More Than 90 Percent of Americans Believe in God, Study Finds

[DeepModem Mom]

Source: Washington Post

By Jacqueline L. Salmon
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, June 23, 2008

More than 90 percent of Americans -- including one in five people who say they are atheists -- believe in God or a universal power, and more than half pray at least once a day, according to results of a poll released today that takes an in-depth look at Americans' religious beliefs.

The poll, by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, also found that nearly three-fourths of Americans believe in heaven as a place where people who have led good lives will be eternally rewarded. And almost 60 percent believe in hell, where people who have led bad lives and die without repenting are eternally punished, the poll found. Majorities also believe that angels and demons are at work in the world and that miracles occur today as they did in ancient times....

***

"Members of non-Christian faiths," the report says, "tend to be much more moderate or liberal."

Two-thirds of Jews, Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists are Democrats or lean Democratic, compared with 22 percent of Mormons. Also, 77 percent of historically black churches are Democrats or lean Democratic, while only one-third of evangelical churches are Democrats or lean Democratic....

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/23/AR2008062300813.html?nav=most_emailed

[BayouBengal07]

1. Interesting.

Coincidentally, I'm in the middle of watching this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeSSwKffj9o

[DeepModem Mom]

4. Interesting coincidence, Bayou! nt

[slackmaster]

53. Watchin' it now!

:hi:

[defendandprotect]

57. Me, too! Thanks for the link -- LOVE Carlin . . . religion sucks!

[Hydra]

2. Huh.

That's like what I've heard from churches when they tout the lower divorce rate among their flock- despite all numbers to the contrary.

My universal power bares so little resemblance to YHVH that they are not comparable.

Hmmm...I wonder if I could twist this into saying "90% of people believe in the existence of the supernatural"- that term seems less acceptable to good church-goers.

[Submariner]

3. As a devout, albeit brainwashed, catholic who had nuns for 12 years

I grew to totally agree with George Carlin about the origins of imaginary sky-people. That catholic part of my life was weird stuff. Fear, guilt, and shame are the core teachings of the the catholic experience. I'm glad to be a 10%-er in this poll.

[pattmarty]

12. I share your background, although I only had to endure......

....the damn nuns for 8 yrs. I really dislike the Catholic church today, and am now an agnostic.

[hyphenate]

50. Another lapsed Catholic here

But I never had to deal with the nuns teaching me except for 1st grade and sunday school. And then the huge argument about what name I would choose for confirmation, and I wanted the name "Lee" and the nuns wouldn't let me have it (there is/was no saint named "Lee" so it wasn't acceptable), so I ended up taking my grandmother's middle name which I hated (Bridget) and I think that was the last straw. (Mary Elizabeth Lee sounds so much better than Mary Elizabeth Bridget--I don't hate the name, only in context to the rest of my name)

Yeah, silly argument, but it had been building for a long time, and ultimately, when I got into New Age stuff (tarot, numerology, tea leaves, Ouija and other such stuff), I was doing the work of the "devil" and I decided the devil I knew was far worse than the devil I was interested in. Strange thing--when I was about 10, I asked my mom what she wanted me to be when I grew up and she told me she wanted me to be a nun. Yeah, right: like that was going to happen! And even weirder, my father's cousin WAS a nun.

I still have my mind wide open about some things, but the so-called "Christian god isn't one of them.

[defendandprotect]

55. I'm with you both -- got out a 12 --- and Love Carlin on religion !!!

and rather than taxing their wealth -- stock portfolios, real estate holdings . . .

George has now given them our tax-dollars!!!

[AlphaCentauri]

62. I prefer the freedom that the catholic church offer to it's members

I see many other religions and sects chaining their members or just making a social club out of a church

[Phred42]

5. I just don't buy that it's that high

[greyghost]

30. Me either.

[Skittles]

45. I think a lot of people feel pressured to say they believe

when they really don't buy it

[AlphaCentauri]

63. everybody wants to look good

[DJ13]

6. 30% of that 90% are lying

[pattmarty]

13. buh, buh, but, ain't that a fucking sin???????

[slackmaster]

17. No, bearing false witness is a sin

Lying is just lying.

