Zone1 Belief in God drops to 81 percent

[Fort Fun Indiana]

You must be so excited.

I will party when it hits 50%.

 

[Fort Fun Indiana]

If 81% still believe in a God, I would think the COMMON sense would be there is a God.

Well, common sense is idiotic. Especially that little nugget right there. That's why we invented science, statistics, etc.

 

[rightwinger]

If 81% still believe in a God, I would think the COMMON sense would be there is a God. More common than not.

God does not rely on a vote

If 99 percent believed in God and I didn’t, it would not change my mind
Same for you….If 99 percent didn’t believe and you did

 

[Seymour Flops]

Since you bring it up…

Atheists have always been ostracized from society. You could lose your job, not be rented to, be kicked out of your family……all for not believing. Muslims still execute for non belief

Lord, the drama!

I was an atheist from the time I first heard that there were such people at about twelve until my forties. I never had anything like that happen to me. I listed "atheist" on my Army dog tags. My drill sergeant didn't tell me "you best sound off that you love the Virgin Mary!" or any of that movie nonsense.

I do tend to stay away from radical Muslims, though.

It has always been easier to say nothing than to admit your true religious beliefs

That is why the 81 percent number is so surprising. One in five now admits openly they don’t believe

So this is another "liberals are so brave to say what the media constantly preaches 24/7?"

 

[Meriweather]

I don't know why the OP would obsess over what others believe and gloat about being in a slightly larger minority now.

My best guess can be summed up with the words, The heart is a lonely hunter. In the book with that title, one of the themes is that it is every heart's wish to both hear and be heard. They may have seen themselves as hearing about religion all throughout their childhood, and now they wish to be heard.

 

[Meriweather]

The concept of a God
Doesnt pass the common sense test

Actually, I agree with this. One year I was teaching high school students Continuing Catholic Education. After listening to them that first class, shocked them all by saying they had to kill God--or at least every idea and concept they had about God and begin again.

Whether one recognizes it or not, we all have our own idea and expectations for God. That's our first mistake.

 

[Fort Fun Indiana]

Actually, I agree with this. One year I was teaching high school students Continuing Catholic Education. After listening to them that first class, shocked them all by saying they had to kill God--or at least every idea and concept they had about God and begin again.

Whether one recognizes it or not, we all have our own idea and expectations for God. That's our first mistake.

Of course.

Ask 1 billion people who God is and what he wants, and you will get 1 billion different answers.

A sure sign it is fiction.

 

[Penelope]

LoLoLoL!

81%, and the left claims that religious people are some lunatic fringe!

there are many many religious left folk, but I'm not one of them.

 

[Road Runner]

Eighty-one percent? You mean that nineteen percent of people are heathens?

 

[BreezeWood]

Yes, why are they so fearful?

All the news stories about gangs of Christians beating and murdering people who admit they are atheists?

The left makes me laugh, that is their main utility in my life.

the desert religions -

have always been at the forefront of repression and persecution.

 

[BreezeWood]

As more people admit to being atheist, even more will feel comfortable admitting it. For more and more people, their social and family networks are no longer monolithic blocks of people adhering to a specific religion.

howabout are able to confront the desert religions, their forgeries and fallacies and will better themselves with the true knowledge available to enhance their metaphysical spiritual well being for their continued existance beyond their physical, physiological presence and its expiration.

 

[C_Clayton_Jones]

About half of those who believe in God -- equal to 42% of all Americans -- say God hears prayers and can intervene on a person's behalf.

So only 42% of all Americans believe in ‘god’ as perceived by theists: an omnipotent extraterrestrial deity that hears prayers, intercedes on behalf of mortals, and issues edicts of religious dogma that must be obeyed lest transgressors are consigned to eternal damnation.

 

[fncceo]

Belief in God drops to 81 percent​

So, just to be clear ... do 19% fewer people believe in a supreme being? Or, do those who believe in a divine being believe that 19% less?

 

[Seymour Flops]

So only 42% of all Americans believe in ‘god’ as perceived by theists: an omnipotent extraterrestrial deity that hears prayers, intercedes on behalf of mortals, and issues edicts of religious dogma that must be obeyed lest transgressors are consigned to eternal damnation.

Feel better, then?

Somehow more self-confident?

 

[C_Clayton_Jones]

LoLoLoL!

81%, and the left claims that religious people are some lunatic fringe!

Wrong.

“About half of those who believe in God -- equal to 42% of all Americans -- say God hears prayers and can intervene on a person's behalf.” ibid

A minority of Americans believe in such nonsense.

 

[Leo123]

Bullshit OP. Not going to church does not equate to a disbelief in God.

 

[The Irish Ram]

I dont think there has been any major change in 20 years

I think people are just more willing to admit it…….to themselves and others

Nope. College teachers. They have already told you that...

 

[C_Clayton_Jones]

I dont think there has been any major change in 20 years

I think people are just more willing to admit it…….to themselves and others

True.

Actual belief in a ‘god’ is likely lower than the numbers indicated.

 

[Leo123]

Which god? We can see that a lot of "christians" have switched their worship to the orange godlet instead....

Trump lives with you.

 

[BreezeWood]

In my experience, it has been nonbelievers who are confrontational with believers, moreso than the other way around. Though it does happen both ways. I know, because I used to be an atheist and I would not bring it up, but I would certainly not hesitate to say so. Maybe I'm the last of the atheists with moral courage, and now I'm not an atheist anymore.

It happened just last week, on a cruise with a group of people who are more friends with my wife than with me, and some of them friends of her friends. At dinner with ten or so of us, my wife and her friend were talking about audio books they like and my wife listed the bible. Her friend's sister said, "you read the bible?" and followed with "Great work of fiction."

If I had wanted to be confrontational, I would have said, "really? What part of that great work of fiction is your favorite?" She would not have had an answer of course. But why make an issue of it. I don't care whether she believes in the bible or anything else. I don't know why the OP would obsess over what others believe and gloat about being in a slightly larger minority now.

If I had wanted to be confrontational, I would have said, "really? What part of that great work of fiction is your favorite?" She would not have had an answer of course.

there is a forgery or fallacy on nearly every page, the 4th century c bible and all three desert religions claim - etched tablets from the heavens with 10 commandments - that never existed ...

they have abandoned the prescribed religion of antiquity the surest means for humanities salvation and the return to paradise as sought from the beginning.