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A better understanding of nonbelief


The Nones Project is an ongoing study into the belief systems of people who call themselves non-religious. A few weeks ago one of the project leaders, Ryan Burge of Washington University, posted some really interesting preliminary results on his Substack. 

1. We've probably heard of people who are spiritual but not religious (SBNRs). SBNRs were "the largest group of nones" in the sample. They believe in the supernatural realm but not necessarily in "a God." They are "deeply skeptical of religion but highly interested in spirituality," therefore individualistic and anti-institutional. 

2. But this study differentiated SBNRs from people they called Nones In Name Only, NiNos. They different to SBNRs by being religious about their spiritual. They believe not just in the supernatural but in "God." And they tend to engage in traditional communal religious practices while SBNRs practice individualised eclectic bespoke spiritual practices.

The study also differentiated between "Dones" and "Zealous Atheists."

3. "Dones" are proper atheists, therefore unlike the above two categories dismiss the supernatural in all aspects. "77% of [Dones] said that this is all there is to life. For them, death is it. They become worm dirt." 

But while Dones are disillusioned about God, the supernatural, eternal life etc., they don't necessarily feel the need to dissuade everyone else from such beliefs. In fact, "the vast majority of non-religious people don’t attempt to persuade other people to leave religion behind." 

4. "Zealous atheists" deserve their own category because while  "about three quarters of" ""Zealous Atheists" "have tried to convince someone else to leave religion in the prior twelve months." I (Kamal) call such people anti-theists. As in beyond atheists. 

As The Gospel Coalition's Joe Carter says, this kind of analysis can help us understand the diversity of people's beliefs and thereby equip us to pay better attention to them and respond to them. 

Note that this fourfold classification was the outcome of a particular form of machine learning called k-means clustering. I have no idea about that form of analysis or its reliability. 

The above are preliminary results from the USA. Australia is different. How well do the above map onto people's responses here? 

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