[LiberalFighter]

16. More than 30%

[greyghost]

31. At least 30%.

[slackmaster]

52. That is conceivable

Depends on how it was admnistered, by whom, and under what circumstances.

[CrispyQ]

7. I think a good share of that 90% are hedging their bets.

Many people figure what have you got to lose? If god doesn't exist then no big deal. If god does exist, then you're covered. Only problem is, if god exists & is all knowing, wouldn't god know that you are just hedging? :crazy:

[pattmarty]

14. I used to joke about that as I have 5 kids and all are baptized.......

When anyone asked me why I had them baptized (since I no longer was a practicing Catholic at that time) I used to say "just in case".

[Politicalboi]

23. Sounds like

The old Loophole WC Fields was looking for on his death bed. He didn't believe either and one of his friends saw him reading the Bible and asked him what he was doing and he said "looking for loopholes"

[nosmokes]

8. Including 1 in 5 atheists...

Not sure how much *faith* one should put in this poll.

[HereSince1628]

9. Well, ninety % of Americans are also certifiably stupid enough to believe any

statistic printed in a newspaper.

[Hugabear]

10. Atheists do not believe in God

If an atheist says they believe in god, then they're not an atheist. Agnostic maybe, but definitely not an atheist.

[skepticscott]

21. Not even that

If someone is an agnostic, then (supposedly) they are uncertain whether or not there is a god, but 50% of the self-proclaimed "agnostics" in this poll say they definitely DO believe in a god. Either the polls is completely f**ked up, or a heck of a lot of people have very strange notions of what the terms "atheist" and "agnostic" mean.

[Towlie]

33. "If someone is an agnostic, then (supposedly) they are uncertain whether or not there is a god..."

No, not really.

The agnostic's position says nothing about whether or not God exists. Rather, the agnostic holds the view that if there is a creator of the Universe, mankind cannot possibly know anything about him. It's possible to be both an atheist and an agnostic, or neither, or either one and not the other.

[skepticscott]

41. I'm not sure that all agnostics would agree with that

Some just say they can't be sure one way or the other. But being uncertain whether or not there is a god really doesn't say anything about whether or not god exists. It's very much a semantic argument, and unlikely to ever be settled.

[Pastiche423]

42. I've been calling myself an agnostic

since I 1st heard the word. It seemed less likely that someone would argue w/me, than if I called myself an atheist. (I hate arguing/debating about religion.)

Either way, I do not beleive in god. And not one time have I ever been polled!

[alcibiades_mystery]

48. Someone might believe in something like a Gaia principle and be an atheist

And they might call it God just as a manner of speaking.

Just sayin'...

[unpossibles]

11. the Pew think tank - the source of this study

is yet another conservative "non partisan" think tank. I think they are wrong and promoting an agenda.

[defendandprotect]

58. Also doubt the validity of this study . . . Vatican is writing off US/Canada/Latin America ---

cause so many have awakened --- leaving the church ---

and the Vatican is now seeking its fortunes in China/Africa ---

[BB1]

15. It used to be:

90% of the US population is too scared of their neighbours to admit they have doubts about god, gods or other dieties of the male or female persuasion.

Does it say, btw, that the same percentage believes in hell?

[Bigmack]

18. If that stat is true....

we (well, actually you, cuz I don't believe any of that shit) are really fucked up!

I've had this LTTE printed in three newspapers, and not one response ever printed...

" I read of a survey recently which found that about 85 % of Americans believe in God, much higher than in most developed countries, and according to a 1997 study by the University of Michigan, more Americans attend church at least once a week (44%) than attend in any other modern industrial country in the world. We also have the highest violence and murder rates.
 
Britain (25% church attendance), France (21%), and Germany (14%) have much lower crime rates and microscopic violence and murder rates compared to the United States.
 
Denmark, Norway, Finland, and Sweden have international reputations as law-abiding and peaceful countries, yet their church attendance rates are around 5%.
 
I don’t necessarily believe that belief in God or church attendance increases violence and crime, of course, but those figures indicate that at the very least we don’t seem to relate our religious beliefs to our conduct.

