More than 9 in 10 Americans believe in God (church, ghost, Abraham)

[purehuman]

I just have to point out that the survey for these "results" was done using a sample of only one thousand eighteen people. I wouldn't call that representative (at all) of the current approximately 300 million people that live here.

[Meester-Chung]

Originally Posted by Nunnor

More than 90% of Americans believe in God...

More Than 9 in 10 Americans Continue to Believe in God

appeal to the masses does not make your god true

[LuminousTruth]

Originally Posted by Mr5150

When people talk about the mocking atheist this what we mean.

So Luminous, what did you gain by this post
.

Thank the gods a thousand times more! I neither believe nor disbelieve in them. I'm much less of an atheist than the monotheists then! They deny the existence of many Gods! equal and co-eternal.

What I gained from posting these was an opportunity to teach. Believe in gods is a meaningless concept. The third world countries believe in Jesus more than we do. The Muslim countries believe in the Demiurge of Abraham more than we do. What have the theists to gain from their gods that they can't gain from worshiping thin air?

There is no cause for celebration in striving to be a nation of theists, or worse yet, striving to be a nation of anti-atheists. Being a nation full of atheist luminaries would be much better than being back in the dark-ages... wouldn't you agree? So then the polls we should be looking into should be those of education and ethics.

[Arjay51]

Just as an experiment on this subject, I gathered ten of my friends together and asked the group their views on this subject.

Eight out of ten stated disbelief.

Now admittedly, the group was somewhat skewed in that direction, but then I suspect that the nine out of ten group was also skewed in the other direction.

By definition of the OP, that should make no difference. My group wins.

[ABQConvict]

I believe that there is a strong strain of nonpositivism dominating the popular American worldview.

By this, I mean that a lot of American agnostics are likely to give a knee-jerk 'Yes' answer to this question, whereas in many European worldviews, agnostics with the same beliefs as their American counterparts would answer 'No'.

Americans also seem more optimistic than the Western norm and more likely to hedge their bets. A feature of so-called American exceptionalism.

[purehuman]

Originally Posted by Meester-Chung

appeal to the masses does not make your god true

It really wasn't even an "appeal to the masses" Meester Chung, just a drop in the bucket.

[Frank Merton]

Well, truth is not subject to democratic vote.

[agnostic soldier]

This is like saying that if nine out of ten people believe in the Magical Quarter Gnome, then that means the Magical Quarter Gnome exists.

[GldnRule]

Originally Posted by agnostic soldier

This is like saying that if nine out of ten people believe in the Magical Quarter Gnome, then that means the Magical Quarter Gnome exists.

No, that doesn't mean they exist. BUT!...they would have just as much influence as if they did.
So, the fact they don't is moot, as respects "The Way Of The World".
MOF...Magical Quarter Gnomes could actually exist, but without any objective/empirical proof of it. But if 9 out of 10 believed they didn't...they may as well not exist...as far as their "mojo" is concerned.

I've given this analogy several times before:
Regardless of all the scientific meteorological evidence against it...I have most people BELIEVING FOR SURE that it is going to snow 2 feet tomorrow in NY City, USA.
Now...how is the FACT that it isn't going to snow at all, let alone two feet, going to effect shovel sales, if most people believe it's going to snow 2 feet anyway?
The people will act based upon what they believe...even though it isn't true...and shovels will sell as if there was actually going to be 2 feet of snow. Belief will dominate over truth to effect their conduct.

It doesn't matter if Theists are wrong and Atheists are right...or if Atheists are wrong and Theists are right...as respects the effect on the world that 98% of the people that have ever lived embraced Theism!
That small minority that are NonBelievers doesn't mean squat, even if they were/are totally "right"!
The FACT that the vast majority DID/DO believe GUARANTEES that it is what THEY think that is going to matter in this world!

As respects the effect on the world...anyone that thinks "objectively proven" is what matters...is WRONG about that!
What REALLY matters...is WHAT PEOPLE BELIEVE matters.

Ad populum only fails in the context of "Pedigree Logic"...it dominates just about everything else.
Anyone that wants an "objective fact" should get hip to that one!

[RogersParkGuy]

Originally Posted by Nunnor

More than 90% of Americans believe in God...

More Than 9 in 10 Americans Continue to Believe in God

A few years back, a group of British sociologists did an extensive survey of religious attitudes around the world. The asked people questions like, "do you believe in angels?", "do you think the Devil is an actual being?" and "do you believe in miracles?" When the data were compared, the US stood out like a sore thumb. Not a single European country had levels of religiosity anywhere close to the US. In terms of religiosity, the countries the US resembled most were places like Iran, Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia. Not very encouraging...