise on.
As women's education catches up, the number of women who are atheists does too.
Here's a question: did women face more severe social consequences for religious dissent, or are women in general more afraid of social consequences? Since these would go hand in hand and reinforce each other, untangling this would not be easy. Do any of the studies you quote address this? I'm asking because I come from an atheist family, we were living in a Catholic social environment when I was younger, but my sister and I (male) reacted very differently to the pressure coming off our social environment. We were a well-educated family with very little economic pressure at the time, both of our parents had an academic education and were working in according jobs, and still, I basically did not care about the (rather mild, compared to what US atheists often face) adversity while my sister was almost traumatized by it.
Women have a lot more trauma to go through in general, and society has taught us to be afraid of being any more of a "less than" than we are. I suppose it's kind of a chicken-egg, downward spiral scenario, really.
I find this fascinating as someone whom came from a poorer immigrant family whose parents were religious, and yet became an atheist by the age of fifteen.
I mean, it took me a long time to finally become an atheist because of the shame and fear.
I'm an older working class woman with an average education. Like 3 of my female friends, I'm an an atheist but it's something we don't really discuss or find important. Living in Britain (3 of us are English, 1 Polish) it's not really an issue, you don't announce you are an atheist, you just get on with your life!
yes, most nonreligious people are simply indifferent to religion and never discuss it.
@@religiologEng too true.
I might discuss it but with people I know. That said, if asked in an interview I don't mind saying the absolute truth. If I lived in a more religious area, I think I would be far less likely to "rock the boat" and more likely to say "I'm with all these other people " just to keep them out of my business. Ah, appeasement... Doesn't it just... Suck.
in UK nobody minds. what does annoy is when you get cultists knocking at the door...
@@andyf4292 Same in France, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Scandinavia. Things are more comolicaetd in Russia. Putin's Russia hates atheists.
I think that women and men are equally likely to be atheistic/agnostic in my country (Basque Country) and that applies also to its entourage such as France, Catalonia, etc., which are the most atheist areas of Europe. Global statistics may be biased because there's a lot of people still emerging from the Dark Ages (rural "medievalist" background, which is also patriarchal almost invariably).
yes, in your part of the world things may be very different
@@religiologEng - It's probably also different in Iran, where rumor is that atheism is growing massive among the younger generations. There's nothing like religious tyranny to make everyone atheist...
What do you know of atheism figures in "Muslim" Albania? They had a cultural revolution, much like China's which left a deep mark, you know.
The question is which is your part of the world and what do the thumbnail's statistics say. You seem to be talking about the whole world but were sloppy about sources and data.
Also, I always find such videos have a slight American slant. As I posted above, it can be hard to declare yourself an atheist in the USA.
@@annepoitrineau5650 - I understand things have been changing a lot since I did exactly that (as exchange student) in 1985-86... to the astonishment of some and the cheers of many. Things are improving fast even in the Americas.
@@LuisAldamiz Yes...I was an excchange student in 1973/1974... remarkable that it seems you had the same experience in 85/86 (AFS?? exchange?). I hope things are changing indeed!!
This comment section is wild and it helps show why women don't identify as atheist, why would we? Atheists are here talking about how inferior and less intelligent we are, how emotional we are, how we are a lesser human, why would anyone want to associate with that?
Because of the atheist channels I watch nowadays, I have forgotten how anti-woman atheism spaces online often were and apparently still are.
I don't believe in any gods but I will stick to agnostic as a label.
thank you for sharing your pain here. It is really important for others to hear such perspective, and it is one of the reasons I decided to produce this video.
Just to be fair, I haven't watched the video yet. So basically, I wanted to ask where did you hear such horrendous things? As an atheist male, living in poland, I have never personally heard such claims on yt or anywhere else and I'm really curious why would anyone say such a thing? In my experience, atheism is all about logic and knowledge, which clearly state that, and this might be wild for some people, women and men are both humans (and are equal, just to clarify)
Honestly speaking here I haven't heard what you described here.
@@abdoolkareem_I believe OP is talking about the new atheist community. Those people are the worst. They don’t just hate women, they think science proves that they are genetically and intellectually superior to everyone. I think it’s a cultural thing more relevant in the US and the UK.
@@barbo866Just scroll the comment section, I have read all comments before I posted this one, as you go down it becomes super common (at least at the time I wrote the first comment) , there were multiple comments about this even though I'm paraphrasing so it may not seem as harsh as what I wrote, and as someone who is 32 and been on the Internet since I was 12, it's not a new phenomenon, even though nowadays is much better, being an atheist in real life isn't great either, I live in a 90% christian country, people don't feel confortable with non belief, they barely feel confortable with believe in other religions.
