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June 12th, 2012
04:49 PM ET
Pew survey: Doubt of God growing quickly among millennialsBy Dan Merica, CNN Washington (CNN) – The percentage of Americans 30 and younger who harbor some doubts about God’s existence appears to be growing quickly, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey. While most young Americans, 68%, told Pew they never doubt God’s existence, that’s a 15-point drop in just five years. In 2007, 83% of American millennials said they never doubted God’s existence. More young people are expressing doubts about God now than at any time since Pew started asking the question a decade ago. Thirty-one percent disagreed with the statement “I never doubt the existence of God,” double the number who disagreed with it in 2007. Atheist organizer takes ‘movement’ to nation’s capital When asked about doubts of God, no other generation showed a change of more than 2% in the past five years. The survey found that the percentage of millennials who identify with a religion is remaining constant, while most other generations have seen religious identification increase in the past 10 years. The findings about millennials and religion were part of a 168-page report that Pew released June 4 but were largely overlooked. “Notably, people younger than 30 are substantially less likely than older people to say prayer is an important part of their lives,” the report said. “Research on generational patterns shows that this is not merely a lifecycle effect,” it continued. “The Millennial generation is far less religious than were other preceding generations when they were the same age years ago.” Atheist group targets Muslims, Jews with ‘myth’ billboards in Arabic and Hebrew The findings are part of Pew’s 2012 American Values Survey, which touches on issues including political partisanship, gay marriage and abortion. Despite the findings on millennials, the survey shows that the United States continues to be a highly religious nation, with most Americans identifying with a particular faith. Seventy-six percent of all respondents said prayer is an important part of their lives and agreed that “we all will be called before god at the Judgment Day to answer for our sins.” About 80% said they have never doubted the existence of God. The report points to a growing divide between the youngest and oldest Americans on belief, religion and social issues. According to Jesse Galef, communications director for the Secular Student Alliance, the growth in “doubting” youths has led to a surge in secular student groups. “For a lot of millennial atheists, they are expecting to find a group, they are coming to campus, and if they don’t find one, they are starting one,” Galef said. “This is completely different than what other generations grew up with.” Atheist rally continues in spite of rain; students highlighted throughout The Secular Student Alliance has affiliates on 357 American campuses, Galef said, up from 81 such affiliates in 2007. Galef says the Internet has created a place for young people to discuss religious doubts. “It enables anybody to have open discussions without fearing if their parents would find out or what their communities would say,” he said. "The more safe places we create for young people to discuss their doubts, the more they can inspire questions in others." soundoff (4,013 Responses)« Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 Next »
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I dont know which annoys me the most...the brainwashed idiots who give other "believers" a bad name, or the synics who call EVERY person of faith stupid mindless sheep. Too people look at every word for their holy book as fact and true words of God. People miss the forest for the trees. You are not supposed to look at the Book at face value. It's all stories and lessons to be learned on how to live a better llife. Be selfless, help others, treat people as you would like to be treated, and live your life for a higher purpose than yourself. It's NOT to be used to preach hate and intolerance. The more a person from the pulpit spits out hate and judgment, the more their private life is polluted and perverted behind the curtain. Damnit, God never wanted slavery or mindless devotion. We are his children, he knows we will make mistakes, like all children we will disappoint, but he still loves us...ALL. And we should try our best to live the life of Jesus: be kind, help others, and self-sacrifice. Atheists, please be kind...we are not all stupid and hate-monging. I understand your doubt, I've had it as well. It;s a lot to believe. Make your own relationship with God, don't let others tell you how to get to God...make your own path. Thank you, and may God Bless you ALL.
Kevin, hello! It's 2012 ya know? Get a life.
Kevin – thank you. I couldn't have put it better than that. God be with you.
Kevin You are the classic case of water down christianity your Christ is better of been a political candidate than the savior of man
Post by Kevin contains instances of the circumstantial ad hominem fallacy , a series of Red Herrings, and multiple cases of Willed Ignorance.
http://www.fallacyfiles.org/glossary.html
First off... its cynic. Second of all, all people of every theistic faith are stupid sheep. Reality = 1, God = 0.
As with most things there is nothing wrong the religious – they are harmless and hurt noone, often enough even beneficial to the community and world.
The only ones among the religious that I take issue with are those that think it is my requirement to live by their rules. They are wrong in every possible way.
