Comments on: U.S. Religious Landscape Survey

By: DAM10N

DAM10N — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 03:28:24 +0000

Thanks for pointing out the gold mine of interesting and useful data in the new Pew report. It is already yielding some interesting and insightful results: http://agnostichicagokie.blogspot.com/2008/07/theistic-certitude-vs-infant-mortality.html

By: Friendly Atheist » Why Do Atheists Believe in God, Prayer and Heaven?

Friendly Atheist » Why Do Atheists Believe in God, Prayer and Heaven? — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 20:00:15 +0000

[...] the Pew Forum’s U.S. Religious Landscape Survey was released, we discovered that 21% of atheists believe in God and one in ten of us pray once a [...]

By: The Thinking Theist

The Thinking Theist — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 06:46:21 +0000

The one thing that really stuck out to me in the survey is the amount of prostelyzing or “sharing of faith” that the Jehovah’s Witnesses admitted to. “More than eight in ten (84 %)…” said they shared their faith every month. Therefore, since most of them go door-to-door so be prepared to politely shut them down.

By: Scotty B

Scotty B — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 17:43:33 +0000

Yay for Iowa, the lone bastion of hope in the midwest!

Kind of surprised though, considering MN has Minnesota Atheists, WI has the Freedom From Religion Foundation, and IL has, well, Chicago (read: large densely populated area) oh, and Hemant, of course.

By: Metro

Metro — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 19:44:00 +0000

BeeGee:

Thanks for proposing an idea I really hadn’t considered seriously. As an ex-Catholic I resist like hell the idea that I should indoctrinate my kids in the bathtub of bull that I grew up in.

Yet I feel that my devoutness actually helped keep me clear of some pretty stupid stuff when I was younger (I was also an FSMawful nerd without noticeable social skills, so it may have been kind of 50/50).

Anyway, I was concerned about trying to bring up decent kids who knew there was no Great Sky Faerie watching them all the time.

Maybe the “Show Church” approach could work for me too. Must think more on it.

By: Tony

Tony — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 06:19:08 +0000

Well, if this study is accurate, my hope for the American public is sinking like a stone. What will it take to get these folks to open their minds? I wonder how the participants were selected? That would be a great question to see if there was a self-selection bias introduced into the study.

By: BeeGee

BeeGee — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 23:24:06 +0000

I’m one of those who attend church regularly, but don’t believe in God. I do believe that religion does more good than ill, and that, like any evolved cultural institution, it conveys a benefit to its society. Also, I’m egotistical enough to believe that if my religious upbringing helped make me into the good person I am today, then it should benefit my kids as well, and they’ll be able to figure out the truth later on.

By: Matt Stone

Matt Stone — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 22:49:28 +0000

Yes, I shake my head too. Whatever your path, have the strength of conviction to stand by it.

By: Richard Wade

Richard Wade — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 21:31:24 +0000

So we have a small percentage of folks who identify as Protestants, Catholics, Jehovah’s Witness, Orthodox, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and Unaffiliated who don’t believe in God, while we also have a small percentage of folks who identify as atheists who do believe in God.

We are very confused. Even within only one language we have a tower of babble.

I think words must be water soluble. The more they go through our mouths the more they dissolve into an undifferentiated concept mush. I can foresee a conversation I’ll probably have in the near future:

“So, what is your religion, Richard?”
“I don’t have a religion, I’m an atheist.”
“Oh okay, but do you believe in God?”
“Uh no, actually I don’t. I thought that’s what ‘atheist’ means.”
“Well we can’t just assume that. For instance, I’m an Evangelical Christian and I don’t believe in God.”
“Uh, let me sit down, I’m feeling a little dizzy.”

By: Bjorn Watland

Bjorn Watland — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 20:53:12 +0000

I guess the boredom of corn doesn’t always equal an affection to superstition.