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New Survey on Americans' Spiritual Beliefs

Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2018 1:59 pm
by Philip
Pew Research just released this very detailed and fascinating study on the current status of American beliefs related to their spiritual beliefs about God (or god): http://www.pewforum.org/2018/04/25/when ... they-mean/

While 9 out of 10 believe in God or whatever they happen to call god, American theism beliefs have an extremely wide range!

Interesting that more women than men believe in God / god (by about 6%). And of those that believe, the highest percentage of them are between ages 50 and 64, with up to 70 just slightly less. And college graduates with theist beliefs are about 15% less likely to believe than those with a high school or less education.

Re: New Survey on Americans' Spiritual Beliefs

Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2018 2:57 pm
by RickD
Oh joy, a poll. I love polls.
A new Pew Research Center survey of more than 4,700 U.S. adults finds that one-third of Americans say they do not believe in the God of the Bible, but that they do believe there is some other higher power or spiritual force in the universe.
Ok, the poll was 4,700 adults. What's the population of America? Almost 327 million you say? The 4,700 people polled is slightly over 1/1000 of a percent of the population, you say? Sound like there's no way that a poll of barely over 1/1000 of a percent of any group should be considered accurate, you say?
Overall, about half of Americans (48%) say that God or another higher power directly determines what happens in their lives all or most of the time. An additional 18% say God or some other higher power determines what happens to them “just some of the time.”
Wait, what?!?! You polled all Americans? Thank goodness, I thought you only polled 1/1000 of a percent.

should I go on?

I never liked polls. Especially after the useless polls during the last POTUS election.

Sorry to rain on your parade Philip, you sound like such a nice fellow. :wave:

Re: New Survey on Americans' Spiritual Beliefs

Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2018 4:04 pm
by Philip
Notice I didn't ENDORSE the poll, dummy - it's a partial snapshot. And it's an aggregate of even so - as some regions would have very different numbers individually. But I do believe polls showing Hillary might make a comeback! :pound:

Seriously, I would say in my area, in the South, probably 90-something percent at least believe in some god or God.

I think the biggest issue with polls is, not very many are willing to even talk to pollsters - and that's just people who still answer their landlines that are in the whitepages AND that aren't screening their calls. Unless I see a name come up I know, I don't answer - true of vast millions these days.