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Permalink Reply by Scott H on June 7, 2011 at 8:18pm

Several times over the past few years, I've seen data that suggests US belief in a supreme being is lower than that; more like 85%.  Or is that number adding in people who believe in a capital-G god along with people who believe in some other non-descript "spirit?"  In any event, since being labeled an atheist is still something that carries high stigma with it, the way such a poll is conducted can seriously affect the results.  If people don't believe their anonymity is 100%, they're likely to respond 'yes' even if they harbor serious doubts, or deny deities completely.

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Permalink Reply by Mike Glickman on June 7, 2011 at 8:47pm

Yes...I was taken aback by this because I thought the percent of non-believers was much higher.

 

Maybe a more interesting survey would be "Do you believe in a religion?"

 

Many of my friends fall in 1 of 2 categories:

1. If asked in a survey, they would say, for instance, "I'm a Catholic", but they readily acknowledge the fact that most of Catholicism is man-made BS.

 

2. Religion is BS, but I'm not ready to make the leap that there's no creator, or at least universal consciousness, zen, etc.

 

Still, the fact that that high a percentage of the population willfully shut offs the critical thinking portion of their brains (at least related to this topic) continues to mystify me.

 

 

 

 

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Permalink Reply by wisp on June 7, 2011 at 8:26pm

I think some people are probably lying and some probably just never give it any serious thought. Some people probably would answer "no" if they really thought about the idea of god, but since they were raised taking it for granted, they probably never thought to question it.

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Permalink Reply by Sassan K. on June 7, 2011 at 9:54pm

Lower than expected. I feel good about this poll.

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Permalink Reply by Araina on June 7, 2011 at 9:57pm

I think most people believe in an obscure God, they should ask if they believe in a personal God.

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Permalink Reply by Mike Glickman on June 7, 2011 at 11:16pm

Araina, sadly, I think most people (in the US) believe in the Abrahamic god, but--to your point--a large number believe in some obscure god.

 

A much more interesting question would be: Do you believe in an omnipotent, omniscient, omni-benevolent god who intervenes in human affairs?

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Permalink Reply by atheistrising on June 7, 2011 at 10:03pm

I like no capital g for god. If its true so sad US has such bad math and science skills. People with high school education should able to decipher carbon dating & that earth was not created in 7 days or for that matter came into existence 10 billion years after big bang.

 

Problem is politicians they cannot keep govt and religion seperate including Obama. Its very annoying how after each speech he says god bless u and god bless USA

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Permalink Reply by Mike Glickman on June 7, 2011 at 10:28pm

Yes, and Obama is probably an atheist, or at least a secularist. W actually spoke on the record of biblical demons influencing his decisions. It is scary when you look at how more Americans are believers than anyone else.

 

I was told today (by a believer, naturally) that religion is good because of how it provides comfort to so many. The problem is, if we allow people to believe their delusions, they are prone to eschew science and progress. ex. "We shouldn't be investing in stem cell research. Who are we to be playing god?" (I just can't bring myself to capitalize it)

 

I'm not sure militant atheism is the right answer, but I think it's important to put some conversational pressure on people and spell out exactly why head-in-the-sand religiosity is dangerous.

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Permalink Reply by Steve on June 7, 2011 at 10:06pm

Polling church attendance is the better indicator. Some people have very nebulous god-concepts and just some sort of spirituality.

But no matter how you slice it, the numbers are still embarrassingly high. Even 80% (and that's as low as it will go no matter what you ask) is utterly ridiculous when you compare it to Western Europe, let alone Scandinavia. Even more traditional Southern European countries like Spain and Italy are less religious than the US. Or people believe, but merely treat religion as a cultural backdrop without taking it very seriously.

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Permalink Reply by Sassan K. on June 7, 2011 at 10:26pm

It is good that 8% of Americans claim not to believe in a god. That is an improvement and a good sign.

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Permalink Reply by Kirsten on June 7, 2011 at 10:49pm

That's a microscopically small sample size to speak for the nation. 1 k for over 30 million people? I'm fairly certain the numbers are skewed, and belief in a generalized love-and-wisdom "god" rather than the specific god of a specific religion is also pretty important when it comes to making policies and laws.

I'd be more interested in why they believe, or don't.

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Permalink Reply by Mike Glickman on June 7, 2011 at 11:13pm

You're right. It is a fractional percentage and I  think if all the "Believer" respondents where forced to say why they believed, their answers would be mind-numbing.

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