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.
This is from a Washington Post article about America and religion. Ummm, I'm not sure what it says on Wikipedia, but aren't 20% of those "atheists" a little confused?
9 comments:
Frequently they phrase those surveys in a way that is intentionally deceptive so as to distort the results. There's a guy who used to work for the GOP doing exactly that -- creating surveys that would confuse people so the results would be distorted to strengthen the GOP's position. He wrote a book about how he did. I wish to nonexistentgod i could remember his name.
The title of your post reminds me of my favorite moment on the Top Chef reunion last week - Andrew's comment about Spike - "I'm not gay, but I'd let him bang me." Love it.
As for the survey, the question does distinguish between "God or a universal power." I might answer "yes" to a question like that myself, depending on how I was feeling that day.
I agree with both of you that the wording could skew things, but even "universal power" strongly implies an omniscient being rather than simply the cosmic energy/stuff of the universe.
Oh, and I enjoyed that line from Andrew as well. Been there. And, errrr, actually done that. If forced, I'll even admit it wasn't half bad.
.."universal power" strongly implies an omniscient being rather than simply the cosmic energy/stuff of the universe.
I agree, but you have to wonder how many people make that distinction when taking a stupid telephone poll or something.
Interesting, though. Because when I said I could answer "yes" to the question, I was talking about that cosmic energy. YOU GET ME, BABY.
I wonder what the percentage of Americans who know the meaning of the word "atheist" is....or "christian" for that matter.
both like dick!
Jason, good point, and I agree. I'm willing to bet some of those people think "atheist" means "no religion."
The church down the street has had this on their sign for the past few weeks:
GOD DOESN'T BELIEVE IN ATHEISTS THEREFORE THEY DON'T EXIST!
I'm surprised it doesn't say LOLZ at the end.
It's taken all my energy to not go in there and explain the flaws in their logic.
Ha! I LOL at LOLZ.
I HATE those "cheeky" church signs. The one I pass often says:
PRAYER IS THE BEST WIRELESS CONNECTION.
oRLY. Can prayer stream my gay porn in hi-def? Because that might sway me.
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