Photo Credits: Ancient Origins

Cats are specific animals with constant need for affection that make their owners desperately try to win their love. They have been worshiped throughout history and it was believed that they possess divine attributes in many different cultures across the world. For example, Ancient Egyptians held cats in high regard and Goddess Bastet, commonly depicted as a cat or a woman with a feline's head, was one of the most popular deities of the Egyptian pantheon. Nowadays they have become an unavoidable part of internet culture through memes and other media. A recent study, published in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, came to a conclusion that atheists are more likely to keep cats as pets because of their "godlike" image.

This research, which was conducted at the University of Oklahoma, found that people who attend church on a regular basis and worship more than once a week own 1.4 cats on average. On the other hand, non-religious people have an average of two cats. Samuel Perry, the researcher who conducted this study, did so by surveying 2,000 people.  He explained that people who are religious get more social interaction while atheists try to substitute that with pets.