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Christianity As State Religion Supported By One-Third Of Americans, Poll Finds (Original Post) skepticscott Apr 2013 OP
"Thirty-six percent of Americans think aliens have visited Earth" struggle4progress Apr 2013 #1
And how many of those skepticscott Apr 2013 #8
Let me know when there's any real indication that we're in danger of getting a state religion struggle4progress Apr 2013 #11
Much of the religious strife we have stems directly from the apathetic attitude of many liberal cleanhippie Apr 2013 #12
Article in OP begins "... the North Carolina House of Representatives killed a bill Thursday that struggle4progress Apr 2013 #20
I would think you know how they operate Lordquinton Apr 2013 #30
In this particular show, the big hooks came out and dragged the clowns off the stage struggle4progress Apr 2013 #31
So you have no answer to the question skepticscott Apr 2013 #13
Does Jesus count as an alien ? eppur_se_muova Apr 2013 #33
I'll let you enjoy researching that fascinating topic yourself struggle4progress Apr 2013 #34
This number is too large for comfort Meshuga Apr 2013 #2
Much too large for comfort. okasha Apr 2013 #25
I bet most of these are Romney voters so that says a lot. hrmjustin Apr 2013 #3
Three in Four Americans Believe in Paranormal struggle4progress Apr 2013 #4
That number is too low... Ron Obvious Apr 2013 #7
See post 8 above skepticscott Apr 2013 #9
He's nothing if not persistent... trotsky Apr 2013 #14
34% is a lot of people, in my opinion. ZombieHorde Apr 2013 #5
+1 hrmjustin Apr 2013 #10
A sizable minority that nonetheless has both major political parties... trotsky Apr 2013 #15
As a rich person interested in Newest Reality Apr 2013 #6
Hmm. Your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter. n/t backscatter712 Apr 2013 #17
"...the influence of the current forms of belief in higher-order abstractions..." Iggo Apr 2013 #18
This breaking news just in: A high percentage of Americans are drooling morons. n/t backscatter712 Apr 2013 #16
If people want to drool on themselves skepticscott Apr 2013 #19
This is the poll, in its entirety. rug Apr 2013 #21
Wow, you're right skepticscott Apr 2013 #22
The four questions asked of 1000 people hardly support that as a meaningful statement rug Apr 2013 #23
Uh, yeah they do skepticscott Apr 2013 #24
Uh, no it doesn't. rug Apr 2013 #26
Who said it was alarm? You, not me. skepticscott Apr 2013 #28
If you believe 1/3 of tha American residents want a state religion, based on this poll, rug Apr 2013 #32
If the headline had claimed skepticscott Apr 2013 #36
Ah, 1/3 of Americans support something they don't want. rug Apr 2013 #37
1000 people is a decent sample size.. Phillip McCleod Apr 2013 #27
Don't confuse our friend with facts skepticscott Apr 2013 #29
This number scares me more. edhopper Apr 2013 #35

struggle4progress

(118,038 posts)
1. "Thirty-six percent of Americans think aliens have visited Earth"
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 10:53 AM
Apr 2013
Most Americans Believe Government Keeps UFO Secrets, Survey Finds
Survey for National Geographic finds extraterrestrial visits not that crazy an idea to most Americans
By Seth Cline
June 28, 2012
 

skepticscott

(13,029 posts)
8. And how many of those
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 11:19 AM
Apr 2013

support or advocate changes in the law that would be clearly unconstitutional, in order to promote and support their belief in extraterrestrial visits?

Oh... right...that would be ZERO. Nice job at missing the point..again. But you sure do use Google good!

struggle4progress

(118,038 posts)
11. Let me know when there's any real indication that we're in danger of getting a state religion
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 11:54 AM
Apr 2013

Many Americans seem to me poorly informed, and quite a few really don't think carefully about any policy matters whatsoever. About half of those eligible won't even vote. I'm more concerned by what folk do than by what they say they think, and silly knee-jerk reactions to polls concern me much less than organized activity

cleanhippie

(19,705 posts)
12. Much of the religious strife we have stems directly from the apathetic attitude of many liberal
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 12:10 PM
Apr 2013

believers, just like what you demonstrate here and in many of your posts where you dismiss the activities of religious extremists as inconsequential who are in positions of power and influence, especially in our government.