Religious groups are social /power groups. Females sometimes attend 2-3 churches in rural communities . This is a communication network and another social support system. Another reason that helps women live longer on average.
I'm an atheist woman. Every person's story is different and their journey to atheism different as well. Idk if my story is uusal or not. But I've been atheist for most of my life as a young adult.
good to know. thanks
Shitt.. looks like finding an atheist girlfriend will be harder than I thought
:)
Lol
Yeah😄. In my case I’m Black and a Lesbian and there is so much woo-woo-ism among Black women, including lesbians, that I gave up a looonnnnggg time ago😊. Good luck! We’ll both need it😂
I suspect that the correlation between high social status and lack of religion is largely caused by the way that being more educated tends to be associated with both being of a higher privileged background and being less religious rather than the high social status itself causing people to be more likely to not be religious. I think if education was to be accounted for then the correlation between high social status and being unreligious would at least drastically decrease if not go away.
In general Medieval Kings had a much higher social status than Modern High School Students, yet it’s Modern Highschool Students who are less likely to be religious, because despite tending to be of a lower social status than Medieval Kings Modern High School Students tend to have more of an understanding of how the world works than a Medieval King. I know people in The Middle Ages knew more about how the world works than we often give them credit for, but their understanding was still a lot less than the understanding of most people living today.
I think if anything the patriarchal teachings of the Bible and the Koran would all else being equal make women more likely to leave the Jewish Religion, Christianity, and Islam, but I think being less educated tends to more than cancel out the effects of the patriarchal teachings on women being religious. Some religions and branches of a religion are very strict and teach a fire and brimstone message, and so if anything might just add more stress to the lives of people already stressed out by the struggles of being a marginalized group, but the effects of being less educated might cancel out the effects of the teachings of the religion on marginalized groups being religious.
I'm not sure it's quite that simple. Kings, much like rulers today, may believe what they want privately and we would probably never know, because religion was another avenue to power. Denying it would probably get you killed at the very least. It's more acceptable to be less religious in general, and it's expected that high school students are trying to find their own way, or "be angsty" as some might say who lack perspective. Besides, they have no power (and often no hope and no truth in school) to lose. Nobody cares what happens to teenagers, even though humans likely need the most guidance at that age. A king on the other hand can't maintain power without maintaining the appearance of religion basically always.
Atheist woman here...I look forward to watching!
Thank you Becca! Please check out some of my previous videos too.
Growing up in France, I came from a non-religious family. We weren’t even familiar with the concept of atheism. My French mother also came from a non-religious background, going back several generations, I believe. It wasn’t until much later that I learned my Dutch father was religious-Lutheran, according to my mother, who mentioned it once! Strangely enough, both my Dutch grandparents were also non-religious.
As far as I can remember, the environment in France where I grew up was largely secular. When we moved to the Netherlands in 1970, I was surprised to find that most people there were either Catholic or Protestant. However, nowadays, most of the people I know who were once religious no longer are.
What I find interesting is that many people who grew up with religious beliefs, even if they no longer practice, still hold onto certain superstitions. Having been raised without any form of mysticism, my mind remains free of such influences.
I never understood the appeal of religion. Even as a kid actively trying to believe in what was being preached, I still thought it was nothing more than a fairy tale. Aesop's fables. Stories with a moral you have to guess at because we don't live in those times and can't possibly gauge the morals of that time. I also never understood the subjugation of women and their willingness to believe in something that kept them subjugated in society.
I always argued that this is why so many depended on doing hellfire and brimstone sermons to kids. Those kids are that much easier to manipulate with mind tricks.
@@skylinefever
I believe there's an age thing with that. Something like 5-10 is the age they like to get kids so they can be brainwashed. I don't recall the exact numbers.
as a religious person myself I am often lonely and find myself turning to the spirit world for company.
understandable
So What I'm hearing as around 6:45-7:00 on, it sounds like a lot of the freethinking women have been ignored in part because Atheism has been a male-centered belief system.
Probably also true. There are women in philosophy too, and some of them really freaking important. And I can't remember their names. Not a one. But you can't help but find white male philosophers, only partly because there are more of them.
As a Christian I like this data
thanks!
