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June 14th, 2012
12:40 PM ET
My Take: More doubts about God doesn't mean religion is weakening
By Stephen Prothero, Special to CNN When it comes to doubt, sometimes a little skepticism is in order. As CNN's Dan Merica reported earlier this week, a recent Pew Research Center survey sees doubt rising sharply inside the millennial generation. Between 2007 and 2012, this survey says, the portion of young Americans (those 30 and uner) who say they never doubt the existence of God dropped sharply between 2007 and 2012, from 83% to 68%. This report has stirred up a chatstorm in the blogosphere, with 2600 comments and counting on Merica's Belief Blog post alone. But does this data really say what many atheists want it to say? Is American religion really heading for a fall? Look carefully at the survey question. What this data is tracking is the percentage of young people for whom doubt has never creeped into their faith. I don’t know about you, but most of the religious people I know experience both doubt and faith over the course of their spiritual lives. So the fact that more than two-thirds of young people say they have never doubted God’s existence seems to me evidence of America's extraordinary religiosity, not its disbelief. That suspicion is supported by the fact that this same Pew survey found that millennials who identify with a religion is not declining. Moreover, according to Pew's U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, only 3% of millennials are atheists. The takeaway, it seems to me, is not that religion is declining in America but that it is changing. Or, to paraphrase my Boston University colleague and sociologist of religion Peter Berger, what is shifting here is the how of religion. In short, doubt is a part of the spiritual lives of more young people than it has been in the past. I have been spending way too much time lately with Google’s Ngram Viewer. This website allows you to see how prominent certain key words are in books published in various languages from 1800 forward. It’s also possible to see how these key words match up against one another over time. I searched the Ngram database for the words “faith” and “doubt” in American English from 1800 to 2008. Here’s what I found: For much of the nineteenth century, “faith” won out over “doubt.” But as Biblical criticism, evolutionary theory, and comparative religions started to chip away at traditional understandings of Christianity, “doubt” ran past faith in the late 1880s. For roughly the next century, the two terms tracked rather closely. During the Reagan Revolution of the 1980s, however, faith bypassed doubt. What matters here is not the horse race. More significant is the fact that, since the late Victorian period, doubt has become part of the landscape of faith in America. To see doubt as a denial of faith is to misunderstand how most Americans live their religious lives. The fact that doubt is now a part of faith for a significant minority of American believers strikes me at least as a sign of faith’s maturity, not its demise. Perhaps, like the millennials themselves, American religion is growing up. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Stephen Prothero. |
  About this blog
The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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Editor's Note: Stephen Prothero, a Boston University religion scholar and author of 
GODgoogledMe. I know HE is REAL. Read "GODgoogledMe" at Amazon [Books] and you will know HE is REAL also.
The opposite of faith is not doubt. It's certainty.
If you spend evry moment of your life always absolutely certain of what you know, you are either a fool or a liar. We who believe in God understand it is not a scientific certainty. It is a powerful instinctive drive, supported by a rich intellectual tradition, described in an established philosophical framework, and reinforced through powerful emotional experiences. On a personal level, faith in God inspires hope, comforts pain, teaches right from wrong, and provides everpresent companionship.
In short, faith in God is based on love. And love doesn't require scientific proof. You either feel it or you don't.
No, god is merely a delusion. Thanks for coming out, though.
Sid, thank you for quoting Dr. Dawkins. Do you have any original thoughts of your own?
Are you willing to address the points I made describing faith as a form of love – not provable by science? Do you have scientific proof of love? How do you rationalize your own unproven hopes or dreams, or maintain belief in the face of doubt? Do you only believe in what you can prove?
