Results of my survey below

[JockSporran]

Here are the results of the survey I carried out to ascertain whether atheists had religion in their background:

One or both parents believers: 73%

Attended Sunday school or church as a child: 74%

Recieved religion at school: 93%

The results are not inconclusive but, from this survey anyway, would indicate that most atheists had religion in their upbringing. This would seem to dispel the idea that a religious influence stays with a person into adulthood. It also suggests that religious experience can put people off religion (though some might return to belief, at least in some form).

Thanks very much to all who participated.

[naomi24]

When you say This would seem to dispel the idea that a religious influence stays with a person into adulthood I'm not sure your findings are entirely accurate, Jock. I don't believe atheists are simply 'put off' by having religion in their background. They are far more likely to have deliberated upon the lessons of childhood, searched for any evidence of truth and rationality within those lessons, and by a process of logical thought, reached their final conclusion. In order to ascertain whether or not religious influence stays with a person into adulthood, and to achieve a more balanced result, you would need to carry out a survey of believers to establish how many of them were exposed to religion in childhood.

[jason.p]

I tend to agree Naomi. There are too many variables to make any meaningful deductions from a survey like this. One of which might be the age of participant, another where they grew up. In my day most children went to some sort of Sunday school whether parents were "believers" or not.
I believe the same applies to our political views and how we've been influenced by our parents.
Interesting thread.

[jake-the-peg]

I don't think you can draw any conclusions yet.

You need to conduct the same with agnostics and theists and see if there is a significant difference in the numbers

[ll_billym]

Yes, too little data here. Would have been better to do a four question survey for everyone where the extra question was their religious belief but again that would need to be correlated against age at least as this would make a huge difference to the results. Good idea though all the same.

[JockSporran]

Yes, you are all correct. There should be a similar survey aimed at believers. But I can't be bothered. I've had a busy week at work and I'm tired. Somebody else do it please.

[beso]

You can't deduce anything as the survey is not designed properly.

You cannot just ask people to participate without controlling variables. What you have is results from a selection of those who cared to respond.

It may even be that your survey results reflects a corelation between exposure to religion and a willingness to participate in the survey. Moreover it is limited to atheists who come to this site.