I'd love an atheist to help me out with a question I have! To start with, I'm agnostic, but I'm agnostic specifically because I can't prove one way or another. Most atheists I've met say that their atheist because you can't prove that there's a God, but we can't prove that there's not. I love science and The idea of having a finite decision when it comes to something we can't prove one way or another doesn't seem scientific to me. This is all in good spirit, I'm just trying to understand different points of view. Thank you guys!
thanks for your questions. Many people use 'atheist' label for various reasons and various meanings. But the most common, i know of is that atheism is simply a lack of faith in a deity.
I've seen the defenitions people use for themselves vary a lot. I see atheism as "belief there is no god" and agnosticism "uncertain about or uncaring about whether there is one or not" I think many people specifically believe there is no god and aren't "militant atheists" that might insist everyone who has a belief in anything they can't see is idiotic. I find this particular approach not only annoying (as it often prostletyzes) but also fairly ironic, because these are the same people who believe in science for everything - science, which by definition, seeks to explain the unexplained. Human limitations also suggest it will never accomplish this mission, meaning some things will forever be unexplainable to humans, but making a hypothesis about something we know we can't prove... Is dumb? Mmm, no.
I think the issue isn't in that religion contradicts basic freedoms. If one looks at the Scnadinavian model, one can observe that religion in those countries has been adjusted to the current values of the society; for example in Sweden women can not only preach, but take high ranking positions, and homosexuality is accepted as a normal part of life to a point that we can find a lesbian bishop who is married and has an adopted kid (Gerd Eva Cecilia Brunne). I think this demonstrates that religion is what we make of it, and if in some other countries people discriminate others under the guise of church, it's a question of the people in charge of the church in that particular country and the government, who not only do nothing to change that situation, but endorse it.
“So few” is totally inaccurate. A smaller percentage than male atheists but they aren’t so greatly outnumbered.
well, you may be right, it depends on a region and age cohort too
Before watching this video, my guess would be that it's probably cultural.
Now let's see...
I'll be glad to hear your feedback afterwards
I was born in a relatively poor family in Ukraine, both my father and mother had pretty successful carriers, however my father eventually became more religious, specially after my sister was born, while my mom became more open about her atheism
thanks for sharing, I'm Ukrainian too
Thank you so much for this video - I appreciate that you provided so many interesting resources. I feel very inspired to do more research on this subject ✨ This is a deeply personal topic for me, as the 1st in my family to openly reject religion and given how my religion demonized education particularly for young women such as myself. Without proper education (which I was mostly prevented from having in childhood), I might have remained religious. The thought terrifies me.
thank you for sharing your personal experience. glad you found the video inspirational.
Marie Curie (1903, 1911)
The mother of modern physics was the first woman ever to win not one, but two, Nobel prizes for her seminal discoveries in physics and chemistry.Maria's father was an atheist, her mother a devout Catholic. The deaths of Maria's mother and sister caused her to give up Catholicism and become agnostic.
There was nothing seminal about the genius Curie.
@@leav388 OK I accept your correction and call her work fundamentally changed our understanding of radioactivity.
This French-based history is significant in the origin of anti-French sentiment & fundamentalist Christianity in early 1900’s American social history. Great video!
thank you!
In that case, proud to be French!!
@@christopherhamilton3621 weird, I’ve never heard of the anti-French sentiment in 1900-1930s. Anti-Italian and anti-Asian, and anti-German, yes but not anti-French.
The simplest explanation is often the most correct. Your conclusions are neither simple nor correct. Critical theory appears to be the new fetish among atheist TH-camrs. Though women and men are not all that different, society doesn't see it that way. Like a fish does not know it is in water, the culture plays a significant role in how we perceive the world. With that said, women are more sociable than men. Women tend to value connection with others and a sense of belonging. It is not necessarily because they are a marginalized group. Society has taught men not to be that way. It is no surprise that men are declining in almost every metric. Much of it is because men are becoming more isolated, especially in the Western world. Karl Marx was right when he famously said, "religion is the opiate of the masses." It helps support society. In his case, he felt it merely supported capitalist systems. Regardless, it provides people with a sense of belonging and community.
Thank you, that's basically it, people finding a sense of belonging and community, religion is one of the easiest ways to find it.
Yes, I argue that it does support society and it supports a certain set of individuals with the correct personality traits. For others, it is absolutely useless.
@@skylinefever I'm INTP. I also grew up in a home that was very hostile to religious belief. Just like there are many flavors of religion, there is a variety of different people with different ways of looking at the world. I believe in a higher power, but it doesn't mean I left my brain at the door. I just like to keep an open-mind and observe all of the possibilities.
@@toadster_strudel Like I said, only some people are going to have the personality traits to get it.
One social experience is being given such a foul distaste of religion, that one doesn't ever want to risk trying it again.
