So, having learned (or at been exposed to) things like history, science, psychology, sociology, critical thinking and so on causes people to question and not blindly accept what they’re told? Who could have imagined that! Does this also mean that if we’re smarter and more educated we’re less likely to fall for a politician’s crap? I guess that means the dumbing down of our education system helps explain how our current White House occupant got there. That, and the whole vote fraud thing, of course.
GALLUP: Nearly 1 in 3 Believe Bible is Literal Word of God
About one-third of the American adult population believes the Bible is the actual word of God and is to be taken literally word for word, a new Gallup poll reveals. This percentage is only slightly lower than several decades ago.
Gallup reports that the majority of those “who don’t believe that the Bible is literally true believe that it is the inspired word of God but that not everything it in should be taken literally.” Finally, about one in five Americans believe the Bible is merely an ancient book of “fables, legends, history, and moral precepts recorded by man.”
There is also a strong relationship between education and belief in a literal Bible, Gallup explains, with such belief becoming much less prevalent as schooling continues.
Those who believe in the literal Bible amount to 31% of adult Americans. This is a decline of about 7% compared with Gallup polls taken in the 1970s and 1980s. It is strongest in the South.
Believe in the literal word of the Bible is strongest among those whose schooling stopped with high school and declines steadily with educational level, with only 20% of college graduates holding that view and 11% of those with an advanced degree.
On a related note, eBay has a bible (autographed by Jesus himself!!) for sale that’s written in English and supposedly authenticated by carbon dating to around 60AD. Current bid is $1 mil. It not clear from the description how the chapters written after 60AD got into the book. A miracle!
God made it that way
QED
(and laughing my a** off)
Ok, Dave we get it. You don’t like religion…
At some point, we’ll all have a definitive idea of whether it’s right or not (or else we won’t care).
That religion still survives today is one of the world’s greatest mysteries, and disappointments.
Not to mention that thousands are killed every year over it.
I wonder how many of that 1/3 have actually read the bible, cover to cover?
Like the man said Dave, you we get it about you.
You are just not confident in your own beliefs hence the tearing down of the other side.
Education when you agree, indoctrination when you don’t.
I notice a high level of that 1/3rd doing a little evangelism here when the subject comes up.. For Bubbas, they write rather well. Maybe institutes of higher education in the south, skipped the logic and reason part of the curriculum, and went right to the follow the leader portion.
Hey Uncle Dave, I went to the link thinking there was going to be some proof of the 2000 election being stolen from Gore. Rovebots! Funny. Looks like you have to do a little more digging. Take your time though, it’s only been 6 1/2 years. I like that one of the commenters here who has joined your Hallelujah chorus of calling his fellow country men stupid for practicing their constitutional right to freedom of religion, thinks there is more proof of UFO’s on earth than proof of the existence of God. Wow you guys really are smart!
If I came home after 3 days and told my wife I was dead, all my shit would be out in the front yard.
I’m personally of the opinion that many of the old stories are true, in a sense, because I should think that our ancestors weren’t -all- liars. Perhaps it is my own experience speaking, but I won’t disregard anything as impossible in this mysterious universe. I have read the Bible (and a number of other holy books) cover to cover, and I see the inconsistencies, but in the words of certain sages and prophets therin there is great wisdom, which is well worth understanding.
As for any ancient book being word for word truth, that is silly; between editing and re-retranslation and (in the case of the Bible) books being added and withdrawn for hundreds of years, to believe that is to be ignorant of history. And that ignorance gives rise to the intolerance which is forbidden by, not only the Christian faith, but many others as well. These are the true enemies of mankind, the source of a hundred million murders. Let us not slander people of faith when people with none may suffer the same delusions.
That religion still survives today is one of the world’s greatest mysteries, and disappointments.
I believe the mystery you refer to is that human beings by and large demand an explanation for everything and fear the unknown. Religion was powerful invention by oppressors of early times to exploit that weakness. Today, religion continues to be a powerful tool for exploitation and profit. Tune into Sunday channels and observe the thriving businesses.
Proud to be in the 11% with an advanced degree who still believes. Unfortunately, the difference between religion and education is that education teaches one to only believe in what is “seen”, while religion is based on faith which is the evidence of the belief in what is “unseen”. Maybe it’s harder for a highly educated person to give up the notion that there are mysteries that require faith to be understood. Further, you can’t expect an uneducated person to open a book on advanced math, physics, etc. and expect them to understand it straight up. To a degree, the mind has to be trained to understand those concepts. Until you’re ready to accept that God is God, I don’t think you can ever fully understand or appreciate the Bible.
