User:JimWae/2or3sentences

item	# sentences	# words	# syllables	words/ sentence	syllables/ word	F-K Ease human	F-K Grade human	F-K Ease Word	F-K Grade Word	syllables Word sees	LOW # complex words >=3 syllables	LOW # complex/ sentence	Gunning Fog LOW	HIGH # complex words >=3 syllables	HIGH # complex/ sentence	Gunning Fog high
.	.					Flesch–Kincaid readability test					Gunning fog index
.	.					Human Count of syllables		per MS Word			.
Atheism, defined most narrowly, is the position that there are no deities.	1	12	22	12.00	1.83	39.6	10.7	60.0	7.7	19	1	1.0	44.8	3	3.0	124.8
More broadly defined, it is the rejection of belief in the existence of any deities, with or without an assertion that no deities exist.	1	24	40	24.00	1.67	41.5	13.4	48.5	12.4	38	3	3.0	129.6	4	4.0	169.6
The broadest definition classifies atheism as the absence of belief that any deities exist.	1	14	29	14.00	2.07	17.4	14.3	35.5	11.7	26	1	1.0	45.6	3	3.0	125.6
More broadly defined, it is the rejection of belief in the existence of any deities, with or without an assertion that no deities exist, while the broadest definition classifies atheism as the absence of belief that any deities exist.	1	39	70	39.00	1.79	15.4	20.8	26.2	19.2	65	4	4.0	175.6	7	7.0	295.6
2 & 3 as separate sentences	2	38	69	19.00	1.82	33.9	13.2	45.0	11.6	64	4	2.0	87.6	7	3.5	147.6
3 sentence paragraph	3	50	91	16.67	1.82	35.9	12.4	49.4	10.4	83	5	1.7	73.3	10	3.3	140.0
2 sentence paragraph	2	51	92	25.50	1.80	28.3	15.6	41.6	13.7	84	5	2.5	110.2	10	5.0	210.2
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX	Word apparently sees "atheism" as only 2 syllables, and "deities" also as only 2 syllables

Here are some statistics on the article as of 2010-Jan-30, using MS Word assessment of reading levels:

part	words	chars	paragraphs	sentences	sentences/ paragraph	words/ sentence	chars/ word	Passive sentences	Flesch Reading Ease	Flesch- Kincaid Grade Level
article (without end notes)	5595	31093	90	237	3.7	22.8	5.3	21%	27.5	14.7
section 6-Atheism, religion, and morality	483	2679	5	14	2.8	34.5	5.4	42%	15.1	19.1
section 5-Demographics	522	2775	3	22	7.3	23.7	5.1	13%	31.2	14.2
section 4-History	1910	10873	31	82	3.4	22.6	5.5	18%	21.7	15.7
section 3-rationale	1043	5887	18	47	3.3	21.0	5.4	19%	25.6	14.4
section 2-defs & distinctions	893	4812	8	36	4.5	24.8	5.2	25%	34.2	14.3
section 1-etymology	334	1779	4	17	4.2	19.6	5.0	17%	40.1	11.8
present lede	270	1464	4	14	3.5	19.2	5.2	21%	35.6	13.0
present lede - 4th paragraph	37	211	1	2	2.0	18.5	5.5	100%	30.2	13.6
present lede - 3rd paragraph	73	428	1	4	4.0	18.2	5.7	0%	21.4	14.8
present lede - 2nd paragraph	130	692	1	6	6.0	21.6	5.1	16%	36.4	13.5
present lede - 1st paragraph	30	133	1	2	2.0	15.0	4.3	0%	70.3	7.1
proposed 4 sentence 1st para	67	342	1	4	4.0	16.7	5.0	50%	44.6	11.1

The (117 words in 4 sentences) first paragraph of the theism article has a grade level of 14.6 and an ease of 41.9.
Agnosticism's 73 word 3 sentence opening paragraph is grade 14.5 and ease of 33.7.
Deism's has a grade level of 16.1 and ease level of 34.3.
Soap's comes in at grade 14.8, ease level of 40.2.
United States's at grade 14.3, ease level of 33.0
Flesch–Kincaid readability test's at grade 12.1, ease level of 47.6. Both scales are based on the average number of words per sentence and the average number of syllables (something Word may not be accurate at) per word
The first paragraph of the EB atheism article has 12.8 reading level, its lede grade 15, and its entire article grade 13.9

The lede paragraph

Atheism, defined most narrowly, is the position that there are no deities.^[1] More broadly defined, it is the rejection of belief in the existence of any deities, with or without an assertion that no deities exist.^[2] The broadest definition classifies atheism as the absence of belief that any deities exist.^[3] Atheism is distinguished from theism, which is the belief that at least one deity exists.

