lol I am not a christian, I was raised a catholic and I havent practiced it in decades. Merely posting a thread about God and religion doesnt make one a fundamentalist nutjob.
To me it suggests a sense of accountability, evidence of pliability, and a promise of responsible and good conduct. All of which are essential for the continuation of a civil society.
The 87% yes question was just straight forward, do you believe in God. All monotheist, and some polytheist, and some others could plausibly answer yes. I also sourced a Scientology site earlier that stated they have a belief in a "GOD", so they would also plausibly answer yes.
That would be expected in a society raised on such fictions as Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy. Fiction and Fantasy are how humans are raised. That's why speaking the truth is such a radical act.
"If the standard is absolute certainty -- no hedging and no doubts -- it's somewhere around two-thirds. If the standard is a propensity to believe rather than not to believe, then the figure is somewhere north of three-quarters." Keep READING.. it HELPS YOU UndErSTand WHAt you ARE speaKING about!
Not to defend hypocrisy, but to be Christian is, in may ways, more of a work in progress than a finished product. Would you prefer to live in a middle east Muslim country?
Oh please. No one believes that. His critics use it to mock his supporters. And his supporters us it to antagonize his critics. In short, it's bs.
that's two obsessed individuals in one thread. too funny. And still extremely sad to have such an unnatural obsession about one person, when someone says God you think of trump, do you think of trump when you look at your cereal? ahhhhh, nevermind... But I will say this and please remember my remark, its important. Thank You! You my friend are recruiting people to the GOP every day, keep up the good work! I didn't vote for Trump in 16' but its posts like this that have convinced me that he's the only choice for 2020' We can't do it without you. Major Kudos.
I'm a confirmed agnostic, raised catholic but distanced myself from religion as soon as I was old enough to defy my parents (who no longer attend church either, they did it for the kids IMO) But in general I probably do believe in some higher power, but that could be some alien civilization, not necessarily some kind of supreme being since an advanced alien civilization would likely have "godlike" powers. The old term, "there are no athiests in foxholes" applies to me, I only look (uselessly) for help from a higher power during times of great stress, such as when a relative snapped his neck and we were hoping/praying for a recovery.
My take on this is 1--as you point out, that it shows how polls can be skewed. I've seen this in many polls, regardless of political leanings. 2--it suggests we should all take the time to look at the methodology of a poll before we decide it has any value. 3--even if the polling is accurate, the headlines of articles can stretch the results to suggest things that the poll itself does not. 4--even a simple poll on how many believe in God can lead to an unrelated political battle of us vs them in today's world. 5--
I just want to know in what insane world does 13% of the population deny the existence of Zeus. Of course looking at the waistlines of many Americans, it appears their idea of “god” is a pizza and a beer ....
Before this thread gets shut down, I'll simply say what I've said a thousand times before: How can anyone go out into the backyard at night, look up into the fathomless expanse of space filled with innumerable galaxies, and think to himself, "Yup, I'm sure of it... NO ONE and NOTHING created any of this", and then walk satisfied back into the house...? Refusal to believe in the existence of some kind of 'anthropomorphic father-god', complete with a beard and a human 'mind-set' is one thing... but it is an entirely different matter altogether to refuse to acknowledge that some one, or some thing with INTELLIGENCE created all this! Thus, I've always held that 'atheism', per se, makes no empirical sense at all.... Disclosure: I am a Christian, but I don't try to 'jamb it down anyone else's throat'.
Here's an interesting survey: https://www.pewforum.org/2019/10/17/in-u-s-decline-of-christianity-continues-at-rapid-pace/ Quote: The religious landscape of the United States continues to change at a rapid clip. In Pew Research Center telephone surveys conducted in 2018 and 2019, 65% of American adults describe themselves as Christians when asked about their religion, down 12 percentage points over the past decade. Meanwhile, the religiously unaffiliated share of the population, consisting of people who describe their religious identity as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular,” now stands at 26%, up from 17% in 2009.
I have yet to find one that can explain an objectively legitimate source of government authority without a deity involved.
How can anyone who thinks that way think that such an entity wants and demands to be worshiped? Why would an entity that creates a universe of trillions of galaxies care about whether infinitesimally small specks get up to naughty stuff in the bedroom or properly worship that vast intelligence? This is why I call myself a non-theist, as I don't believe that any thing, no matter how powerful, deserves worship or is a god/goddess/deity. And, should one come along and prove its existence and power, I still wouldn't care about it. Atheism is simply denying that any deity exists. Even if one found an intelligent designer behind the universe, that doesn't make it a deity. Nor would it change their outlook