@@skylinefever I respectfully disagree. It is possible someone could have a negative experience and "learn" to avoid that experience again. However, learned behavior is not the same thing as personality type. Some people may be less agreeable or more neurotic, but that doesn't mean they will automatically choose to have a nihilistic worldview.
Chiming in as an agnostic woman: seeing as religious systems have failed my gender the world over, and that many of their care functions have been subsumed by different organizations and experiences (e.g. food banks, nursing homes, hospitals, the awe from nature), it's been difficult for me to see religion as true or faith as beneficial to my life. Does it help if it's the same people over and over? Maybe.
Might it be because I'm neurodivergent and can't really imagine a sentient being playing with us like poker chips? Maybe. But if the poker chips are
Also, a combination of psychotherapy and learning about stochastic processes has helped me come to terms with bad things happening and how to make the best of them. Witnessing our own human processes have godlike power (as a collective) and awe fulfills the endorphin generating niche as well.
Regarding social consequences - OH BOY. I can't exactly tell my fellow South Asian diaspora friends that I'm atheist. In fact, the stereotype of India being particularly spiritual checks out because of the marked lack of people who identify as agnostic or atheist because they grew up with particular faith traditions and those are reinforced in public or school holidays (especially Hindu).
I'm the kind of atheist that's the patriarchy's worst nightmare: overeducated, overthinking, overweening atheist cat lady.
Well, the two most prominent atheists in America (in the mid to late 20th centuries) -- Madelyn O'Hair and Ayn Rand -- were both women.
Ayn rand capitalism won't be palatable to liberals
I'm an African American woman. As a child, I was a devout conservative Christian. In my late teens / early 20s, I went through a period of rebellion against the church. Blaming this for my poor start in adulthood, I returned, but continued to struggle in the job market. Then I inadvertently joined a cult, putting my life in danger.
I escaped those circumstances and moved to a city I fell in love with, and joined a wonderful church where the pastor saved my life twice. But my economic struggles continued, to the point where I had to be rescued by my brother, leaving that church and city behind. The ultimate insult was being forced to sit helpless while his daughter dropped out of high school to join a cult.
I am now a Buddhist / atheist. I have no respect for an all-powerful ever-present deity that lacks the wisdom of a developmentally disabled adult.
I believe women' are more religious because of learned helplessness. The same goes for African Americans, and other disenfranchised groups. The more control you gain over your life, the less you need to rely on magical incantations and amulets.
I think the opening argument is anachronistic. Most women in the developed world today never experienced issues with passports or bank accounts, these are abstract stories from their grandmothers. Moreover most college graduates are women and have been now for decades. I think it's infantilizing to insist that women are religious out of ignorance, fear, or social pressure. The religious women I have known in my life have been nothing like that. Why is it when men are religious it's genuine agency but when women are religious it's some product of society? To me it seems like in trying not to be sexist you're just being sexist in a different way. Maybe the best way to not be sexist is simply *believe women* when they tell you they find value in religion and stop projecting on them.
Thanks for bringing up these points. I believe that the researchers whose works I reference have considered these assumptions.
Interesting argument, but men invented religion as an arm of patriarchy, so perhaps this is why religious women are not seen as having agency.
Even here in muslims majority countries more ex muslims men than women ,more athiests men than women (not based on actual statistics because that s forbidden in muslims countries but what i noticed from my social life/ lives (and believe me when i say i watch many ))
It's probably pretty true anywhere that women are less likely to be open about it, or even open to questioning religion, for fear that they may be ostracized. Basically anywhere patriarchy can be found, which is almost everywhere.
@@elenamariatudela56 one factor for sure 👍
But on the internet they can hide their ids and they can watch same shows as men in fact they have even bigger motivation (this is why i don't believe it s the only factor also it s bad where i m from for both ☠️ but more for females no doubts )
@@elenamariatudela56
May be in a sense of how they were raised vs how men were raised which is still patriarchy (if this what u meant it s huge factor)(quran says :" they r deficient in intelligence and religion " imagine society that believes in this how can they raise both to be equally smart and responsible?
@@elenamariatudela56
If u mean in a sense of how they were raised to be expected to be less than men then u r correct it s huge factor. I wrote another huge comment but TH-cam deleted it , even though i quoted what coran says and they believe in coran not me !
@@elenamariatudela56 men are more skeptical and irreverent.
This clearly proves that religion is a SOCIAL behavior, not an "inner need" of humanity like many apologists say.