@Pt8685
Exactly what form of love is a religion that teaches small children that most of the people on Earth deserve to be burned and tortured for all eternity? If you believe in Hell – not to mention the countless atrocities in your Bible – then your religion is nothing like love.
manbearpig Your reduction of damnation doctrine is overly simplistic. If this is truly all you know about it, you are guilty of the crime atheist indict some Christians over, a lack of study. I understand nobody wants to be told they might be going to hell and there is an emotional reaction to that. But I strongly suggest a deeper study of the concept before one makes their final conclusion on God's intent from the initial shock of it.
@Pete
That is foolish to believe that an atheist, or anyone for that matter, really lives in a world of certainty. Science is anything but certain and takes steps to make sure of that. For instance science (and myself) is pretty close to certain on how gravity works, but it's still a theory because gravity can behave in different ways around the universe, so much so that we can't say in certain terms how it will react to certain large objects. That's just one of the many theories in science that might have facts within in them but we are in no way certain about. It's this exact certainty that the believer has when it comes to gods existence that an atheist can not follow because you operate on faith alone (faith having this good connotation for some reason but is actually just another way of saying you believe in something without any reason just because)
@Pt8685,
But love, as any teen with a crush knows, doesn't require an actual respondent.
@Bill Deacon,
"Your reduction of damnation doctrine is overly simplistic."
"...you are guilty of the crime atheist indict some Christians over, a lack of study."
The difference, as I see it, is that science works. When Atheists say someone needs to study a subject, at least in science, in order to debate it, that's because there is a large repository of verified knowledge about the subject. Religion or religious doctrine is not based on verifiable evidence, so anyone's opinion is about as good as another's.
In other words, isn't is fair to argue against the justifiability of hell, regardless of the particular rules one claims about how one gets sent there.
@ME II
Excellent point, and to take it a step further, the logic of hell and what it's supposed to accomplish in general.
Dear Lord, I'm always thanking You for the words.
Dear Lord, I'm always thanking You for the actions.
What have atheists got to say now?
What have disbelievers got to say now?
Dear Lord, I am always thanking you for your actions.
Amen.
Yes, thank you Lord Odin. Or was that Zeus. One of those god guys that humans keep inventing, anyway.
Dear Lord, thank you for thinking for me.
"More Doubts about God doesn't mean Religion is Weakening." Ya gotta love that. It's a bit like saying "More Doubts about Star Signs doesn't mean Astrology is Weakening."
Belief in God is the defining characteristic of the Judeo-Christian religion.
I think a religious scholar (is that an oxymoron?) is worried about becoming an astrology scholar...
Maybe, HHA. Every time an element of the Judeo-Christian faith is shown to be nonsense, it evolves, like a virus. A great example is the talking snake theory of galactic and terrestrial development from Genesis. You know, the whole thing was done is seven days. It was true for nigh on 1860 years. Darwin puts paid to it and, all of a sudden, it is a "parable."
The Judeo-Christians (and all other faiths based on late Bronze Age mythology) have to constantly retreat, twist their earlier “infallible” doctrines and hide in the few last areas science has not yet illuminated.
Colin, when Darwin died after a paranoid, lonely, frustrating end of life, he was buried after receiving a Christian service for his funeral.
There is no retreating on our part Colin. That's baloney you conjure up in your mind. Science uncovers God's greatness every time they hit on His reality.
HeavenSent yaps:
Colin, when I die after a paranoid, lonely, frustrating end of life, I will be buried after receiving a Christian service for my funeral.
-----–
There, I fixed it for you. Did you think it proved something the other way?
haha, this clown's conclusion is that people aren't getting less religions even though the study shows people are... getting less religious. doubting god is the first step to atheism - that more people are doing it means more people will end up atheists. doubt tends to nag at you. studies show that less young people go to church. all the studies concur - religiosity is going down in america, though not fast enough, of course. this guy, like many christians, is trying to color the facts to suit him.
Prayer takes people away from actually working on real solutions to their problems.
Prayer has been shown to have no discernible effect towards what was prayed for.
Prayer makes you frothy like Rick Santorum. Just go to http://santorum.com to find out more.
