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 The Reason Rally, sponsored by secular organizations, draws a crowd to Washington.
May 29th, 2013
03:06 PM ET
Poll: America losing its religionBy Dan Merica, CNN Washington (CNN) – More than three in four of Americans say religion is losing its influence in the United States, according to a new survey, the highest such percentage in more than 40 years. A nearly identical percentage says that trend bodes ill for the country. "It may be happening, but Americans don't like it," Frank Newport, Gallup's editor in chief, said of religion's waning influence. "It is clear that a lot of Americans don't think this is a good state of affairs." According to the Gallup survey released Wednesday, 77% of Americans say religion is losing its influence. Since 1957, when the question was first asked, Americans' perception of religion's power has never been lower. According to the poll, 75% of Americans said the country would be better off if it were more religious. The poll doesn't reflect Americans' personal religiosity, such as church attendance, but rather how large events and trends shape shared views, Newport explained. For example, the sexual revolution, the Vietnam War and the rise of the counterculture fed the perception that religion was on the wane during the late 1960s, he said. Views of a secularizing America peaked in 1969 and 1970, when 75% of Americans said faith was losing its clout in society. A similar view dominated from 1991-94 and from 2007 to the present. Americans saw religion increasing its influence in 1957, in 1962 and at a few points during the Reagan presidency in 1980. This number also spiked to its highest point ever - 71% - after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The pollster didn't speculate on the contemporary factors that led to the current views on faith's influence. Still, the poll numbers are dramatically influenced by church attendance, according to Gallup. More than 90% of people who attend church weekly responded that a more religious America would be positive, compared with 58% of Americans who attended church "less often." The Gallup poll was conducted via telephone from May 2 to May 7. A total of 1,535 people were sampled for the poll, which has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. soundoff (6,389 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 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 Next »
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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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I think all christians should listen to this right about now and maybe give the words some serious thought.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OY0COX0gcyw&w=640&h=360]
Yeah, listening to a 3 minute clip from some ex- dope head musician is going to sway my theological and philosophical views on the meaning of life.
If you look at the picture from the Rally for Reason, you'll notice that organized atheism is hardly a rainbow world of diversity.
But reading a two thousand book written by people who thought demons caused disease does.
devin: I can see how this might offend you. He thought different of the world than you do, so you feel persecuted by his words...don't listen to them, remain ignorant to the reality of the world. I will still enjoy his music and I will take meaning appropriately from his words...he isn't wrong, this world would function a lot better without religion.
Truth. Let me enlighten you a little. He does not offend me at all, I simply place no value on his opinion of how the world works. My opinion is that his view of human nature is at best naive and at worst just plain silly. The fact that he was a dope head is incidental. If you find some comfort in his words, then by all means drink the kool aid.
All hail the yellow submarine!
Good. Its about time.
No kidding. When "god" finally dies, logic, reason and humanity wins.
My 2 cents. Religion is a man made creation which was first used to understand that which could not be understood and throughout the history of organized religion man has tried to use it for power and to steer men into the direction that a selected few thought was correct. However, faith is something else. Faith is an individual creation of a belief in something more. I have faith in God. And as person who believes and trusts in science i will continue to believe in God on faith until someone can scientifically prove that God does not exist. Until than faith is all I have and is all that I need 🙂
"i[sic] will continue to believe in God on faith until someone can scientifically prove that God does not exist."
That's called a logical fallacy–it is very dishonest to ask someone to prove a negative. Prove to me fairies don't exist*
*It's worth noting that in Victorian England most people did believe in fairies. Nice to see so many Americans finally throwing off their childish supernatural beliefs.
"And as person who believes and trusts in science…"
PS. "Belief" is not necessary when you have "knowledge". Nice to hear you have "faith" (excuse me) in the scientific method–you should: it's an epistemology far superior to anything else we have or ever had as a species.
So, do you also believe and unicorns or Santa Claus? because their non existence haven't been scientifically proved.
CLOS also believes in Aliens, Bigfoot, and the Loch Ness monster until someone can prove that they don't exist.
Thank god.
In the atheists' comments to this article, I did not see one fact, one indisputable fact, only opinions based on...faith that God does not exist.
I'm amused that people think God should conform to their demands. He must stop all evil from happening. He must end all suffering. He must reveal himself. He must do this or that. Since he doesn't, therefore, there is no God.
If there is a God, he's God and we're not. He doesn't obey anybody's demands. He wouldn't be God if he did. He also is not compelled to make himself understandable. If he were, he wouldn't be God.
I always read about all the wars, hypocrisy, and judgmentalism of Christians but never hear atheists talk about all the hospitals, orphanages, food, and medicine provided by Christians.
It seems atheism is the new religion, and its philosophy hardly compares to that of Jesus Christ.
Coo Koo
You don't seem to understand the basics of what mainstream atheism is. For starters, just try wikipedia and you'll realize the erroneous assumptions that are glaring in your post.
"...faith that God does not exist."
Do you have faith that Zeus does not exist? No? I didn't think so. It doesn't take faith to LACK belief. Lack of belief is the default position. I don't believe in your god or the thousands of others due to lack of evidence. The burden of proof is on the person who claims their god(s) exist.
'I always read about all the wars, hypocrisy, and judgmentalism of Christians but never hear atheists talk about all the hospitals, orphanages, food, and medicine provided by Christians'
we have to bring that first lot up because christians never want too.
Being rational is hard and takes practice. Keep trying, maybe it'll happen for you!
I only ask that god does what he has done in the past
PROVE himself empirically
John 20:24-29
That is circular logic at it's finest. How about this: prove it, or it or it doesn't exist. That's the thing with science. It's the quest for truth and understanding. Your method is to rely on faith alone.. fairy tales and such. Then, you have the audacity to attack people who don't believe in your fairy tales.