Not Bad Kevin. I would add that we do not choose God. He chooses us. We cannot even know he exists unless he lets us know him. The idea that God waits for a human being to "choose" God is most rediculous. That would make us more powerful then him because we could tell him No. Doesnt make sense that the creator would just sit patiently on the side lines waiting for people to make up their minds does it? He reveals himself in the form of Christ and then to whom he chooses. not the other way around.
@Tek
Then those who find no evidence and get no "revelation" experience (like me) are not to blame for going to hell.
They also had poll for gods to see how many of them beleived in people. There were no responses.
Zing!
Religion should receive the same amount of criticism like any other idea. It should not make anyone strident and shrill for openly asserting skepticism towards a religion's claim. That's how we trash bad ideas and grow towards making genuine improvements for our species.
Good post.
There may be a higher power – but you can be damn sure that no one person or religious organization has exclusive rights to claim themselves as his spokesman, it is the height of hypocrisy and self servitude to claim otherwise.
You say there may be a higher power but why?
God must be happy with us (humans) because for the past 2000 years he didn't use any human V e Gi na S in order to reappear and kill himself again to save humanity. We must be doing something right.
I'm still sort of confused as to how having himself killed did the world any bit of good?
It's my B-Day today. Thanks! That was hilarious!
Is there a way to believe in God without all the "man-made" religon hindering your faith with all of their non-sensical babble? I believe in God, not man-made religon. Buddha, Allah, God, Jesus-all the same guy, but twisted into a (as you can see with all of the post on these comments) joke by the men and woman who are currently leaders of the church of whatever "denomination" they believe in. Even Athiesm is a religon, man made and corrupted by men who twist facts to their on personal gain.
atheism is not a religion, please!
Well, the important thing here is that you've found a way to feel superior to everybody.
Buddha is not a God and A-theism is NOT a religion.
Of cours is a religion it actually takes more faith to believe that everything came out of nothing.
Atheism is a religion like abstinence is a s exual position.
Atheism is a "religon", in the man made sense. It has a belief system. People follow it. What would you call it?
There are non-dogmatic religions out there. Seek them out, and experience "God's" love without all of the (unnecessary) baggage.
The Buddha was not a god and never claimed to be one.
For all you people who are doubting that Atheism is a religon, Google the Church of the Flying Spagehtii (sic) Monster. An actual church exist to this that people go to and follow as there belief system. Because they follow it is their RELIGON. Everybody knows there is no such thing as a "Flying Noodle Monster" (watch me be proved wrong), but that doesn't stop this from being somebodys faith as is Atheism, Satanism, and other religons that man have created.
@James
"Atheism is a "religon", in the man made sense. It has a belief system. People follow it. What would you call it?"
It is apparent that you are uninformed, not that I expected anything different.
If we have to explain that Atheism is not a religion you're already too far gone to comprehend it's simplicity.
Voice,
Inform me.
@James
You just don't get it, do you? FSM is an analogy, sarcastic in nature towards organized religion.
Okay, so Atheism is not a religon. What is it? A belief? A state of mind? Some could argue that so is Christianity.
@James
On face value one could consider atheism a belief but that meaning is lacking due to the nature of belief, it is actually contradictory as it is an absence of belief.
So one would say that Atheist believe in not believing, therefore following a belief. LOL I am done. I seem to have fell down the proverbial rabbit hole.
@James
Atheism is merely a single stance on a claim. The stance of non-belief when it comes to claims of a god/gods.
@James
Absence of belief not a belief of not believing, get it?
I feel bad for people who need to cling to such beliefs. If you ask a person to show you that a heaven or hell exist they will point you to a book. If you ask the same people to show you how they know the sun exists, 100% of them will point to the sun not a book about the sun. A book can be about anything, real or imaginary. It is the reality that matters not what a book says is reality.
But what if the book speaks about reality?
Prove to me that the Mahaburata speak of reality?
With no evidence, it's difficult to know if a book speaks of reality or not.
What are you now a majority? No your not. not even close. 93 percent of the worlds population believes in a supreme being. To think that we are all somehow dilousional while the non believers are correct is more rediculous then anything. While you keep throwing your jabs from a defensless and far outnumbered position remember that just because you do not believe in God does mean that he doesnt believe in you. You would trust in evil more then good no doubt.
Look around you or even close, like in the mirror. Do you really believe it all came about by chance? The odds are way off the charts of things randomly coming together.
Most children believe in something imaginary such as santa clause, monsters in their closet or what not. Because the majority believe in such things they must be real because every one knows belief takes presedence over reality when proving the existence of something.
A delusion is a belief held with strong conviction despite superior evidence to the contrary.