Atheism and Agnosticism are also often distinguished, though there are two views regarding whether it is possible to be both an atheist and an agnostic. Agnosticism holds that humans do not know whether any deities exist, and agnostics often suspend belief in deities, though some may (or may not) believe in the existence of a deity. However, some agnostics go further to actually reject belief in deities, convinced that no further consideration of theism is needed; these can be identified as agnostic atheists. Even some theists identify themselves as agnostics, agreeing that the existence of any deities is not known, but still believing at least one exists.

^ Rowe, William L. (1998). "Atheism". In Edward Craig (ed.). Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved 2010-02-01.
^
- Nielsen, Kai (2010). "Atheism". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 2010-02-01. Atheism, in general, the critique and denial of metaphysical beliefs in God or spiritual beings.... Instead of saying that an atheist is someone who believes that it is false or probably false that there is a God, a more adequate characterization of atheism consists in the more complex claim that to be an atheist is to be someone who rejects belief in God for the following reasons (which reason is stressed depends on how God is being conceived)...
- Edwards, Paul (2005) [1967]. "Atheism". In Donald M. Borchert (ed.). The Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Vol. Vol. 1 (2nd ed.). MacMillan Reference USA (Gale). p. 359. ISBN 0028657802. On our definition, an 'atheist' is a person who rejects belief in God, regardless of whether or not his reason for the rejection is the claim that 'God exists' expresses a false proposition. People frequently adopt an attitude of rejection toward a position for reasons other than that it is a false proposition. It is common among contemporary philosophers, and indeed it was not uncommon in earlier centuries, to reject positions on the ground that they are meaningless. Sometimes, too, a theory is rejected on such grounds as that it is sterile or redundant or capricious, and there are many other considerations which in certain contexts are generally agreed to constitute good grounds for rejecting an assertion. {{cite encyclopedia}}: |volume= has extra text (help); Unknown parameter |isbn13= ignored (help)(page 175 in 1967 edition)
^
religioustolerance.org's short article on Definitions of the term "Atheism" suggests that there is no consensus on the definition of the term. Simon Blackburn summarizes the situation in The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy: "Atheism. Either the lack of belief in a god, or the belief that there is none." Most dictionaries (see the OneLook query for "atheism") first list one of the more narrow definitions.
- Runes, Dagobert D.(editor) (1942 edition). Dictionary of Philosophy. New Jersey: Littlefield, Adams & Co. Philosophical Library. ISBN 0064634612. Retrieved 2010-02-01. (a) the belief that there is no God; (b) Some philosophers have been called "atheistic" because they have not held to a belief in a personal God. Atheism in this sense means "not theistic". The former meaning of the term is a literal rendering. The latter meaning is a less rigorous use of the term though widely current in the history of thought {{cite book}}: |first= has generic name (help); Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link) - entry by Vergilius Ferm

First def: position there are no deities

Necessary conditions

awareness of deity concept
not believing any deity exists
Maintaining that deities do not exist - includes claims of certainty, knowledge, or ability to prove no deities exist

Sufficient condition

Maintaining that deities do not exist

Second def: rejection of belief

Necessary conditions

awareness of deity concept
not believing any deity exists
rejecting belief, not mere suspension of belief

Not-necessary

Maintaining that deities do not exist
Defending position that deities do not exist
maintaining that "at least one deity exists" is a false proposition
maintaining that "at least one deity exists" expresses a proposition at all

Sufficient condition

rejecting belief - not necessarily a deliberated decision/choice, could just be realization that one does not have "faith"

Third def: absence of belief

Necessary conditions

absence of belief (being without belief in such)
not believing any deity exists

Sufficient condition

absence of belief

Non-necessary conditions

awareness of deity concept
awareness of anything at all - could be brain dead and have "an" absence of belief
humanity - ants are also (presumably) without a belief in deities, as likely are rocks

[1] Rowe, William L. (1998). "Atheism". In Edward Craig (ed.). Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved 2010-02-01.