Also, women liked to be witches, too. So that plays a part. Women weren't simply as strong as men, and they weren't given the same rights as men. So they turned to magic witchcraft and religion. It's that simple.
I'm a woman who was raised Catholic but when I look back.. never actually believed any of the religion part. Though I've never been able to shake my deistic god belief. I think it's less of a 'belief' in a god but more of a 'hope' that something started all this & is watching. So I consider myself an Agnostic Deist. Atheist, to me, suggests someone actively does not want a god to exist.
thanks for sharing this observations. But what makes you believe that atheist "suggests someone actively does not want a god to exist." but someone who simply lacks belief in god?
@@religiologEng It doesn't always. I didn't mean to imply _all_ atheists share that mindset. It's just that a lot of very vocal atheists seem to & look down on theists, deists & pantheists.
It's always the ones that shout the loudest, isn't it?
@@elenamariatudela56 Yeah. I think it kind of contradicts the idea of skepticism that most atheists proudly proclaim. Some practically declare there isn't any kind of god, which is absurd & kinda arrogant given how vague & varied the idea of a god could be.
Why are atheists so obsessed with trying to prove something they believe doesn't exist like God? Why does it bother Ya'll so much on what people choose to believe
Excellent. Another fantastic, informative video.
Glad you enjoyed it, Dr. Zuckerman!
Thank you very much for an informative video. It was very interesting to me
Glad you enjoyed it!
I'm very confused about the opening bit about the Olympics. Women couldn't participate until the Paris Olympic games in the 20th century... so the second modern Olympics.
That's actually quite early if you understand the historical context.
i'm atheist woman and ex-Muslim, yeah is not surprising to a women leave this religion but It was different for me. The reasons for leaving this religion were different from what is commonly believed, which is also what allowed me to take the position of atheism specifically. Just the atheist arguments of an arrogant white man and its comprehension were enough. I was accepting of the social status that the beliefs of this religion presented for me , religion in a way, protected the lower classes of society, including women, so there was no need to reject it as long as it provided organization and security for us .
Thanks for sharing your unusual experience
Could you explain in more detail? I'd really love more context!
Wow, this was fascinating to watch, thank you
glad you enjoyed!
looking forward to the video about the atheistic women etc. :)
Thank you! I hope you watched my previous videos
Granted, culture and politics still play a large role in this. E.g. my mother's side of the family grew up in East Germany, before, during, and after the Cold War.
My grandparents left the church, and my mother, uncle, and me have been atheist all our life and continue to do so after re-unification.
While the wide-spread employment of East German women started out of necessity, it informed how these people thought of themselves, making atheism or "being non-denominational" the standard for East German women to this very day.
1:03 once i discovered about the bad things in islam i left it and became an atheist at age of 18
You are probably totally ignorant of Islam
thanks for sharing!
As an Atheist, I'm offended, I can't take communion.
The amazing thing is people who think they are smarter than people of faith out of some imagined mental superiority. The creator of this video need not worry that his vast intelligence has held him back.
Wow, another argument that atheism is for midwits.
There's many in first world countries
I didn’t shake off the shackles of religion until I was 29 y/o. It is rare being black and atheist. I haven’t met another one.
"A spiritual women is the greatest threat
To the status quo
The fruits she will bear
The power she has access to" Jah9
what is Jah9?
@@religiologEng A musician. This is a quote from her song "Greatest Threat To The Status Quo".
*woman
Spiritual isn't real
Depends on the religion and its attitude towards women.
Sikhism stressed the importance of gender equality from its very inception at the end of the 15th century AD. Which makes it unique among the monotheistic religions of the World.
The only others which hold females in high esteem that I can think of, are the shamanistic and many polytheistic “pagan” religions of antiquity. Religions which worshipped goddesses and had their own priestesses.
It’s only within a century that Judaism and Christianity also softened their attitudes to women, some denominations having female rabbis and vicars, despite the awful misogyny of their holy books.
Other religions have yet to catch up.
Many people falsely assume that having religious female deities, giddeses, with power attributes domhiwcrekated to respect for actual earthly women.
Its not.
Both Greece and India had extremely misoginidtoc approach to normal women
In India, women were married of before 8 and had to either sacrifice themselves after deaths of their husband(sati rite) or live a very depraved lives of widow who were not considered hunan. With numerous female goddesses, it did not change anything.
In Greece, segregation and deprivation of women was so severe that they actually developed their own form of language with time.
Known Greek language is male greek.
In Rome, they even did not have their own names, only numerals or their husbands or father name.
They were that unimportant for men or society.
