Zephyrus

I'm not sure if this has already been posted (if it has, go ahead and delete this). But at www.pollingreport.com I came across a rather disquieting poll... actually made me outright sick at my stomach.

I don't see how we could be _that_ far behind... I guess the forces of darkness are getting stronger. Actually, I just noticed that ICR did the fieldwork, so probably shouldn't take it too seriously, but definitely not something to take lightly.

Marduk

It is always possible that some people just don�t want to say out loud, on TV, over the phone, or whatever, that they think the Bible is a crock.

Rhaedas

That doesn't make sense, given a poll lower down this page .

You'd think the numbers would match up, but they don't.

IMO, I think most Americans don't think too deeply about why they're religious, it's just an assumed thing you do. It's those that actually think about it that either fundify or deconvert. And given that atheism/agnosticism and fundementalism are both low percentages, with all other inbetween, there's not a lot of thinking overall.

As an example, look at the numbers regarding church-state issues. The number of people who oppose some sort of koran/islamic display on public ground flip-flop if it's of christian origins. They don't understand the issue, they're just going with what they're familiar with. Sheeple.

nermal

I think it's simply a case of people not seriously thinking about what they believe. Think about it this way, if 60% of the people really believed in the flood narrative, and took the rest of the bible as literally (and why wouldn't they? The FN is the one of the most outlandish stories) then 60% of the people would be fundamentalist christians--I mean real bible thumping, gay hating, abortion clinic protesting fundamentalist christians.

If you believe in the flood narrative, and understand it in the context of the bible, you would spend an inordinate amount of time concerned for your soul. Most Americans (I'd say >75%) just aren't that vigorously religious.

So what is the explanation for the numbers? People heard the flood story as children. I heard it in my secular grade school in the 70's. There have been tv specials on it such as "IN Search Of" and others.
So when asked, 60% of the people "literally" believe a flood story, but probably better than 50% of those haven't even read it in its original form. They've just heard it by word of mouth, and accepted it, and incorporated it into their casual religion.

Mention to people at random that men and women have the same number of ribs. You'll be shocked to find out how many believe otherwise. They've just never actually examined the beliefs they very casually hold (mostly out of habit, IMO).

Ed

Schopenhauer

I remember a Sunday school teacher tell me and other young children that men and women have different numbers of rbis because of god's act of creating Eve from Adam.

Space Chef

Ugh

Oh please have someone come out and say they only asked preschoolers.

Well, there's no hope. *strings up noose*

Rhaedas

{Link removed}

Being a preschooler isn't an excuse. A few years ago my now 8 year old figured out the problems with the Noah tale on his own. Of course, if you're a child in an environment where these tales are forced on you as the "gospel truth"....


Edit- Removed link to other thread since this is now part of it.

Space Chef

I remember either having that taught to me or getting that impression.

I was actually kind of suprised when I read in THIS THREAD that men and women have the number of ribs. I remember recalling it a while ago, but I never got around to checking it out. Huh.

Yahzi

I remember being really confused about that, and thinking that the way the forensic scientists could tell if a skeleton was male or female was by counting the ribs.

And I wasn't raised with any religion!

Jobar

This wouldn't be the Institute for Creation Research, now would it?