Here's the result of the latest Newsweek Poll published on March 31, 2007. The poll was conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International.
These numbers don't make a lot of sense. For example, 39% of non-evangelical protestants think that God made humans only 10,000 years ago. But only 24% think that evolution is not well-supported by scientific evidence. Does that mean 15% think that evolution could be well-supported but they don't believe it anyway?
And what about the 58% of Catholics who think that evolution is supported by evidence? How did those Catholics answer the previous question? How 'bout those atheists/agnostics! Wouldn't you like to meet the 27% who think that God guided evolution or the 13% who think that humans were created quite recently? Does this mean that the "agnostics" include a significant number of believers? If so, then it suggests that calling yourself an agnostic in America is compatible with belief in the literal truth of genesis. Maybe these people have a truly sophisticated, philosophical, definition of "agnostic" in mind when they answered this question.
13 comments :
Less then half of atheist and agnostics think god had nothing to do with it.
the mind boggles, so much for the evolution leads to atheism canard. You can be an atheist and still think god made you, even though he dosent exist
Maybe some nonevangelical protestants accept microevolution but not macroevolution. Or people give inconsistent answers to questions they haven't thought about much, as I would if asked about most "celebrities." Ford
I wonder why only 73% of atheists/agnostics would agree that the TOE is "well-supported by evidence" and "widely accepted by scientists". Theistic anti-evolutionists will have a field-day with this one: even atheists who don't have any reason *not* to accept evolution have doubts? Larry, please tell me that this is an April Fool's joke? (Otherwise I can already hear the gleeful cackling as this statistic is quoted by our local Creationist loons at the next "Creation forum" later this month.)
One more proof that most believers don't even know what they believe in. IMO a lot of self descript believers are in fact people who actualy never think about what they believe they believe.
Also, a lot of people can say "I am a X" when in fact they disagree with a lot of the official positions of X. In France, 51% pretend to be catholic, when 80% of them are pro-choice, pro married priests and pro female priests.
And… they (71%) love their pope who has exactly the opposite opinion.
And, BTW, 26% of our supposedly "catholics" are sure that god exists. 26% thin it is probable. 10% say god probably exists and 7% think there is no god.
And all those people believe that they are catholic!
'the mind boggles'
Looks like everyone's mind boggled as well
When you get internally inconsistent replies in a poll or survey that is a sign of poor question design, not (neccessarily) confused people.
If you merely ask 'is the President doing a good job' you have no way of knowing if people are saying no because they think he is too soft, or no because he is being too hard. The split need not map cleanly onto party lines.
Similarly an agnostic might count himself as one because although he thinks there might be some sort of divine power, he cannot be sure.
Garbage in, garbage out, as they say.
As far as the truly sophisticated, philosophical, definition of "agnostic" the respondants had in mind, maybe it resided in the "no religion" part. As discoverejoys said ...
Re:pvdg
Greetings PVDG
I felt some pain reading your comments. I imagine you are shut down, emotionally & have escaped into your head. I imagine most atheists wouldn't know what a feeling was. I get a sense that you are a RAGEAHOLIC & CONTROL FREAK. You probably have a conscious fear of intimacy & an unconscious fear of abandonment. I imagine you abandoned your TRUE SELF a LONG time ago. The only way you will RECOVER "LITTLE PVDG," is for you to go back to the CHAMBER OF HORRORS [Your Childhood] & process the TERROR you are experiencing.
Peace Be With You
Patrick {Follower of Jesus Christ}
Hello Patrick,
I imagine most atheists wouldn't know what a feeling was.
Imagine what you like, but you are incorrect. This is a ridiculous slander against a significant minority of the population. Perhaps if you tried talking with an an atheist at some point, rather than preaching at one, you might learn something about human feelings. If atheists have no feelings, this presumably means you believe God provides all emotions (or that all emotions must be directed towards God). How does this not denigrate your own emotions, if you claim they are not yours? You insult both yourself and myself with such comments!
Also, how does a statement of fact (In France, 51% pretend to be catholic, when 80% of them are pro-choice, pro married priests and pro female priests., no citation given) cause you pain? Should we all just shut up and pretend everything is going well? That no apparent contradictions exist, anywhere?
RE: The Brummell: Monday, April 02 10: 07 AM
You insult both yourself and myself with such comments!
Greetings The Brummell
I felt some pain when I read your comments. I imagine you were RAGING over your fear, pain, & shame; I imagine you are a TERRIFIED LITTLE CHILD & the only feeling you know is RAGE. You abandoned LITTLE BRUMMELL a long time ago, BRUMMELL!! Your process is not whether (In France, 51% pretend to be catholic, when 80% of them are pro-choice, pro married priests and pro female priests., no citation given) but unprocessed STUFF from your childhood. Were you abused as a child, Brummell? I wonder if a good therapist might be able to help you process your TERROR. In the INTERIM, may I suggest you attend an ANGER MANAGMENT workshop? How do you FEEL, Brummell?
Peace Be With You
Patrick
Aw, "Patrick"...I thought you were my crazy Christian troll. Man, then I come to find you've been over here, all unfaithful in your craziness, trying to snatch the atheism away from someone else.
You're a cheating bitch.
Re: BigHeathenMike
You're a cheating bitch.
Luke 20: 16 – 18
He shall come and destroy these husbandmen, and shall give the vineyard to others. And when they heard [it], they said, God forbid.
And he beheld them, and said, What is this then that is written, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner?
Whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.
Are you a POWDER PUFF, MIKE?
Peace Be With You
Patrick
There is no proof...no evidence whatsoever which conclusively demonstrates that the universe and the earth and all that exists came to be via the “Big Bang” explosion of a “cosmic egg” some 15 billion years ago. There is, however, truly mountainous evidence from design alone which demands that there be a Designer. This evidence erases any possibility that everything got to be as it is by accident resulting from an explosion. Any claim that purely secular Big Bangism provides an intelligent explanation for everything that exists must depend on a logic-denying faith in the impossible, a faith which must also throw hard laws of true science to the wind.
Seeing the utter senselessness of holding on to such a concept, a modified concept retaining a belief in Big Bangism as a method of creation is frequently adopted as a compromise philosophy in this all-important matter of Origins. This concept views The Designer as something one could call God, but of a Clockwinder type who just sort of wound up the universe and man and went out to lunch and hasn’t come back. One can stop with that concept if one wants to do so. But, as we know, this is not Atheism; it is Deism or some shade of Agnosticism. Because of the insurmountable design problem, it is a reasonable step to move from Atheism to Deism. But, is it reasonable to stop at Deism or Agnosticism if one is interested in all the Truth available where this unavoidable Designer’s activities are concerned?
Peace Be With You
Patrick
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