Prayer prevents you from getting badly needed exercise.
Prayer makes you fat, pale, weak, and sedentary.
Prayer wears out your clothes prematurely.
Prayer contributes to global warming through excess CO2 emissions.
Prayer fucks up your knees and your neck and your back.
Prayer can cause heart attacks, especially among the elderly.
Prayer reveals how stupid you are to the world.
Prayer exposes your backside to pervert priests.
Prayer makes you think doilies are exciting.
Prayer makes you secretively flatulent and embarrassed about it.
Prayer makes your kids avoid spending time with you.
Prayer gives you knobbly knees.
Prayer makes you frothy like Rick Santorum. Just google him to find out.
Prayer dulls your senses.
Prayer makes you hoard cats.
Prayer makes you smell like shitty kitty litter and leads you on to harder drugs.
Prayer wastes time.
What is ironic is that this is your creed.
Since you like me a lot – is there any secret you want to know?
http://www.privilegedplanet.com/
Excellent program on DVD.
Prayer changes things
Prayer takes people away from actually working on real solutions to their problems.
Prayer has been shown to have no discernible effect towards what was prayed for.
Prayer makes you frothy like Rick Santorum. Just go to http://santorum.com to find out more.
Prayer prevents you from getting badly needed exercise.
Prayer makes you fat, pale, weak, and sedentary.
Prayer wears out your clothes prematurely.
Prayer contributes to global warming through excess CO2 emissions.
Prayer fucks up your knees and your neck and your back.
Prayer can cause heart attacks, especially among the elderly.
Prayer reveals how stupid you are to the world.
Prayer exposes your backside to pervert priests.
Prayer makes you think doilies are exciting.
Prayer makes you secretively flatulent and embarrassed about it.
Prayer makes your kids avoid spending time with you.
Prayer gives you knobbly knees.
Prayer makes you frothy like Rick Santorum. Just google him to find out.
Prayer dulls your senses.
Prayer makes you post really stupid shit.
Prayer makes you hoard cats.
Prayer makes you smell like shitty kitty litter and leads you on to harder drugs.
Prayer wastes time.
be swarmed with atheist filth to prove it
enough said....
@tell the truth – I did shower today... You are one of those people that watches harry potter and speaks bad about witchcraft. It is call a hypocrite.
Have fun with your horse & buggy.
"Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet."
-Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821)
What else would one expect from a stunted mentality?
Religion has killed thousands and so has science (atomic bomb, pollution, weapons of mass destruction) so let's do away with both.
Hilarious. Science has also caused us to live longer. Not even stupid people would want to do away with science.
And religion and science are not in the same ballpark, so stop with the false equivalency charade. Science advances knowledge, religion advances ignorance ("faith").
Given that all religion is bullsh!t, man was behind whatever evils you think religion and science perpetrated, so let's get rid of man. Hmmm.... That made about as much senses as religion and the original post...
So we agree that both ideologies are not perfect and have their faults.
Good plan, moron. We'll see how well you live without science. Hope you aren't planning on getting sick anytime soon.
Your reading comprehension skills are astounding. You failed to understand my point. No ideology is perfect and can be perverted once those hungry for power pervert its essence whether it be science or religion.
GAW, false equivalence you are trying to make. And you should know this one:
"With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion."
Steven Weinberg, 1999
Well is my statement(restated as a question) true? Can any ideology be perverted?
Post by 'GAW' is an instance of the fallacy of Begging the Question.
http://www.fallacyfiles.org/glossary.html
God created all for His pleasure. It's nice to know that scientist are always trying to unveil His awesomeness.
All atheists are very welcome to view video #2 @ – thestarofkaduri.com
Knock off the spam.
If someone believes the crap at this site, I suspect their legal opinion is not worth much:
"This site contains copyrighted material and its use has not been authorized by the copyright owners. Further, this site is none profit & I am making a large amount of material available to the public in an effort to advance the understanding of God. I believe this consti.tutes a ‘fair use policy’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in US Copyright Law."