Yes, believers are delusional.
Post by 'Tekpilot' is an instance of the ad populum fallacy.
http://www.fallacyfiles.org/glossary.html
93% of people are just delusional or wrong then....is no god, never was. I guess tho on the bright side we are slowly creeping out of the dark ages of gods, magic, witchs and warlocks, etc. Probably 200 years ago it was pretty much 100%, of course things like evolution and are slowly becomeing accepted, some people are even starting to think women might be as smart and capable as men...and that colored people are equal too whites.....where will it end?
No. The odds are that things, because they have properties such as mass, will react to forces in a given way, and will fall into some kind of arrangement. It's all very simple. Several formal disciplines would be of aid in understanding the universe: physics, biology, and probability come to mind. I would also suggest courses in paleontology, post-structuralist anthropology, and literature. Seriously. The world is complex and interesting.
Im not saying that. Im saying that God has a specific plan for everyone. Its not always going to pretty what it is. But its what that person was ment to do. Now I would love to spend all day arguing with all of you about this, but I am sensing that just because this is an article about atheists, I am the only one who believes in God in here. I see a lot of hatrid, and quite honestly, it makes me sick. Im leaving. You all can believe what you want, but until my dying day, I will believe in the one true God.
God's plan for Jun Lin was to be eaten by his psychopathic lover and his body parts sent to people all over Canada. You must be so happy with your god.
Post by 'B' is an instance of the Willed Ignorance fallacy.
http://www.fallacyfiles.org/glossary.html
If there is a God, he/she either isn't all powerful or isn't all good.
If God is all powerful and allows all the evil and suffering in the world, he/she can't be all good.
If God is all good, and allows all the evil and suffering in the world, he/she can't be all powerful.
You are just copying David Hume. Atheism is a bankrupted worldview
Atheism is not a world view, it is the absence of the belief in what does not exists, namely the man made idea which are referred to as gods.
Sometimes we make sacrifices because of our love for someone. In the case of God, His desire for a relationship with us out weighs His desire for good in the world. He wants us to choose to love Him, but in order to have choice you would also have to have the ability to hate Him. This choice to hate is where the evil comes from. We choose to sin. If he removed our ability to sin, we would just be puppets on a string.
@Mike,
"Atheism is a bankrupted worldview" and you're just copying your local minister. Please share with us how atheist/secular-leaning countries such as Netherlands, Norway, Denmark and Sweden have a bankrupted worldview.
Exactly a worldview. one without God.
I wonder how the poll would have been different if they made a distinction between belief in God or belief in a particular religion? I know plenty of people that believe in a higher power, a creator, or even other types of spirituality but they don't believe in the Bible or other religious texts.
That is the crossroads I've found myself at. I definitely believe in God. I can't explain it or prove it, so don't ask. But after being a Christian for all of my life I've recently been taking a long, hard look at all of the errors and failed prophecies in the Bible and it is clear to me that the Bible is not the inerrant word of God, as Christians claim it to be.
So I don't affiliate with Christians anymore. But I also don't totally fit in with Atheists. Perhaps Agnostic would be a better group for me?
I hope to live long enough to see the outright death of organized religion in the civilized world at least.
Yeah and be replaced by organized atheism. Great
I live in a secular country and America has a loooooooonggggg way to go. I hope you're really, really young.
So what's new? Paul stated in I Timothy 4:1-3 and in II Timothy 3-1-5,7 that there would be a falling away from the faith and Godlessness in the last days.
last days, blah, blah, blah......
And you and the other Apocalypse nutbars have been spouting that tired crap for the last 2,000 years. We're still here.
Actually, did you ever think that maybe the Rapture has already happened? Jesus just didn't want today's sorry Christians and left you all here with us heathens. He took one guy from Burbank, that was it.
yeah, right after he stated that women are second-class and should keep their mouths shut and submit to men... 1 Timothy 2:11
I agree, lose your faith and you are a lost sheep in the dark.
Every wacko who's ever said "these are the last days" has embarrassed themselves.
The Bible is a book of fairytales.
Yes the Bible and most religion texts in general have an explanation ready for all eventualities. That's how they always appear to be right when the situations arise. It's pretty simple.
Religious profecies tend to be self-fulfilling.
Aren't you true believers supposed to be raptured up? Maybe you should all get a head start and kill each other in the name of your God. You'll be happy because you'll be with your Eterna-dad, and we'll be happy because you're all the flock out of here.
2,000 years of "Any day now!"