Some of our political leaders - of both parties - don’t seem to let their belief in God or religion stand in the way of their sexual urges…just like some of our kids, since we also have (by far) the highest teen pregnancy rate in the world.

I don’t know what these other countries have (or don’t have) that makes them less violent and more “moral” but I’m uncomfortable that we have high church attendance…urging us to be good, and we have the highest incarceration rate in the world (2 million Americans in prison)….urging us not to be bad, and we still have the highest violence and murder rates in the developed world.

The other countries seem to have developed some sense of morality in place of religion, or beyond it. Perhaps we should look in that direction, since beliefs in God and religion and prayer, while they give comfort to many, haven’t done much to improve our conduct."

[Otto DeFay]

19. That's 90 percent

that shouldn't be allowed to vote. Or reproduce.

[gatorboy]

24. Unfortunately, your folks didn't take your advice...

So sad.

[Otto DeFay]

37. I am in awe

of your brilliant logic and scintillating wit. I humbly bow as I remove myself from the presence of one who can formulate such a brilliant and effective argument. Your pastor must be proud.

[gatorboy]

40. And get me a beer while yer at it, spanky.

[Wednesdays]

39. Or write hit-and-run posts at DU

[Skittles]

46. ??

is that what you think us liberals think?

[Dr.Phool]

20. And if as many people attended church regularly, as Pew polls claim,

You'd have a rush our every Sunday morning. I don't see that, not even down here in bible-belt Florida.

[David Zephyr]

22. And here's my salute to the 10% who don't.

:toast:

[greyghost]

32. Exactly

[Lakerstan]

25. Help me with the math

90% of Americans believe in God
1 in 5 (20%) are atheists.

Are they saying that half of atheists believe in God?

What am I missing here?

[bananas]

34. 21% of atheists and 55% of agnostics believe in god

According to the poll,
21% of atheists and 55% of agnostics believe in god
8% of atheists and 17% of agnostics are absolutely certain god exists
posted in rt: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=214x176738

[Dogtown]

26. Bullshit

This poll is totally biased and reflects no reality other than the one that exists in the weak minds of the hopefully-saved.

:eyes:

[slackmaster]

51. Just curious, what is your basis for saying the poll is biased?

Are the methodology, sampling techniques, exact questions asked, etc. available for review?

[Dogtown]

66. sorry, just a gut reaction

i admit to struggling with my bigotry against actual Christianity as well as the Xian constitution-resistors.

i do not believe that 90% of Americans are hobbled with religion. At best, they have skewed the results to show an ambivalence or even an open mind to religion as accepting the existence of a supernatural being. In practice, i think that 50% or better of avowed "Christians" enjoy a Christmas and/or Easter pageant and think about Jesus or his Pops rarely otherwise.

A proselytizer recently provoked an expletive including his savior's name from me; his lame rejoinder was that i was "praying" to Christ. i gave him a brief lecture on blasphemy as opposed to prayer and escorted him to the verge of my property.

Bad enough they waste their own time with fairytales...

[sofa king]

27. And atheists have lost one very, very important person today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBhmPrS-nak

[yy4me]

28. Sorry, I don't believe it. n/t

[defendandprotect]

59. Me, either . . . "Pie in the sky when you die" . . . "Heaven" . . . !!! Nonsense ---

and even bigger nonsense is the patriarchy's creation of Hell - Satan ---

a reflection of their own fears, paranoia ---

[Towlie]

29. Most atheists are smart enough to not reveal their actual belief to a pollster.

I'd say that poll has about as much chance of being accurate as a "do you masturbate" poll. In either case, people have no reason to tell the truth and every reason to lie.

[cufford]

35. Any way you look at it...

That modern-day humans, with a decent education including the sciences continue to believe in age-old supernatural myths and fairy tales that were created to explain what nobody could otherwise understand thousands of years before science answered so many questions, is a sad commentary on the evolution of our species.

We're taught to believe in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy as kids too, but eventually realize how silly those concepts are when looked at objectively. Just how can Santa go to some many houses in one night anyway? And what about all those houses with no chimneys?