America is losing it's religion because people are getting smarter. This country, through the blessings of science and discovery, is getting more and more educated by the second.
Oh, and which god are you referring to? Zeus? Buddha?
In response to lee...why does the burden fall on the person who believes in God when you believing there isn't a God at the end of the day is just a belief as well. Hypocrisy at it's best I see!
@ CLOS
Lack of a high school education at it's finest, I see.
It takes no faith whatsoever to disbelieve. In unicorns or the Easter Bunny for example. Do you have faith that Zeus doesn't exist? Or do you simply disbelieve?
CLOS – I don't recall claiming that there was no god(s). I lack belief. There is a difference. I don't know difinitively that there are no gods, I just haven't been convinced by any of the god claims with which I've been presented.
A: prefix meaning without or lack of
Theism: belief in a god or gods
Lack of belief =/= belief in the opposite.
Would you accept someone's claim that there is an invisible pink unicorn behind you at all times? Does it take faith to disbelieve in that proposition? No. The burden of proof is firmly in the hands of the person making the positive claim.
I't is a good day when rationality reaches the masses, no hocus, pocus. If it hasn't produced itself by now most likely does not exist but it is a good way to scare people to do absolutly nothing .
Before technology all you had to rely on for information was your parents, teacher and pastor. As we have evolved and created a technological world we been able to call BS on the things and prove it. We now know more about how the world works instead of saying god did it
Ok. We still don't know squat. In regards to comsmology and like topics, we don't even know what we don't know yet.
That still doesn't prove that God does not exist.
CLOS – Saying "there's no proof god exists" is not the same as saying "there is no god".
A society without religion will turn into China. I can tell you, the people there just want to make money and most feel really empty about it. For people who live in the Western world, try to appreciate the religious freedom (and choice) that you have.
For the anti-religious people, "I wish you love and peace". For people who believe in God, "God loves you, Jesus loves you"
Uh – that's a leap. Do you think somehow think the U.S. and China started off the same, but wound up different?
Why China and not any of the other countries that don't embrace god? Has it ever occurred to you that the US has been progressing away from religion on its own, and for the better?
It's more likely they turn into the Netherlands, or Sweden, or plenty of other countries that are widely non-religious. Nice try with the propaganda, though!
Liberalism is a religion and so is Atheism.
Nope and nope.
If atheism is a religion abstinence is a se.x position.
@wade: google atheism; educate thyself.
lol@ Huebert. Yes, it's that position where the partners stand against opposite walls and stare very hard at each other.
I have to laugh at statements like these. If I took them seriously I'd despair for the human race. But there IS a glimmer of hope. Oh yeah, you forgot to mention that bald is a hair color and that not collecting stamps is a hobby.
MURDERED OVER FAITH:
100,000 Christians Killed Each Year, Vatican Says CNN refuses to print the story.
did you hear that on Fox news ??? lol
I'm guessing that more Sunni or Shiite were killed for their religion.
THIS JUST IN:
People make up stories to get attention.
@B,
Did you just make that up?
alot of people say there is no GOD!! one day you will leave this world your soul will end up some where in eternity 95% of people take there last breath want to hook up with GOD on the final breath.. but is to late..soon every knee shell bow every tongue confess that he is LORD!!
Foam at the mouth much?
Thank God!
The Dali Lama is a spirtual leader .. hence religion. Guess what there are other religions besides Catholic... And wait a minute .. religion isn't just on the right .. Ever heard of Rev Jesse Jackson or Rev Al "Notso" Sharpton ... just because most of you on CNN.com hate REP .. doesn't mean religion is a conservative thing. Bill Maher is an unfunny little troll who was funny in like 1985 ... It is a shame you folks on this site can't separate Politics and Religion ... But I guess if you are a closed minded bigot .. than you love yourself more than others .. like most Obamabots ....
Multiple periods aren't necessary to construct a sentence.
Obamabots? Pot, kettle, black?
Al Sharpton's version of Christianity is just as much a myth as the popes. And I'm fully aware that Tibetan Buddhism, the religion lead by the dalai lama, is in fact a religion. Though I do agree with what you said about Bill Mar, he isn't very funny.
One more troll to toss under the bridge. Mentions keeping politics and religion separate and then speaks about "Obamabots". Pot troll, meet kettle troll.
Thank god !!!
As people become more educated, the urge to worship an imaginary superbeing diminishes.
It's amazing to me how much faith people place in our ability to reason, when study after study have shown just how irrational humans really are.
Which is EXACTLY why science is such an important tool in our understanding of the universe. Otherwise we only have what one person believes to be correct. It's only through being able to replicate the results of others that we come close to generating a decent model of reality.
okay so basically they asked people if they thought america was going to hell in a hand basket and whether or not a little more religion would help.
70+% of people still believe in god, and those people think more people need to believe in god. i am shocked....
"America losing its religion"
It's all REM's fault.
You're welcome.
As for me and my children and grand-children, we will continue to worship Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. You guys can do whatever you want, but in the end, every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
Maybe. But first, you have to know who Jesus is.
Actually, your grandchildren will eventually realize what a waste of time religion is.
My grandfather also believes that I worship Jesus too. It's amazing how much your family can hide from you.
I don't think so.
In the end, you will die and get absorbed into the earth to feed microbes. You will never see your loved ones again. It will be all over and only the people left alive who knew you will be there to carry on your memory. Sorry, but that's reality. Live your life to the fullest 'cause when you die, it's all over.
How sad that you don't let your children and grandchildren think for themselves.
Spread a negative message, expect a negative outcome.