Would be fun to watch one group of believers sue one of the flock...
@HotAirAce – If it has not happened yet, it will. I would love to see that. Then repost it here...
Knowledge, reason and the availability of information thru the internet is spreading faster than, perhaps ever in history. Today, anybody with a laptop can acess more information than existed in all the libraries in all the World aven 100 years ago.
Given that a person's religiosity tends to be inversely proportional to a their wordliness, intelligence and access to differing views, it is hardly surprising that firm belief is going the way of the typewriter. Few acheive true atheism, but agnosticism is enough to keep the god-nuts at bay and rob them of the political power they weild like a spoilt child.
"but agnosticism is enough to keep the god-nuts at bay and rob them of the political power"
So you do not believe that a person of faith should be able to have political power?
fantastic points, all. Agreed.
Believing that The Babble is actually true is a sign of mental illness. Mentally ill people should not be running a country.
This is what I truly believe. If I must accept and respect believer's silly beliefs then I demand equal acceptance and respect.
Ecclesiastics – I do not believe that Bronze Age Middle Eastern mythology, in any of its manifestations, should underwrite any important government decision. The fact that the religious right have influence, albeit waning influence, and would do just that, if allowed, is of real concern to me. I do not sya that religious people should not get a vote, but I do like the fact that theirvote is becoming increasingly irrelevant, as science and knowledge crams them further into the dustbin of history.
Colin said: "Knowledge, reason and the availability of information thru the internet is spreading faster than, perhaps ever in history. Today, anybody with a laptop can acess more information than existed in all the libraries in all the World aven 100 years ago."
... the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. – Daniel 12:4.
All predicted thousands of years ago.....
Ohh WOW what a prediction. People running and we'll know more, gee who didn't see that one coming.
That's it! Based on that quote from The Babble, I'm going to become a believer!! Please God and Jesus, give me a sign – which of your 30,000+ cults should I join?
Colin, thanks for admitting that religious folks have the extra knowledge of loving and following God and that you folks stay clueless in this area of His wisdom.
If God was all knowing, why did he tell Adam not to eat the forbidden fruit that gave him knowledge of good and evil, if Adam doesn't understand breaking rules?? What use is telling him not to? Why did he have to ask if/why he ate the forbidden fruit? Shouldn't he already know? Obviously he is not great at creating humans or even seeing into the future, or knowing Adam's thoughts. He murders all first born children in Egypt, also commands Moses to kill everyone except virgin women, sounds a lot like Hitler. Moses is a piece of crap!
@billybob
If you want a trip, go read the story of the plagues in egypt again. Unless they changed the wording in newer versions, it says that god specifically hardened the heart of Pharaoh after each plague, so apparently god doesn't mind interfering with free will (even though the concept of free will is contradictory to an all-knowing being).
God gave the Egyptians what they wanted. Same with you.
Okay, I'll play. How about this:
If God IS real, how do you explain:
1. The origin of the universe – how exactly did he do this? What are the physical processes involved in creating a universe? Careful not to leave any unanswered questions – that disproves the whole thing, remember?
2. The fine tuning of the universe for the building blocks of life – how exactly does god "fine tune?" What are the mechanisms? Remember, if any one thing can't be explained, the whole thing is false, right?
3. The origin of life on earth – what specific processes did god use to create life? What are the biochemical steps by which words become life? Remember if any step is unaccounted for, the whole model fails.
4. Punctuated Equilibrium: (blah blah blah) – how and why does god undertake periodic creation and then go millions of years without doing anything new? Be very careful not to leave any gaps!
5. The empty tomb (blah blah blah) – how does god reanimate a dead body? What medical procedures are involved? Anything less than perfect information will be carefully picked apart.