Yet, so many want to keep clinging to equally ridiculous stories from ages past, perhaps because it makes them feel like they're apart of a community or something, or that there's something great waiting for them after they brain dies and their body decomposes.

I don't know, but it's not logical to believe in supernatural stuff when there's no empirical evidence to support it. Nothing but faith in a fairy tale, because other people tell you to.

Just another example of how our advanced nation often appears to be stuck in the stone ages when it comes to objective, critical thinking (or rather lack thereof).

Just like racism and homophobia, to mention but a few.

[Kali]

36. stats don't jibe with each other, but this kind of stuff always reminds me of a graphic I love

[balantz]

38. With such a big number of believers in a "GOD" hiearchical system

we can see why we are going down the shit hole.

1) The one true GOD (as per each "true" religion) up in heaven reigning, judging, blessing, condemning, providing an afterlife for true believers, etc.

2) The people of that GOD who are blessed.

3) The other unworthy believers in anything but that one true GOD who surely will not make it to the promised land and will sadly be condemned to hell or some such "less than" existence, eternal suffering, or whatever unless they profess belief in the one true GOD.

And there you have it. Are you scared yet? Do you believe in the true GOD?

[BadGimp]

43. FSM!!!

[ohio2007]

44. Jesus in China - Christianity's rapid rise is reshaping the officially atheist nation ( Chicago Trib

Christianity's rapid rise is reshaping the officially atheist nation, its politics and the way many Chinese view the world. The Tribune's Evan Osnos reports from Beijing and the countryside.

snip

Christianity — repressed, marginalized and, in many cases, illegal in China for more than half a century — is sweeping the country, overflowing churches and posing a sensitive challenge to the officially atheist Communist Party.
By some estimates Christian churches, most of them underground, now have roughly 70 million members, as many as the party itself. A growing number of those Christians are in fact party members.

snip

But in a sign of Christianity's growing prominence, in scores of interviews for a joint project of the Tribune and PBS' FRONTLINE/World, clerical leaders and worshipers from coastal boomtowns to inland villages publicly detailed their religious lives for the first time.


......

It reaches into the most influential corners of Chinese life: Intellectuals disillusioned by the 1989 crackdown at Tiananmen Square are placing their loyalty in faith, not politics; tycoons fed up with corruption are seeking an ethical code; and Communist Party members are daring to argue that their faith does not put them at odds with the government.

snip

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-jesus-1-1-webjun22,0,2458211.story

Could be worse,
At least the Chinese are turning away from the followers of the allah ahkbars

[DailyGrind51]

47. Sure, people believe in "God", but they don't want to be told

what form he/she/it takes nor what manner of worship is appropriate. "Religion" does not have to foster a belief in a "God", either. Doctrinaire "A"thieism can be "religious" in the sense that it fosters a dogma of non-belief.

[olddad56]

56. I agree, one can truly believe in God and know that religion is total bullshit.

[AnnieBW]

49. I believe in several

Gods and Goddesses. How can I just pick one?

[defendandprotect]

54. DARWIN is interesting on early religious indoctrination of children ....

"Nor must we overlook the probability of the constant inculcation of a Belief in God

on the minds of children producing so strong and perhaps an inherited effect on their

brains not as yet fully developed, that it would be as difficult for them to throw off

their belieF in God . . as for a Monkey to throw off its instinctive fear and hatrted

of a snake." Darwin

[dweller]

60. and i'm 99% sure that is BS

and was in the file awaiting the departure of someone like George Carlin to make it into print.

just for grins: if another 'George' had met an untimely end, i'm 81% sure the collective response would have been 'praise jeebus' or some other cry of relief, and from that we could extrapolate some such similar poll response. But you'd never see the results of said poll.

dp

[Skittles]

61. always proud to be a ten percenter n/t

[anitar1]

64. If this is so , then 90 percent are brain dead. this is

not accurate. another big lie. I never believe polls anymore. They are usually discounted at a later date.

[New Dawn]

65. Pew Forum is right-wing

Someone told me that they use biased methods in tabulating results (to make the US appear more religious than it actually is).

[Javaman]

67. and this is why I will never get elected to office. I fall into that 10%. nt

[Name removed]

68. Deleted message

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