Politics, Religion, Society

One Out of Four Americans Do Not Believe In God While 38 Percent Believe They Have Been Given Direct Orders From God

sisteen chapel ceilingThere are news reports out this morning on a new poll stating that “76 percent of Americans are True Believers.” However, I find it more remarkable that basically one-fourth of Americans said that they do not believe in God. Given the continued lure of faith-based politics, it is remarkable that atheists and agnostics still have so little influence on politicians. There are few groups that can claim one out of four Americans and yet politicians continue to denounce those who do not believe in God. That includes people who simply say that they do not know one way or the other. The poll has some other interesting facts.

Thirty-eight percent of Americans believe that they have received direct orders from God to take particular actions in their lives. Of those who believe in God, 53 percent believe God plays an active role in dictating weather and disasters. Only 17 percent believe that God does not play such a role.

By the way, despite common misconceptions, there is little difference between Democrats and Republicans on such questions. Some 42 percent of Republicans believe that they are acting on God’s orders as opposed to 40 percent of Democrats. Fittingly, “independents” are least likely to believe in such divine direction.

Yet, I am struck by the large number of atheists and agnostics given their small influence on politics. Compare more powerful groups like the 34 percent of gun owners or 22 percent Tea Party supporters or 12.9 percent over 65 or 3.5 percent Gay population or the 2.2 percent Jewish population. Non-believers constitute 25 percent of the population but continue to be not only marginalized politically but vilified socially. It is an interesting contrast with other groups of similar or strikingly smaller size with more power politically.

What do you think?

47 thoughts on “One Out of Four Americans Do Not Believe In God While 38 Percent Believe They Have Been Given Direct Orders From God”

  1. I know someone who was a devout believer of a certain religion. Then their dogma got run over by their karma.

    Gene H. —

    If you have ever read The Shack, you know who God really is. She might be related to that barrista.

  2. POLLS are used to see how the people think and feel about certain subjects and gives the elites aka tavistock the means to change the peoples opinions. doesnt matter the company doing the poll it all ends up in the hands of tavistock and that is when they will begin to reshape whatever it is they are up to next!!!! ive been saying for about 2 years now that as soon as the LGBT distraction is over then out will come the atheists and agnostics and here they come…..

    Nick, Gene,Rafflaw, and ,BarkinDog Thank you all for the laughs..

  3. Gene,
    She just looked a goddess!
    AY,
    You are right.. Time to change some more water into wine.

  5. One should ALWAYS be skeptical of surveys. Gallup is a reputable, straight polling organization. I’ve never found one w/ their reputation, but would be interested in any someone might know. PLEASE don’t say Fox or MSNBC.

  6. Raff,

    God told me that there are plenty of decaffeinated brands out there that taste just as good as the real thing. Oh, wait. No. That wasn’t God. That was the really cute barrista at Starbucks. My bad.

  7. Raff,

    God better get busy…. I hear they are expecting a shortage of wine…..

  8. Lol@ Prof. JT! I think Mike A.’s article (Redefining Religion) and its’ reponses peaked Prof. JT’s interest into being baptized by David or Hubert C.

    Elaine,

    Interesting perspective about the survey, who conducted the survey, and background of the participants. Who did they survey? People leaving and entering a non-denominational church for the first time?

  9. God told me that he turned water into wine. God told me to kill the infidels. God told me that being gay is evil. God told me that greed is good. Isn’t it amazing how many people God is talking to??

  10. In a prior life as a human I worked the crap tables in Vegas. Of the folks who shoot craps a huge percentage believe in God. They shout Damn! when they lose and Praise The Lard! when they win. They never hedge their bets and Praise Crisco, it is always The Lard.

  11. “Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by rulers as useful.” – Seneca (ca. 4 BC –AD 65)

  12. Elaine,

    YouGov is a UK corp … internet based.

    Go to their web site and read the comments section to get an indication of the views their poll respondents hold.

    This particular poll is a “headline” grabber … in other words, a deniable advertisement for YouGov.

    Polls are very useful but only when they show movement … i.e. a series of polls over a period of time asking the exact same questions thus indicating trends. Clinton was a master at using polls.

  13. I’m often leery of polls. I’d like to know more about YouGov, the organization that conducted the poll. I’d also like to know who was polled and the methodology that was used used.

    *****
    YouGov Poll Says Nearly 60% of Americans Believe the Devil is Real
    September 21, 2013
    http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2013/09/21/yougov-poll-says-nearly-60-of-americans-believe-the-devil-is-real/

    Excerpt:
    Almost six in ten Americans believe the devil is real, and more than half think that people can be possessed by demons.

    Those results are from a recent YouGov poll of 1,000 respondents, though it’s not clear how reliable the numbers are — I couldn’t find an explanation of the methodology. YouGov says its poll has a margin of error of three percent…

    There are internal anomalies, too. When asked Do you believe someone can be possessed by the devil?, only 11 percent of Jewish respondents answered “Yes”; but when the question was Do you believe in the power of exorcism?, 37% of Jews answered in the affirmative. I don’t think that computes.

    One thing to keep in mind is that Jews form only about two percent of the U.S. population, and Muslims less than one percent. If YouGov managed to find a representative sample of 1,000 people living in the United States, only 20 respondents would have been Jewish, and only eight or nine would have been Muslim.

    Indeed, in this survey, the 11% of Jews who believe someone can be possessed by the devil came from a sample with only 23 Jews. The 37% of Jews who believe in exorcism came from a sample size that’s in the single digits. Those sub-samples are way too small to accurately represent the larger Jewish or Muslim population. As always, the devil is in the details.

  16. Religion and god are just kneejerk buzzwords. Before you say what your are or are not, ask the questioner what s/he means by those words. Each person has a different definition. If they say, “I mean the way the bible describes god”, ask them which bible they are talking about. There are 12 versions of the Christian bible.

  17. Religion is an important source of propaganda. It is absolutely used to polarize this population. It is an important way USGinc. turns people against each other.

    We are such easy prey (pray!). We could start using our judgment to understand when we are being manipulated. If god/dess tells you to do something, you still decide if you’re going to do that. If a politician tells you to do something, you still decide if you’re going to do that. The decision rests with the person taking the action, whether you are secular, religious or in a political cult.

Comments are closed.