Yawn.
I believe in a god that is never judgmental, never vengeful, never selfish, and would never do anything bad to anyone just to prove a point. No, I'm not talking about Jehovah as I find him to be vengeful, selfish, judgmental and has committed violent acts against mankind. True gods would never stoop so low and they never need anyone to worship them for they are already whole and perfect and therefore worship is pointless.
As for prayer, I see prayer as a form of meditation meant to connect with the true god. Prayer is not always about reciting some scripture. It can also be about clearing one's mind to the point where nothing else around them matters except to focus on the inner god.
Yes, you can tell I'm Gnostic. Many will criticize me for being associated with such a faith, but if they are willing to judge others then they should judge themselves the same way. Judge not thee lest ye be judged.
Yes Jessy and I think the reason a lot of young people and old are turning away from God is the way he is trying to be pushed on to people today. God was supposed to be mericiful and have compassionate for the poor and the needy. But look at the republicans in congress. Passing laws and trying to pass more to cut funds for food for the poor, funds to help pay fuel cost cut. Any thing and every thing to help those who really need it in this country is being cut while they push for tax cuts for the rich and corporations. And then tell us the lie that they are folliowng God's will. What would you think. That they are not religious people at all and if this was what religion did to people we want no part of it.
@Marjee
You hit that nail's head with surgical precision.
The religion of atheism is a curious one. However, I respect their right to believe as they will. My belief system does not require outside support to make it work; any good belief system should do the same. Atheists have about as much possibility in convincing me to accept an accidental universe as my cat has in his ability to get the Fed to lower interest rates. Just ain't gonna happen, folks. Anyway, carry on...
Paula: How do you make the logical leap from a creator to a God?
Think much?
So you don't need the "outside" support that Atheists do? I guess that means no Bible, Torah, Qua-ran, or any other religious text. Also you apparently claim not to need any place of worship (church, mosque, parish, etc.) or any religious leader (imam, rabbi, priest, minister, etc.), or any group of like-minded believers to worship or learn with, nor do you apparently need prayer, commitment, or study. For that matter what do you even need a god or a religion for? They are "outside" to you, ya know. Wow that's some religion ya got there ... that's definitely more work than being an atheist ... or even sane.
Atheism is a religion like not collecting stamps is a hobby.
I feel sorry for people who can't see God in all things. Life would be a frightening, sad means to no end without that.
It's a frightening, sad thing that there exist people who feel a need to see a fictional deity in everything. Were I to profess sight of a pink unicorn in everything, I would be labeled rightfully as delusional at best, completely insane at worst.
You can't really blame them for thinking like that. Just take a look at the KKK, The Westboro Baptist Church, and several others around the US that have used scripture to spread hate even against Catholics, fallen soldiers, gays, Jews, etc. It's because of purist groups like these that gave Christianity such a bad name. Nowadays, when a young American hears a Christian topic, the first thing that comes to their mind is how arrogant Christians have become in trying to scare us into believing in their interpretation of God. Muslims and Jews have the same problem. If this keeps up, I wouldn't be surprised if the next US president is Atheist. Actually, come to think of it, I think Abraham Lincoln once wrote a manifesto on how he even questions god (first atheist president???).
Don't be scared exCON, Thor, Ra, Zoroaster, Zeus, etc .. will take good care of you.
So you are saying that when you look at a horses rear end you see your God? Interesting.
Actually, it isn't frightening or sad at all. Shed your stone aged belief system and the worry and guilt that comes with it – you'll be happier for it.
No, theists are the frightened ones, clinging to imaginary gods without which they couldn't make it through the day, much less their lives. Atheists need no such crutch.
Yes, the world can be frightening. Disease exists. Cruelty and poverty and greed are widespread. Good people die and foul people live lavishly. These are things that we must face as intelligent adults.
The problem is that most Americans have been fed religion instead of Jesus Christ! Religion is a man-made belief system and human effort to find god, know god, please god, or get god's approval. Notice I placed all the last uses of god in lower case because I am referring to a false god, a god that the individual does not know personally. The only way any individual can know God personally and is alive and real is by His Holy Spirit, because He is Spirit. No person can know God by the flesh, natural senses, human reasoning, human understanding, human comprehension, or human rationale. Read the following:
Mattthew Chapter 16: 13 When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?”
14 So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. 19 And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed[d] in heaven.”
Pastor Evans: Christianity IS a religion.
