New Pew religious survey released

[T.G.G. Moogly]

"Hey, I may not believe in God, but don't you dare call me an atheist!"

Said lots and lots of people.

Ya, years of slandering has made "atheist" mean "anti-Christian hate group"

So where is the Pew research that asks, "do you feel it is a sin to mow your lawn on Sundays"... and then present the results as, "90% of the US believes Christianity is false"

That's always been my take. Of the religious people I know, religion occupies a couple hours of their time every week. That's just over 1% of their time. They probably spend as much time in the toilet.

And that's the thing about religion. What religious people say and what they do are very different. To an observer, religion is just an odd and curious behavior on which they spend very little time.

 

[James Brown]

They probably spend as much time in the toilet.

Eww.

 

[ideologyhunter]

Anyway, all these polls are inconclusive as it pertains to the U.S. Wasn't the big story of the 80's and 90's that the baby boomers were leaving the big denominations and trying the little 'independent' churches and the evangelical movement? Way too early to tell what the millenials will do in adulthood -- not to mention what the doomsday preachers and politicians will inspire as the economy continues to tighten/polarize. I think the Post-Christian Era will be like the Iron Age -- it will hit various parts of the globe at different times. Scandinavia is already lucky enough to be living in it.

 

[Malintent]

They probably spend as much time in the toilet.

Eww.

OMg you guys just sparked a distant and vague memory from my early childhood.

I must have been very young, because I was sitting on the toilet and my father was in the bathroom with me (or just at the open door, I think). I must have had some vague notion of the god myth from interactions with other kids (because it definitely would not have come from my parents) and I asked my father,

"Is it wrong to think about god while doodying"? I meant, 'will I get in trouble'?

I don't remember what my father said to me in response, exactly, but whatever it was, I do recall thinking, "that's stupid... this must be one of those impossible games to win".. which was my way at the time of conceptualizing a paradox.

I recall these few seconds of my early childhood as formative in my dismissal of the god myth.

 

[funinspace]

Ya, years of slandering has made "atheist" mean "anti-Christian hate group"

So where is the Pew research that asks, "do you feel it is a sin to mow your lawn on Sundays"... and then present the results as, "90% of the US believes Christianity is false"

That's always been my take. Of the religious people I know, religion occupies a couple hours of their time every week. That's just over 1% of their time. They probably spend as much time in the toilet.

And that's the thing about religion. What religious people say and what they do are very different. To an observer, religion is just an odd and curious behavior on which they spend very little time.

I think the most telling item relative to how much people actually buy into religion is how much time they invest in it. And just as people fib on whether they believe in a god, they fib on just how often they regularly go to church.

Another recent survey, and actual validating of church attendance, showing it down to 20%. If one really, really thinks that sky daddy is real, one would think that they would give it more than a dozen or so hours a year...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-mcswain/why-nobody-wants-to-go-to_b_4086016.html

Do your research, Mr. Stetzer. According to the Hartford Institute of Religion Research, more than 40 percent of Americans "say" they go to church weekly. As it turns out, however, less than 20 percent are actually in church. In other words, more than 80 percent of Americans are finding more fulfilling things to do on weekends.

Furthermore, somewhere between 4,000 and 7,000 churches close their doors every year.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Well, if thousands of churches are closing their doors, that's good news. Perhaps the land can be repurposed into something which pays property taxes and otherwise contributes to the community which it's a part of.