Ya. Irrational beliefs are negatively correlated with rationality.
This, lads & lasses, is what is known as a tautology. 😀
#14
I wish, in my experience Religion is the only supersticion a Phd won’t get rid off..
..Unless you’re a philosopher.
WOW! The bid is up to $10,666,766.00 now! I wonder if that is for real.
I DID get to see the signature though… looks pretty authentic:
Jesus H. Christ.
tautology=multiple redundancy
Maybe this just means that there is very effective brain-washing going on in colleges. Young, gullible college students simply parrot what they are told by their professors (who will give them bad grades if they disagree). That is not a big surprise. There is not much critical thinking going on in America’s institutions of higher education.
I think this pretty well proves evolution.
A certain percentage of people have evolved, a certain percentage of people are evolving and a certain percentage of people haven’t evolved at all.
Depending on your biases, you can choose to decide which is which.
#19 – maybe it means that… But since we can observe the dumb mistrusting the educated every day, maybe it also means that non-religious people are smarter than religious people… because they are.
The eBay Bible (praise cheeses) reminds me of the original novel M*A*S*H, that the movie, then TV series is based on.
Trapper John had a beard, and looked like the (strangely enough, white) Jesus that is in so many paintings, so they sold autographed copies, and even had ‘live appearances’ of the author.
J/P=?
I dunno, I’ve read the bible cover-to-cover, and I find it rather tedious with some sections outright silly nonsense. It’s obvious that it’s been written by dozens, if not hundreds of people, translated multiple times, and needs a good HARD edit and an index. And, compared to other folklore, it’s …well,…about the same.
I can’t see how it lives up to the “word of god” stuff, makes no sense. The things attributed to the prophet (Christ) sound very much like Buddhist….though. Too bad the followers don’t act Buddhist.
The fact of the matter is that people with a higher education may very well still be people of faith but balk at the work “literal” since it doesn’t mean what people think it means. Gallup should know better. “Inspired” would have done much better.
What is getting worse now are the fundiathiests here. Guess people of faith better get ready to be sent to salt mines if Uncle Dave has his way.
#2 – Jägermeister – I checked out that toast, and have to wonder: why does Virgin Mary get all the glory when it is clearly an image of the ghost of Carol Lombard?
See foto at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carol_Lombard
#11 – Li – And yet when was the last time people gathered armies and went to war singing “Onward Atheist and Agnostic Soldiers”? It’s religion that plants the meme, and the scoundrels of organized religion who take advantage of it to spark wars, crusades and jihads.
Can anyone believe this thing has bids on Ebay? I like the “no refund but can return for store credit…” policy.
Is Ebay now the best way to launder money? Why else would anyone bis over $10,000,000 on a bible? If one is stupid enough to bid than how were they smart enough to come up with the cash and if they have an extra $10 Mil hanging around how can they be so dumb as to bid on such a thing…pardon while my brain explodes trying to figure this one out.
#16 – hhopper
“I DID get to see the signature though… looks pretty authentic:
Jesus H. Christ.”
AND in ballpoint ink… I know I’m convinced.
#18 – hhopper, encore
“tautology=multiple redundancy”
Love it…
Allow me to quote Oscar Wilde:
“I wish I had said that…”
Noël Coward: “Oh – you will.”
It’ll avail ye naught to ignore the unfortunate yet inescapable fact that the majority of humans will always believe in things that simply aren’t so, and that they will always “think” that the more-intelligent minority is wrong in not sharing the majority’s unfounded beliefs – because they’re a minority.
In the immortal words of that great American philosopher, Billy Sol Estes: “Get over it.”
Billy Sol Estes… wow… speaking of ghosts from the dim, dark past!
I’m probably in a very tiny group that has advanced degree, that believe the Bible is merely an ancient book of “fables, legends, history, and moral precepts recorded by man.”, and who has also read the bible cover to cover.
When you are taught something from a very early age right until you can think for yourself, then peer pressure kicks in to ‘believe’ even though you know better, it’s tough to break away and tell your friends and family to buzz off. Easy to understand why the Middle East hates America — their kids are taught to hate us since birth, and only some of those educated in the West end up learning not to hate us. It takes education and courage to go against the grain.
As many have pointed out, the Bible is big bidness, lots of money to be made and lots of unscrupulous people to make it. Wasn’t it Zig Ziegler who said (re: what you listen to), “Garbage in, garbage out?”
#10, qsabe, no offense taken
#27 – …clearly an image of the ghost of Carol Lombard
Interesting… I guess they used her as the template for “Virgin Mary” on the toast… 😉 Seriously, it’s amazing that someone fell for the toast fraud.