Until liberal believers start recognizing the damage these zealots are doing and stand up for a strict separation of church and state, we are in serious danger of having religious beliefs forced on us all through the law.

Be part of the solution, not the problem. Stop giving credence and legitimacy to the religious extremists through your dismissal of concerns by non-believers and believers who share the idea that religion should have no place in public policy. Please.

struggle4progress

(118,038 posts)
20. Article in OP begins "... the North Carolina House of Representatives killed a bill Thursday that
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 06:29 PM
Apr 2013

that would have paved the way for establishing an official state religion." Unsurprisingly, that sentence is not entirely accurate: what actually happened was that the bill was sent Tuesday 2 April to the Committee On Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House; and shortly afterwards, the Republican leadership said the bill was dead

... You know you’ve stepped over religious and constitutional boundaries when evangelist Franklin Graham thinks you’ve gone too far ...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/she-the-people/wp/2013/04/04/a-state-religion-whats-next-north-carolina-secession/
A state religion? What’s next, North Carolina, secession?
Posted by Mary C. Curtis on April 4, 2013 at 9:31 am


A North Carolina lawmaker says he regrets any embarrassment caused by a resolution that was proposed ... this week that would have given the state the right to declare an official religion. The resolution was filed Monday by two Republican legislators and co-signed by 11 others ... One of the North Carolina bill’s sponsors, Rep. Harry Warren, said the now-dead resolution was poorly written ... Warren says he only intended to allow Rowan County officials to continue opening meetings with prayer, not to establish a state religion ...
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/04/05/north-carolina-lawmaker-backtracks-on-push-to-allow-state-religion/
North Carolina lawmaker backtracks on push to allow state religion
Published April 05, 2013
FoxNews.com


You're whacking a dead monkey




Lordquinton

(7,886 posts)
30. I would think you know how they operate
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 09:22 PM
Apr 2013

Being on DU and all, the right wingers never give up, they tried it here, they are going to do it again, and again, all over the country, this was a very brazen attempt, but the mere fact that US politicians, sworn to uphold the constitution are bringing up bills like this shows their agenda.

struggle4progress

(118,038 posts)
31. In this particular show, the big hooks came out and dragged the clowns off the stage
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 09:28 PM
Apr 2013

Oh, but by all means! let's all keep whacking dead monkeys!

 

skepticscott

(13,029 posts)
13. So you have no answer to the question
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 12:27 PM
Apr 2013

From which I will infer that even you realize that your post was a bogus analogy and a rather silly and transparent distraction from the real issue.

eppur_se_muova

(36,227 posts)
33. Does Jesus count as an alien ?
Sun Apr 7, 2013, 07:49 AM
Apr 2013

And if so, has the survey been adjusted for double-counting ?

(Before you can ask, Alien Jesus is already the name of a band)

Meshuga

(6,182 posts)
2. This number is too large for comfort
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 10:57 AM
Apr 2013

34% is a big chunk. Surprising to me but that is probably because I live in the liberal bubble in Montgomery County Maryland.

okasha

(11,573 posts)
25. Much too large for comfort.
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 08:51 PM
Apr 2013

I wonder, though, how many don't realize this is a Constitutonal issue at all, but think it's rather like having a state bird. That's even scarier.

struggle4progress

(118,038 posts)
4. Three in Four Americans Believe in Paranormal
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 11:00 AM
Apr 2013

June 16, 2005
Little change from similar results in 2001
by David W. Moore
GALLUP NEWS SERVICE
PRINCETON, NJ -- About three in four Americans profess at least one paranormal belief, according to a recent Gallup survey. The most popular is extrasensory perception (ESP), mentioned by 41%, followed closely by belief in haunted houses (37%)...
http://www.gallup.com/poll/16915/three-four-americans-believe-paranormal.aspx

 

Ron Obvious

(6,261 posts)
7. That number is too low...
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 11:11 AM
Apr 2013

If you include belief in God as a paranormal belief, the number would be about 90%. For some reason that particular belief gets special status, though.

ZombieHorde

(29,047 posts)
5. 34% is a lot of people, in my opinion.
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 11:02 AM
Apr 2013

Fortunately for me, and others who think like me on this issue, believers and nonbelievers alike, it is a minority. I hope that minority shrinks over the next few years.

trotsky

(49,533 posts)
15. A sizable minority that nonetheless has both major political parties...
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 02:07 PM
Apr 2013

(one more than the other, of course, but it's not exclusive) catering to its primitive religious beliefs. They should not be lightly dismissed.