Despite having very powerful goddesses, attitude to women still were like to very silly domestic animals, that should spent their entire life in their husbands or fathers homes.
Vesta priestess were mostly purity culture tokens, they were not personally honored, but rather were mascots of roman purity culture.
Nice video, well thought through. Since I'm a man and I don't recall witnessing it, I'm curious about the specific forms that stigma against women takes when they leave the religious fold or defy other cultural norms. Perhaps the upcoming video you mentioned will satisfy me on that count.
thank you! I hope it will.
@@Ringcaat As a two-gender female, I nearly got disowned by my family for coming out as both queer and atheist. Only recently have I been allowed back into the fold due to my "rediscovering" of spirituality (i.e. a lakeshore trip gave me ego death and spiritual awakening shenanigans). Only... that spirituality isn't what my family THINKS it is lol. I'm more of a spiritual hermeticist with gnostic leanings. I doubt they know what Hermeticism even is, but Gnosticism is SACRILEDGE for Christians lol.
Being called a slut without morals and having men think you will sleep with them is one issue I have noticed.
@@idk-ill-figure-smn-out Interesting - thanks for sharing! I'm afraid I don't know what a two-gender female is.
On first glance, gnosticism makes more sense than modern Christian representation of dualism with Satan being somehow equal to a god who doesn't seem to care about that particular problem. Then again many modern Christians have no idea what they are talking about, sooo
Does that mean, that religious men might be more feminine than non religious men? If so, conservatives won't like that.
That's a really amusing idea...but it has to do with educatonal levels and the solidity of one's social status, as is explained in the video.
😂😂😂
I don't know, why not look at the religiousity of KPop men. Those are about as un masculine as it gets.
@@skylinefever Agree with you. This remark about men and religion was soooo daft!
Excellent topic.
thank you!
I came here thanks to the genetically modified skepticic. Great video. Keep it up.
in other words, 22 minutes explaining why i'm still single, lol. But thanks for all that research on female french atheism.
you are welcome :)
I know many conservatives who would be triggered to find out these stats
yes, indeed
How? I'm atheist and a conservative. I'm anti islamic immigration.
This is very US-biased. Women could vote starting 1918 in the UK. There was the also the Married Woman’s Property Act of 1870 on top of other things which the UK did before the US. Still, I personally find it mind-boggling that women were treated like this with such thoughts about their capabilities and that in some ‘certain’ countries it is still very much a thing.
We are making feminist angry with this one
Lol no? The video outlines discrimination and social consequences as the main reasons, lending itself to feminist readings.
It's amazing that women are more religious than man. when churches are dominated by men and where women can be no more than nuns. however men can go up though the ranks to be priests. especially in this day and age women strive to much higher places in status. such as in employment, health professionals, and politics, and judges, and many other places of status. yet churches are hesitant to do this.
Answer: patriarchy.
Boogeyman. Men are more skeptical
Women also have less tendency to defy authority... So, women seem to be less willing or less predisposed to have an independent analysis of situations which makes them less inclined to question established rules, norms and dogmas. They also have a tendency to promote whichever status quo exists around them.
That's sad, and is changing.
This is why you are detached from reality 🤣 we humans get our rebellious side from mom. It's dad who disciplines with love
This why fathers are important in the house
Sons of women vs sons of God
Chaos vs order
@@us3rGGarbage like this is one of the reasons I left religion and I'm male.
@@us3rG who "misbehaves" the most in schoolyards, boys or girls? who breaks the rules more often, boys or girls? you know it is boys, you know that boys are the ones that question authority more often. and you are also wrong about moms, the majority of "discipline" to children is handed over by the moms, fathers rarely intervene, only, when men do it is usually more severe.
I left spirituality and religion. I’m atheist in the sense of rejecting any god from currently known religions and that whoever is “God” is something completely different from what we assume.
I haven’t done enough research so I can’t pin point exactly what I believe. I’m still questioning evolution. I have a basic idea of evolution from a non religious perspective of what evolution is.
thank you. take your time. Be happy and keep searching.
I often saw religion and the possibility of gods as a Plato "Noble lie." It exists in order to get the masses to behave better. It might even work for a certain number of people. However, things can fall apart when people see they have been ordered to follow a bunch of claims with poor evidence.
I have a truth over everything personality. I cannot tolerate any kind of lie. I see no nobility in any kind of liar. If the whole world is propped up by lies, I say let the world burn. Nothing built on lies deserves to exist no matter what good is in it.
Religion is a crux for those downtrodden.
