JohnKin79

I didn't know it was this bad.
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Belief and Blame
Six in 10 Take Bible Stories Literally, But Most Don't Blame Jews for Jesus' Death

Analysis
By David Morris


Feb. 16
— Most Americans believe some of the best-known Bible stories are literally true — but at the same time a vast majority rejects the Biblical suggestion that Jews bear collective responsibility for the death of Jesus.Six in 10 in this ABCNEWS Primetime poll say the Biblical accounts of Moses parting the Red Sea, God creating the world in six days and Noah and the flood happened that way, word for word. Evangelical Protestants are even more apt to hold this view; about nine in 10 of them take these accounts literally.

Jesus’ Death

But fewer than one in 10 Americans say all Jews today are responsible for the death of Jesus, as some literal interpretations of the Bible suggest. Eight in 10 say otherwise, apparently adopting a looser interpretation of the Biblical quote, "His blood be on us, and on our children." (Matthew 27:25.)

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/prime...ll_040216.html :banghead: :banghead:


Edited for copyright purposes.

Roland

This is indeed depressing, but one should be wary of polls. I'll bet that if the question were "When did dinosaurs live? Millions of years ago or thosaunds?" most people would say millions because the truth about dinosaurs is such common knowledge in the modern world.

At least I've never heard of anyone in a conversation about dinosaurs arguing that dinosaurs and men were contemporaneous. Then again, I may just be hanging around the wrong people, i.e. those with a post- 3rd grade education.

I just think people don't think very clearly about all this, but I'll bet that far more Americans believe the universe is billions of years old and not 6,000 when they get right down to it. Part of that has to do with the way in which science has permeated most areas of modern culture - from school courses to museums to planetariums to Discovery Channel documentaries.

In other words, I wouldn't put it past non-critically thinking people to believe in both a billions-of-years old universe AND Genesis at one and the same time.

Amaleq13

In the July/August 2003 issue of Skeptical Inquirer they published the results of a Feb '03 Harris poll. Here are some of the results that had me saying WTF:

Of the folks identifying themselves as Christians:

8% did not believe in the survival of the soul after death

7% did not believe in miracles

5% did not believe in heaven

18% did not believe in hell

But my personal favorite and the one that made me laugh while saying WTF:

1% denied believing in God

Rhaedas

There are a few people who say they follow Jesus' teachings, yet disbelieve him being any son of god. Wasn't Jefferson one of these, when he wrote his own bible, and he's pretty much established as an atheist.

SLD

Well, actually, I'm sure that there are some stories that are literally true. I wouldn't be able to tell you which ones, but clearly they can't be all myths, right?

I'd be willing to bet the one about David having his buddy killed in battle so he could fuck his hot wife is true. That one just has an air of authenticity to it that you don't find in others.

SLD

Worldtraveller

Wel, Jefferson's personal beliefs are rather vague, but he definitely thought the organized church of the time left something to be desired.
If anything, Jefferson, being a product of the enlightenment, was more likely a deist.

Check out this thread and some of the links in there (Thanks again, Buffman!) for a good perspective on the views of Jefferson, and some of hs contemperaries.

And now back to our regularly scheduled thread.

I found this paragraph particularly telling.
Cheers,
Lane

Doctor X

I loaned a wonderful book--Flight of Peter Fromme by the venerable polymath {Always wanted to use "polymath" in a sentence.} [Get on with it!--Ed.] Martin Gardner--where the narrator notes that "most" people say they are Christian without any idea of what that means or what Junior taught, that they believe in the Bible without having actually read it.

I think this is a bit of what is happening. Notice how sometimes a person [Like him.--Ed.] will claim "such-and-such" is in the Bible and it is not.

--J.D.

sodium

I hate to defend the Bible, but even if you assume the historical accuracy and literal meaning of the quote (I personally dispute the former), it doesn't follow that modern Christians should actually hold Jews collectively responsible. It shows a group of Jews seemingly wishing collective responsibility on themselves and their children, but that doesn't mean their descendants (or other Jews) were in fact responsible. You can claim any sins for your children you want, but it doesn't make them any more guilty.

Now, I think that quote is not an accurate record, and is in fact in there because Matthew did hold the Jews collectively responsible for something (not necessarily Jesus's literal death). But if I were a Christian I would take that as a historical quote by a misguided crowd, not some kind of binding commandment on me.

Plognark

Another favorite saying of mine comes to mind:

Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large numbers.

I'm always amused to find people who

a) Believe in biblical stories as being true

b) Know that scientists have proven that dinosaurs lived millions of years ago.

It never occurs to them to even compare the data. In their defense, they have more important things to worry about, like the next episode of friends, and what person will win on American Idol, and how to pay for food and rent.

Hmmmm....that doesn't seem bitter, does it?