Who actually wrote that scripture, and how can we know that it is accurate? Was it peer reviewed? I agree with you that religion has misled many people. Instead of teaching Love, the focus has been on miracles and resurrection. I think there's good evidence for the existence and benefit of Love; the other two, I'm not so sure about.
Remember – Jesus was a liberal! Really!
Post by 'Pastor Evans' is a veiled instance of the No True Scotsman fallacy, and also contains vagueness and non sequitur elements.
http://www.fallacyfiles.org/glossary.html
@Sam
I think Paster was referring to how Christianity has been focusing too much on imposing social norms to the point of creating stigmas, fear, stereotypes as opposed to focusing on what Yeshua (Semitic for Jesus) really meant: if you know yourself, you know god. There was also one additional meant he left behind.
Gospel of Thomas
Saying 108
Yeshua says,
Whoever drinks from my mouth will become like me,
I myself shall become that person,
And the hidden things shall be revealed to that one.
Jessy, google "secret decoder ring"...
@Sue,
PhillipFryNotSureIfSeriousOrJoking.jpg
Awjeeez the dishonest trope "Christianity isn't a religion it's a relationship with Jesus" rears its deceitful head once again. Evans, ALL YOU HAVE IS A RELIGION.
"Atheism isn't a religion, it's a relationship with reason". Now THAT is a true statement.
Pastor Evans, the world is in serious trouble. Please spell it for them because their eyes are so close I don't know any more. These make me feels good lukewarme churches are killing the true Word of Jesus Christ.
Sad to see todays world says: "lukewarme churches are killing the true Word of Jesus Christ."
Then I guess Jesus ain't all that, eh? No surprise, since he doesn't exist.
Imagine that – in just five short years 15% have come to doubt whatever version of pie in the sky they have been exposed to. At that rate (and assuming the trend is world wide – a big assumption with all those believing in Allah), in another 20 to 25 years this earth might actually see peace – or at least the killing will be grounded in something more understanable.
Next we'll be reading that people don't believe politicians, and their faith in government. Oh wait – we're already there and its old news.
For your information atheist states have kill more people. Your argument is invalid.
Mike .. No one kills in the name of Atheism but religious followers continue to kill in the name the their religion.
Mike, your oversimplification, as predictable as it is, neglects that those states were totalitarian Communist states. They were not killing in the name of atheism, unlike those who killed in the name of their deities. They were killing in the name of suppressing any outside forces that threatened their cult of personality and absolute power. If anything, those states became religions unto themselves, with their leaders as deities. It is in fact the very same traits that lead to propensity for religion that led to people falling in line with those states, those being lack of critical thinking and unwavering support for authority.
At Mike: I'm afraid you wrong. Countries in the world that have the least percentage of population believing in organized religion, such a Sweden, Finland, Denmark score very highly on human rights issues. It's the countries where religion is a big thing such as all of the middle east where the aggressive nature of humanity comes to play, as current history would indicate.
I'm having a hard time telling whether Mike is stupid or just trolling.
Mike – you're right. Atheists killed more people in the last hundred years than all the religions in history. The Communists killed Catholics first because, as Lenin said – we cannot succeed with the totalitarianism of Communism as long as the Catholic Church is allowed to survive. Catholicism is the greatest threat.
But he warned the Russian leaders that "you will never destroy the Catholic Church unless you infiltrate it and destroy it from within". There is credible reason to believe that the Communists sent men into seminaries in the 1940s with instructions to become priests then wreck the church from the inside. THAT would explain a lot!
Mike yer way off base and pulling your argument from thin air. The more fundemetalist a nation is the more oppresive and backwards it is....case in point Iraq, Afghanistan, midwestern U.S.A....these are places full of crazy people willing to kill for "god" most of them can`t even agree amongst them selves exactly what this god is....but they will kill any one who doesn`t agree with thier version regardless.
The rest of us who have reached the age of reason and grown out of childish fantasy beliefs need to be protected from religion. If there is a "god" of any kind worth haveing, he needs to deal with the crap being done in his name, how ever seems what ever this god thing is it can`t even help itself...let alone us.
Nice try Veritas, but the Catholic Church has been all kinds of screwed up for most of its history. It's just that they had the blinders on enough followers that people thought that what they have been caught doing more recently was just fine and dandy in centuries past.
I live in Washington state and I scarcely know anyone religious under 50. I know they are here— but it's nice that I don't have to listen to them.
Since humans asign God as the answer to all things we don't yet understand .. that pretty much makes God the anthropomorphized sum total of all human ignorance.
100% correct