We've all read the stories that more than 90 percent of Americans believe in God. But that doesn't mean everybody believes in quite the same God. This is fascinating:
NINE in ten Americans believe in God but how they vote, or regard the Iraq war, depends on the very different views they have about His personality, according to a detailed survey of religion in the US.
It found that Americans hold four different images of God — Authoritarian, Benevolent, Critical or Distant — and these views are far more powerful indicators about their political, social and moral attitudes than any of the traditional categories such as Protestant, Catholic or Evangelical.
Of course if God is omniponent, he is all of those things and more and is, perhaps, allowing each of us to see the God we need to see. I wonder which of those Gods is the one all of those sports teams pray to so that they might win.
Comments
Careful Leo...we don't want to question Rosie O'Donnell's statement about those "radical Christians" being AS BAD as those radical Islamists now do we? LOL!
B.G.
And we also don't know how many people were actually asked these questions. (The article says "xx% of Americans" feel thus and so, when it should say
I just read somewhere about the first nationwide presidential poll, conducted by the Literary Digest in 1936, to predict whether Roosevelt or Landon would win. It wasn't a small sample -- more than 2 million "ballots" were counted. The poll predicted a huge win for Landon, which was, of course, wildly off. What went wrong? The poll respondents were taken from lists of telephone numbers (just as they are today) and from automobile owners. Phone and car ownership were not as universal as today, so the results skewed heavily urban and upper class, where Landon was much stronger than Roosevelt.
Polls are much better today, but you still have to pay attention to the samples, who's asking the questions, and how the questions are asked. My main problem with them is that, more and more, they are driving news coverage in ways that distort reality.
Bob, was that Rosie comment hilarious or what? It took her longer than I thought it would to start flippin' out. I wonder if she can talk to Barbara's pets too?
Maybe SHE can look that "gift horse" in the mouth for us then???
B.G.