Could it not be that *Feminism* is simply replacing traditional Religions as a source of _"Faith"?_ Hence women remain just as _"religiously predisposed"_ as ever before, but in worship to a _NEW_ Deity?
Feminism is not based on faith. It is based on the crap reality men regularly provide women.
I’m a male Hispanic and not wealthy, but I do hold a BA and some graduate work; I don’t believe in gods because there is no empirical evidence. I also know that prayer may cause one to feel comforted, but that’s all. Blessings! JK!😂🤣😂
thanks for sharing!
I often saw prayers as placebo effects. That is why I not dismissive to people who say they get something out of it.
I do have a problem when such people just say "pray harder" when life doesn't work.
Can I ask you what made you feel the need to make a video on this topic? Some significant event that was going on during that time, personal relationships, inspiration from another TH-camr's video? What was it?
thanks for the question. I am a scholar with research focus on nonreligion and I teach History of Atheism in colleges.
@@religiologEng That's cool. I wanted to know what made you choose this topic at this time. You could have chosen any. What lead you to choose this one?
I have been wondering this very very often. I still think there is some sort of sex difference in how brain are wired. Me and several of my friends studied psychology and it's clear that there are certain strong natural tendencies between men and women. Men TEND to be more information oriented in their thought and communication patterns while women TEND to be more emotion oriented in the way they reason and talk. And it would make sense why such differences exist - because nature created us for different roles. It's just that in modern society we're trying our best to move past our caveman nature and we expect more from ourselves. As a result there's some level of denial there trying to convince ourselves that men and women are the same. It's not that women are less intelligent, it's that the way their brains operate is more favorable for being religious and superstitious because it's more emotion driven. Also religions exists to nurture a sense of community and belonging - something that, again, comes more easily to women for natural reasons.
12:16 But yes, this is also absolutely true, I've seen it many times! Women often can't safely say they are atheists without risking bullying or discrimination or a whole huge drama otherwise. It's also much more difficult for atheist women to find other female friends without having to at least partially hide their beliefs.
thank you for sharing these ideas and thoughts. We still try to figure this out and things may significantly change in the future, our brains may be rewired differently due to our social environment and experiences. So we better be open minded to all these issues
It's also worth pointing out that humans are still animals. Social differences kind of ARE biological differences, same as society is rapidly accepting that mental health is a logical, physically-based thing - our social structures still tend to be very heavily guided by our biological inclinations. But yeah, there's a million confounding factors here. I'm pretty sure women are at least a little bit more prone to internalizing certain facets of certain religions. But in most gender-based things in humans, individual variation trumps those inherent to an entire sex, and culture tends to be strong enough to suborn natural inclinations of either type (i.e. compare female atheists in the USSR to male atheists in Saudi Arabia).
But I do agree with your general point, I think it's a bit frustrating at times that a lot of people have internalized "identical in the eyes of the law" (i.e. we don't have a slightly different age for consent, voting, alcohol, etc for women even though they generally develop and mature with a year-odd head start) as being the same as "all literally identical blank slates."
If nothing else, we can clearly correlate the ways someone's level of testosterone correlates to various behaviors and thought patterns - behaviors like, for example, choosing to openly rebel against your community authority or be willing to be ostracized in the name of your beliefs - and we know that some people are born with higher levels of it than others. But it's definitely hard to tell if it's that men are less superstitious or just more rebellious, which means they have a higher chance of embracing alternatives to whatever they were raised with, whether it's "worship Jesus" or "don't threaten to stab people for money."
I keep seeing men like Donald Trump talk about windmills causing cancer, Andrew Tate claiming sex with women turned men gay, and the like; Xi banned boy bands in China as he feared it would undermine the military strength of the country.
I question any research claiming men are more rational, because clearly they aren't. And the ones claiming so tend to be even worse.
Men tend to claim to be rational, and I raise the question if it isn't merely a failure to introspect.
As woman, I find science, art, religion and politics equally inspiring. It actually amases me, when they intersect.
Atheists are usually claims thatcreligion sees world in static, but if you research it , you will see, that's its 90% untrue.
Even in Bible we see world constantly changes and evolving, but some of its changes are very weird to be described by normal language.
It reminds me of quantum physics a lot.
"Before everything , there was only light, water and "day without any star".
"God created all beings "by their lineage"
Recent studies on anisotropic gems are also quite amasing.
Also, sevualar psychology deals with only most known states of human cosciousness.
Its good and fundamental enough, but sometimes we also need to adventure in a far away lands, that starts where our normal reason and feeling ends.
For many women, its human culture feelied with common experiences that is attractive.
