[lbo-talk] God poll

[mike larkin]

--- Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
> NEW GOD SURVEY DATA
> Fox News Belief Poll
> More Americans believe in God than in heaven, but
> over a third believe in
> ghosts and UFOs.
> 
> Fox News, of "Fair and Balanced" fame, has released
> the results of a 
> survey just completed, revealing that 92 percent of
> Americans say 
> they believe in God, 85 percent in heaven and 82
> percent in miracles. 
> Though belief in God remained at the same level from
> earlier surveys, 
> belief in the devil increased from 63 percent in
> 1997 to 71 percent 
> today. In other beliefs, about a third of Americans
> believe in ghosts 
> (34 percent) and an equal number in UFOs (34
> percent), and about a 
> quarter accept astrology (29 percent), reincarnation
> (25 percent) and 
> witches (24 percent).
> 
> An interesting gender gap was found on many of these
> topics. Women 
> are more likely than men to believe in miracles (12
> percentage point 
> higher), and eight points more likely to believe in
> heaven. Not 
> surprising to skeptics, the significant gender
> difference exception 
> was for belief in UFOs, at 39 percent of men
> compared to 30 percent 
> of women.
> 
> Age also revealed differences, with 86 percent of
> adults between the 
> ages of 18 to 34 believing in hell, which drops to
> 68 percent for 
> those over age 70. Similarly, 79 percent of 18 to 34
> year olds 
> believe in the devil compared to 67 percent of the
> over-70 age group.
> 
> Not surprising given the traditional split between
> conservatives and 
> liberals on so many social issues and attitudes,
> Republicans are more 
> likely than Democrats to say they believe in God (by
> eight percentage 
> points), in heaven (by 10 points), in hell (by 15
> points), and 
> considerably more likely to believe in the devil (by
> 17 points). 
> Democrats are more likely than Republicans to say
> they believe in 
> reincarnation (by 14 percentage points), in
> astrology (by 14 points), 
> in ghosts (by eight points) and UFOs (by five
> points).
> 
> Equally distressing for nonbelievers, most Americans
> think religion 
> plays too small a role in people's lives today (69
> percent), with 
> only 15 percent saying it plays too large a role and
> seven percent 
> saying "about right." In a related finding, over a
> third (37 percent) 
> say they attend church, synagogue or other place of
> worship at least 
> once a week, 13 percent almost every week, 12
> percent about once a 
> month and 19 percent seldom attend. Three percent
> attend on holidays 
> and 15 percent never attend.
> 
> The Fox poll was conducted by Opinion Dynamics
> Corporation by 
> telephone on September 23-24, 2003 in the evenings.
> The sample was 
> 900 registered voters nationwide with a margin of
> error of 13 
> percentage points.
> 
> ----------------
> Copyright 2003 Michael Shermer, Skeptics Society,
> Skeptic magazine, e-Skeptic
> magazine (www.skeptic.com and skepticmag at aol.com).
> Permission to print,
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I'm waiting for those in-the-closet Straussian
atheists at The Weekly Standard to announce this
proves that liberals are out of touch with the
religous masses.

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