Latest poll by Pew Forum

[Elphaba]

Originally Posted by Palerider

come on over and you can offer the blessing on the meal....

Can I give thanks to the Great White Buffalo in the Sky? If not, you get to say the blessing, but I get to eat what you have been kind enough to bless.

In other words, it's a date!

Elphie

[prisonchaplain]

Originally Posted by Elphaba

Atheists do not believe in any god. Those who self-identified as atheists for this survey do not understand what atheism is.

I also question that 92 percent of Americans believe in God. The atheist population is between about 14 and 17 percent of Americans.

Perhaps those idiotic twenty-one percent skewed the numbers.

This is concerning to me, as people look to the Pew Report for accurate information. A survey that comes up with these numbers cannot be correct.

Elphaba

Could be that the 21% skewed the #s, but I've been hearing that 92% figure for decades. It may be wrong, but it fits what I've encountered. Almost everyone I've met believes in a higher power, but many are not that interested in going much deeper. Perhaps 14-17% of Americans are atheist/agnostic...but I'm guessing the % of thorough-going atheists is well under 10%.

And, the overall theme, that Americans are widely religious, but for a large number, the depth of religiosity can be measured in single-digit inches, is a finding that has been "news" for over a century.

[VisionOfLehi]

I think the point of pointing out that 21% of self-claimed atheists actually believe there's some sort of higher power was simply to point out that claims of atheism are not accurate. Do other studies on atheism ask if they believe in a higher power, or do they simply ask what the people consider themselves religiously?


I can see that 92% being entirely accurate. You have to keep in mind that a God, or universal spirit, includes Pagan gods, "Mother Nature" or a goddess, unknown higher force, "karma" (to put it very ignorantly) etc.


Elph: From what I've read, the 2001 survey indicates that about 14 percent don't affiliate themselves with any religion at all. This includes agnostics and atheist and humanists and other such groups, all lumped into one.

The Pew forum's poll, which I just checked out, reflects this:

Unaffiliated
16.1%

• Atheist
  1.6%
• Agnostic
  2.4%
• Nothing in particular
  12.1%