So, if you can explain these in more detail, with more specificity, and with more supportive evidence than science has so far then you have a valid point. (btw – "god is magic and he can do anything" does not constitute an explanation). Otherwise, get to work on catching up to the success rate of science before claiming victory. You have a long long long way to go.
It's called FAITH. and God is real. Please, ask God for a sign or proof to show you he is real. He WILL answer. He is real. And you should just ask Him. He Will show you. just try.
@chester
Been there, done that, and so have many non-believers. It may be more comfortable for you to think that everyone can have some amazing personal revelation by just asking, but you're dead wrong on that point.
Thanks, Chester, but this was in response to an earlier post that demanded that if God doesn't exist, then how can you explain those five things. My point is that they are even more poorly explained if we insist on invoking God.
@chester – You sound like a hillbilly from the back woods. Please re-frame from posting anymore until you have an original thought.
Chester, non-believers want to be able to pick their sons and daughters from a long glass tube.
The answer to it all is "Follow the Money." You've been brainwashed for money. If you didn't give them ANY money, these religious brainwashers would vanish.
All atheists, you are very welcome to view video #2 @ – thestarofkaduri.com
Stop spamming your stupid money making, virus filled idiot website.
I'm thinking this guy needs to get hacked
If I had a dollar for every time I read the word delusional and its variants on these posts I could retire early.
Delusional.
I dollar down 10,000 to go
So you're paying yourself.. that's one delusional way to make it.
No it's metaphorical you silly person.
Oh btw .. are you liable for any taxes that comes due for this ploy? lol
If you don't understand my ridicule of your silly crap.. then you are welcomed to continue along.
I work with some pretty hard core fundies, and they are getting more hard core by the day.
They of course say that this is America's main problem, that more people are turning away from god (and that we have a black president of course...).
Yet they are the ones who don't practice what even they preach, as they do drugs, gamble, cheat on their wives, cheat on their taxes, lie, steal....and that is just what I have witnessed. I am sure they do even more terrible stuff behind closed doors.
Of all the things that scare me, religious people are at the top of the list.
You can't reason with them, they are violent, do unpredicable things, and would kill to prove that god exists.
And they certainly will push their faith on you and your family whenever they can.
When is that last time an atheist came knocking on anyone's door to push their non belief?
I get multiple visits at my door by fundies trying to help me find jesus.
i usually answer the door with a "HAIL SATAN" or do something else for my amusement. have seen and witnesses for quite some time now
Well said.
"and would kill to prove that god exists." As they have been doing for thousands of years. We cannot heal from their wounds until we refuse to let them indoctrinate more children for they continue the cycle of violence against other humans they have deemed less than human by labeling them heretics.
Had great fun throwing two thumpers off the property last weekend. The look on their faces was priceless, especially when I informed them they were members of a sick cult and ought to seek help from a mental health professional. Unfortunately the fun was not as much as it could have been as they wisely left without a word.
what you do in Canada, keep it there ass hole !
Hey hotair, did they visit any of the other trailers after you booted them?
Nope, no trailers here, not that there's anything wrong with living in a trailer. Is this another unfounded believer prejudice?
@Chris – I say I am wiccan. I think they shat in their pants.
@b4bigbang – BTW: I live on the 2 block from the beach in South Florida so, no trailers here.
pattywak, you're too lazy to go door to door. However, I noticed that you non-believers are on every blog on the net, utilizing multiple handles to spew your babble ... all due to your misery of not having a job.
And you are on here 24/7 too HS so it is obvious you don't have a job either (I'm on mat leave, what's your excuse?)
Let me guess...you don't work because you are disabled....except hate to tell you but massive obesity is not a disability....
“you're too lazy to go door to door” -LIE
“I noticed that you non-believers are on every blog on the net”, utilizing multiple handles to spew your babble ... “-LIE
“all due to your misery of not having a job.” -LIE
Guess this HeavenSent just proved they really don’t even understand the basics of the bible because they can’t even follow one of the Ten Commandments, what a hypocrite.