Or some godlike being of some kind or another. These 44% includes the biggest groups - Christians and Moslems - but also the Newagers and all those who don’t take part in any kind of organized religion.
Only 34% believe in an afterlife, though.
Still, personally I find it strange that the percentages are this high, especially as less than 10% attends the church or mosque. As a non-believer, I also find it kinda creepy…
Sounds perfectly reasonable to me. The vast majority of U.S. residents believe in God or a god or something along those lines (I could look up the figures but I’m just too darned lazy), and yet many of those people don’t attend worship with any regularity. Some people who believe just don’t feel the need to join with other believers.
I do, but then I’m just so special. Or something.
“Creepy,” Evoti? Goodness. I will try not to do anything, you know, too godly around you.
That seems pretty correct for a European nation. Here it’s ungodly high (hehe), usually ranging from 75-90% depending on the polls and questions asked (more people believe in a generic ‘higher power’ than in God specifically, for instance). And here discrimination based on lack of faith is very widely practiced. It’s one of the few discriminations left that’s more or less publicly acceptable. You’re allowed to believe in whatever you want so long as you believe in something.
Fortunately we now have the Internet, where it is apparently acceptable—or so I would guess based on my own rather extensive experience—to treat anybody who confesses to a belief in God as though he or she were some kind of ranting loon or mindless follower who believes only because he’s too sheeplike to think for himself. On the Internet, once you get away from overtly religious sites, you’re allowed to believe whatever you want so long as you are bland and indecisive about it, tolerant of absolutely everything, and don’t say anything to upset anybody.
It also helps if you can preface any semi-religious remark with “I’m not really religious, but…” or “I’m not one of those religious nuts, but…”
That’s exactly the type of nonsensical rambling I would expect from a Bible thumping wacko.
Seriously, though, I can only say that I try very hard not to ever argue with someone over their beliefs who hasn’t started the argument themselves. I do sometimes enjoy going after the loonies, but I do not attack people who don’t attack first. I’m not perfect, and I’m certain I’ve said offensive things without thinking first, but I try to be accepting of people who are accepting of me.
And that is one of the things I like about you, actually. Despite the
But until I dipped my big toe into cyberspace, I had no idea that there are atheists and agnostics around (the ones I’ve known in real life have generally been perfectly nice and tolerant folks) who can be just as obnoxious and intolerant and narrow minded and bigoted and SMUG as the most wacko of Bible thumpers. I had no idea this was even possible—I mean, how in the world can an agnostic who claims not to know what he believes be smug? But they are out there, believe me. Anyway, there are Christians who make me blush, but I have to say that there are people out there who give atheism a bad name. I wish there was some kind of non-believer equivalent to smiting.
Smiting works just as well for atheists. On top of the pain of actually being smoten by God, there’s also all that hilarious irony thrown into the mix.
In general most people you meet in real life are just normal, decent people regardless of their beliefs. The internet allows the loonies of all camps to reach an unnaturally large audience with their ‘message’, but shouldn’t be taken as representative of that demographic as a whole. I know not all religious people are evangelists, not all conservatives are Rush Limbaugh, and not all 20 year olds are Vans lol. It just seems that way because the louder voices of the crazies down out the more reasonable and quiet voices of the sane people.
I’m a Christian…I hardly ever go to church. I have started going more recently…and it might sound a bit stupid, but it’s b/c I like Jocelynn to have play time with other kids. The SAME kids every week. When we go to the park all the kids are strangers…at least she learns kids names & sees them again every week. She really likes it.
But, no matter what story she learns about…she always tells me it’s David. It could have actually been Moses…Noah, Daniel…but when she tells me what she learned…she always says David. ...I don’t know why. Or maybe I don’t remember the OT as well as I thought.
I used to be a church member at the particular place we go…and technically probably still AM a member. I am annoyed with church in general…it might sound silly, but I don’t like the worship services. Everything is so “upbeat” and contemporary. It’s more like putting on a rock concert than actually praise. Unless you were practicing with the band…you can’t really sing along. So I just stand there while the music bursts my ear drums & wait for the sermon while Jocelynn plays, has a snack, and learns yet another story about David in the pre-school Sunday school room. I have been sitting in the nursing mother’s room during the music portion…b/c I think it’s way too loud for Anicah. If it hurts MY ears…it’s bound to be doing damage to her.
But until I dipped my big toe into cyberspace, I had no idea that there are atheists and agnostics around who can be just as obnoxious and intolerant and narrow minded and bigoted and SMUG as the most wacko of Bible thumpers. I had no idea this was even possible—I mean, how in the world can an agnostic who claims not to know what he believes be smug? But they are out there, believe me.
Hell, there are who websites devoted to nothing but. I should know, I’m a regular on most of them.
Anyway, there are Christians who make me blush, but I have to say that there are people out there who give atheism a bad name. I wish there was some kind of non-believer equivalent to smiting.
You crush them under put-downs. Of course, it helps to have a crushing put-down or two handy.
To be honest, I am probably more acerbic about religion than most (though certainly not all) people here. But I don’t have any particular beef with belief in God, organised or otherwise. It’s stupidity that gets me riled, and there’s no shortage of that on any side of the argument. Believing in gods does not automatically make someone stupid, but neither does not believing in gods automatically prevent someone from being so.
(P.S. My daughter gave up her MP3 player for lent. It was going to be toast, but she couldn’t go without Marmite for that many breakfasts.)
My opinion in short:
Faith = good.
Religion = bad.
Although in practice not that black and white.
It matters not whether what you believe in is a god, a pantheon or just the good or the potential of the human race, belief is something personal, you might say “from the heart”. And something many people need to feel good.
It is when organized into a religion that it can become hard to stay true to yourself. Your experiences get questioned by a ‘higher authority’, your faith twisted by ‘peers’...
But I have no qualms with people considering themselves to be part of a religion, as long as they do it to be with people and as a guide for their faith. And not just so they don’t have to think for themselves anymore and can rely on the authority of a group, rather then on their own faith.
Frostbird, I, being a christian, agree with your assessment of religion vs. faith. I recently got booted from my parents church, because I didn’t like the way my son was being treated by my sister in his class. So I told them how things were going to be concerning him, and they said if that is the way you feel then you need to go somewhere else. We tried but my “father” is the head of all of the churches in the area, they were afraid they would be involved in the dispute. So we are welcome nowhere in our “religion”.
They are too stuck on standards, and rules of man. They overlook the big picture of what church is supposed to be, as I tried to tell them, but I was shouted down and ignored. Whatever. I will never step foot in their church again or one he has control over.
We go to church to honor our belief in God, not to be told that women shouldn’t wear red because it is the color of harlots. Or my daughter shouldn’t wear a sleeveless shirt on a hot day, but it is ok for the old ladies to wear a sheer white shirt. *full body shudder*
So yes religion gets in the way of it’s original purpose, it is just a bureaucracy, and we know how well those usually work.
Goodness. I will try not to do anything, you know, too godly around you. 