How to be ge.uinely brave human being , without being cruel or psychopathic? That lies in ethics, religion, psychology and culture.
To put it simply. Men attracted to normal , everyday experiences, that do not need to be changed.
Women are attracted to moments, when unusually rare good things become common. Which is essence of human cultural development.
Wild wheat is less nutritious, but with time and patience, humans can nurture it to be normally more nutritious to us.
Same with other thing.
Patience and nurture to change things for the better is what most women find attractive and inspiring.
Yes, tradition holds some outdated knowledge. That's why we need to read two Books of God : Book of nature and Bible.
"You can read a face of the earth", Jesus said.
Now we can read both with much more power than before.
Humanity will only prosper with both strong ideals, ideas and advanced technologies , along with balanced competition and cooperation.
@@Dabordithere isn't any conclusive studies about how different biologically our brains are, and we are not just our biology, humans are psycho social creatures and our brain constantly changes with experience and information, women tend to mature early because culturally we are given more responsability, we have more restrictions and we go through adversities that aren't as common for men like SA, if you get a teen girl in the US and a teen girl in Latam, the later will probably be more mature, because of life experience.
Also, if testoterone makes people more likely to rebel than 1 in every 5 women should be going against society, I shouldn't be conforming and I'm certainly am, because my testosterone is high as hell, I have to shave my face.
The congregation’s are a social group and women get more involved in the group activities of their society. Simple, end of story.
I think it’s because men are more likely to feel like they don’t need God to help them in life.
*Join the Enlightenment, support Secular Humanism.*
Very interesting, thank you.
I am one of the people I have ever known who is not an atheist and who does not believe in god. I am a man btw.
"who is not an atheist and who does not believe in god."
That is a logical impossibility.
If you do not believe in a god, you are an atheist by definition.
@@andreasplosky8516 It is not a logical impossibility. Take as much time as you like.
@@SteveCondron It might be more practical if you explained how this works in your mind.
12:57 SO DAMN TRUE. I've met many atheist men that out loudly state their atheism and no one gives a sheet, but I say I'm atheist too and now the same people that didn't bat an eye at the man at my side that said the same, now question my morals, my inteligence, how can I ever be a good person, etc.
excellent! This was very useful!
glad it helped
I'm now wondering about the vastly negative picture often painted of the USSR throughout history... how much is accurate, and how much is even slightly exaggerated by modern capitalists?
check out the series on my channel dedicated to religion and atheism in the USSR. I was born there.
@@religiologEng that sounds very nice, thank you! I'm certainly willing to learn the closest to truth as possible
During the cold war era of the USA, holy men used the USSR to sell their message. I called the argument "The false dichotomy of following Marx or Jesus."
I find it humorous how many American capitalists liked Ayn Rand even if she never followed Jesus and never followed Marx.
Communism is a religion
Excellent video
Thanks, Drew!
I guess you would say I am a agnostic woman. I don't think I found enough evidence to prove for or against God, but I question most religions and find humans to be odd, so I study them both.
2:03 me watching this as a highschooler who's Mexican-american and queer: honestly never thought about that. Could not be me. 💀
Thanks ❤
You're welcome 😊
Great video. Subscribed.
What I’ve often wondered is why societies with proactive female deities tend to be sexist towards women
Because the proactive females are most likley leftovers from the prior religion, which was more on women's side. Then they were diverted and perverted by the new, patriarchal religion. As an atheist, I think the only religion that makes any sense is animism, which gives every entity on earth, including the earth, a sort of soul and power. After all, something does happen to our minds when we look at the sea, bathe in it, walk in a forest etc, and it is now very clear that we must respect all natural entities and the planet if we want to keep it inhabitable for us. But gods or a god which have to be worshipped in a very precise manner, else your eternal soul is damned? (soul, what soul??) It sounds like a dictator, or a tribal leader, tolerating no dissent. And most religions are like that.
I was just talking about this with my mother the other day. Not in terms of atheism.
Majority of my friends have always been Hindu and it's common for Hindus to stop eating meat when its a festival or during the month of Shravan. We as Buddhists observe that too during our festivals but not as strictly as others. There are days assigned to specific gods and according to their belief they will not eat meat on that day, I never observed that. But I always noticed how the boys in my group didn't really care about it all. If they feel like eating meat, they will, if not then not. They never justified them not eating meat due to religious reasons but the girls always did. I ate whatever my friends ate but it was always in the back of my mind how women are so much more strict about following certain things due to religious reasons than men.
Yeah cos women are more fearful in general.
For yourself, let me tell you, gods aren't real. Live your life