Newest Reality

(12,712 posts)
6. As a rich person interested in
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 11:04 AM
Apr 2013

controlling the masses, preserving my fortune and having my interest catered to above all else, I would really have to support the influence of the current forms of belief in higher-order abstractions.

It is by those means I can create elaborate facades that allow me to assume a higher moral authority based on the implication that my lot in life and power are all directly given to me by the great Sky God(tm) or whatever symbolic representation can be used to reify a belief and support for my position.

Real education and true spiritual convictions that are based on utilizing the mind to investigate and expand its horizons are antithetical to the manufacture of consent and the utilization of advertising and propaganda to impose a false morality and confused form of ethics on large numbers of people. This method is preferable to using bullets and batons because it yields the most profit and compliance in the long-run.

A theocracy with a technical foundation would provide the ultimate means of control and obedience which would then translate into more power and wealth for the more evolved amongst us who not only understand how this works, but are able to manipulate it expertly to our own benefit and in our own self interests.

Please continue as programmed.

 

skepticscott

(13,029 posts)
19. If people want to drool on themselves
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 04:17 PM
Apr 2013

that's fine with me. It's when they see nothing wrong with inflicting it unwelcomly on others that the problems arise...

 

skepticscott

(13,029 posts)
22. Wow, you're right
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 08:29 PM
Apr 2013

The page you linked to shows that 34% of the people polled "favor" or "strongly favor" "establishing Christianity as the official state religion in your state", and 32% of the people polled "favor" or "strongly favor" "a Constitutional amendment which would make Christianity the official religion of the United States"

That's not remotely like what the headline says.

Oh..wait....

 

rug

(82,333 posts)
23. The four questions asked of 1000 people hardly support that as a meaningful statement
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 08:44 PM
Apr 2013

let alone your eager extrapolations.

 

skepticscott

(13,029 posts)
24. Uh, yeah they do
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 08:49 PM
Apr 2013

That's what polls are...extrapolations. And not mine.

Is that really all you have? Do you really have a deeply rooted emotional need for this not to be true? Apologetics must be slow tonight.

 

rug

(82,333 posts)
26. Uh, no it doesn't.
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 09:02 PM
Apr 2013

This is one of the weaker polls I've seen, particularly in the wording, not to mention the unknown demographic sample.

And the extrapolation refers to your conclusions in your OP. I really hope you have more than this to justify your alarm.

 

skepticscott

(13,029 posts)
28. Who said it was alarm? You, not me.
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 09:19 PM
Apr 2013

And the demographic sample is not unknown...YOU just don't know it. And the questions are no worse than for many other polls I've seen, and they are in line with what the headline stated, so you have no complaints there (not that that's ever stopped you before).

Do you have ANY evidence that the results of this poll must be wildly different from what it reported, or wildly divergent from the margin of error reported? No, you don't. Just your deluded wish that it be so.

 

rug

(82,333 posts)
32. If you believe 1/3 of tha American residents want a state religion, based on this poll,
Sun Apr 7, 2013, 06:26 AM
Apr 2013

get a new adjective before your name.

I repeat: it's slim evidence for what you so fervidly wish were true. If it's not true, you'll have to re-evaluate your whole shtick.

 

skepticscott

(13,029 posts)
36. If the headline had claimed
Sun Apr 7, 2013, 09:55 AM
Apr 2013

that 1/3 of Americans wanted a state religion, then your post might have some validity. But it didn't, and neither did I, so your post is pretty much invented apologetic horseshit.

Try again.

 

Phillip McCleod

(1,837 posts)
27. 1000 people is a decent sample size..
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 09:06 PM
Apr 2013

..a couple few hundred smaller than Pew uses, but not bad. Similar to a news org. Should give a moe of about +- 4% .. about a third.

 

skepticscott

(13,029 posts)
29. Don't confuse our friend with facts
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 09:20 PM
Apr 2013

He desperately needs it to be about 5%, not 34%, and will grasp at any ignorant straw to get there..

edhopper

(33,192 posts)
35. This number scares me more.
Sun Apr 7, 2013, 09:29 AM
Apr 2013

Gone too far in keeping religion and government separate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37%

Establishing a State Religion is a long shot.
But blurring the lines, which the majority of Republicans want to do, is ongoing and dangerous.
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