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No longer content to silently disavow religion, the so-called New Atheists are on the offensive. Borrowing tactics from the faithful, nonbelievers have taken to proselytizing in books and in the media. And yes, they’re even in foxholes.
I generally love your show, but I think someone needs a lesson in statstics.
In the story you just did on Bill Lobdel‘s new book, you replayed part of your December 15, 2006 story on New Atheists. Brooke Gladstone interviewed Penny Edgell. Here’s part of the transcript:
BROOKE GLADSTONE: . . . But research suggests avowed atheists are few and far between.
PENNY EDGELL: Just do the numbers, right? If they're only seven percent of the American population, odds are most people don't know one.
I am not a statistician, and I don’t have a PhD, as Ms. Edgell does, but I do remember a little about statistics from college, and I can’t believe no one challenged this claim. Assuming her 7% number is correct, I think that if someone knows only 10 people the odds are greater than 50% that the person knows at least one atheist.
If that's the case then the vast majority of Americans probably know a number of atheists. They just don't know that they are atheists.
Keep up the good work.
David Munn
Saint Paul, MN
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