[2] 
Nielsen, Kai (2010). "Atheism". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 2010-02-01. Atheism, in general, the critique and denial of metaphysical beliefs in God or spiritual beings.... Instead of saying that an atheist is someone who believes that it is false or probably false that there is a God, a more adequate characterization of atheism consists in the more complex claim that to be an atheist is to be someone who rejects belief in God for the following reasons (which reason is stressed depends on how God is being conceived)...

Edwards, Paul (2005) [1967]. "Atheism". In Donald M. Borchert (ed.). The Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Vol. Vol. 1 (2nd ed.). MacMillan Reference USA (Gale). p. 359. ISBN 0028657802. On our definition, an 'atheist' is a person who rejects belief in God, regardless of whether or not his reason for the rejection is the claim that 'God exists' expresses a false proposition. People frequently adopt an attitude of rejection toward a position for reasons other than that it is a false proposition. It is common among contemporary philosophers, and indeed it was not uncommon in earlier centuries, to reject positions on the ground that they are meaningless. Sometimes, too, a theory is rejected on such grounds as that it is sterile or redundant or capricious, and there are many other considerations which in certain contexts are generally agreed to constitute good grounds for rejecting an assertion. {{cite encyclopedia}}: |volume= has extra text (help); Unknown parameter |isbn13= ignored (help)(page 175 in 1967 edition)

[3] Nielsen, Kai (2010). "Atheism". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 2010-02-01. Atheism, in general, the critique and denial of metaphysical beliefs in God or spiritual beings.... Instead of saying that an atheist is someone who believes that it is false or probably false that there is a God, a more adequate characterization of atheism consists in the more complex claim that to be an atheist is to be someone who rejects belief in God for the following reasons (which reason is stressed depends on how God is being conceived)...

[4] Edwards, Paul (2005) [1967]. "Atheism". In Donald M. Borchert (ed.). The Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Vol. Vol. 1 (2nd ed.). MacMillan Reference USA (Gale). p. 359. ISBN 0028657802. On our definition, an 'atheist' is a person who rejects belief in God, regardless of whether or not his reason for the rejection is the claim that 'God exists' expresses a false proposition. People frequently adopt an attitude of rejection toward a position for reasons other than that it is a false proposition. It is common among contemporary philosophers, and indeed it was not uncommon in earlier centuries, to reject positions on the ground that they are meaningless. Sometimes, too, a theory is rejected on such grounds as that it is sterile or redundant or capricious, and there are many other considerations which in certain contexts are generally agreed to constitute good grounds for rejecting an assertion. {{cite encyclopedia}}: |volume= has extra text (help); Unknown parameter |isbn13= ignored (help)(page 175 in 1967 edition)

[3] religioustolerance.org's short article on Definitions of the term "Atheism" suggests that there is no consensus on the definition of the term. Simon Blackburn summarizes the situation in The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy: "Atheism. Either the lack of belief in a god, or the belief that there is none." Most dictionaries (see the OneLook query for "atheism") first list one of the more narrow definitions.
Runes, Dagobert D.(editor) (1942 edition). Dictionary of Philosophy. New Jersey: Littlefield, Adams & Co. Philosophical Library. ISBN 0064634612. Retrieved 2010-02-01. (a) the belief that there is no God; (b) Some philosophers have been called "atheistic" because they have not held to a belief in a personal God. Atheism in this sense means "not theistic". The former meaning of the term is a literal rendering. The latter meaning is a less rigorous use of the term though widely current in the history of thought {{cite book}}: |first= has generic name (help); Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link) - entry by Vergilius Ferm

[6] Runes, Dagobert D.(editor) (1942 edition). Dictionary of Philosophy. New Jersey: Littlefield, Adams & Co. Philosophical Library. ISBN 0064634612. Retrieved 2010-02-01. (a) the belief that there is no God; (b) Some philosophers have been called "atheistic" because they have not held to a belief in a personal God. Atheism in this sense means "not theistic". The former meaning of the term is a literal rendering. The latter meaning is a less rigorous use of the term though widely current in the history of thought {{cite book}}: |first= has generic name (help); Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link) - entry by Vergilius Ferm

[1]

[2]

[3]