A new study out of Baylor has some interesting things to say about secularism and superstition. Mollie from GetReligion has a piece out in the Journal that looks at the data.
The answers were added up to create an index of belief in occult and the paranormal. While 31% of people who never worship expressed strong belief in these things, only 8% of people who attend a house of worship more than once a week did.
Even among Christians, there were disparities. While 36% of those belonging to the United Church of Christ, Sen. Barack Obama’s former denomination, expressed strong beliefs in the paranormal, only 14% of those belonging to the Assemblies of God, Sarah Palin’s former denomination, did. In fact, the more traditional and evangelical the respondent, the less likely he was to believe in, for instance, the possibility of communicating with people who are dead.
I’m trying to work through how to consider this. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in this election cycle, it’s that there’s no point in arguing with those who are fully committed but woefully uninformed and gleefully oblivious.
For example, I think that if you were to point out to a McCain/Palin supporter, that her argument that she said “‘thanks, but no thanks’ to that bridge to nowhere” should really be, “I said, ‘Thanks!’ But then later, ‘No, thanks,’” they’ll probably get pretty mad at you. It won’t matter that you’re right. Likewise, if you were to point out to an Obama/Biden supporter that he said you shouldn’t “burden” the mother or a doctor by requiring lifesaving treatment to abortion survivors, they’ll get all upset, too.
You might think they’re crazy, you might think they’re dishonest, or just blind. But they aren’t changing.
So what do we do with this kind of info? Do we use it to point out the inconsistencies in the ever-present “believers dumb, atheists smart” view? That would seem to be the most logical way. But what good will it do? We’re not likely to convert anyone with it. And there’s one really good reason why:
For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
Their thinking became futile, they became fools, and God gave them over to it. We can’t save them from this, only Jesus can. But we can use it as a warning…this is what can happen when you trade God’s truth for a lie, and walk away from him.
Via GetReligion
Technorati Tags: atheist, irreligious, mollie, Politics, secular, superstition
2 responses so far...
That’s not really true. She refers to “31% of people who never worship.” I would call them atheists, but she doesn’t. She only uses the term for people who use it to describe themselves.
“We can’t even count on self-described atheists to be strict rationalists.”
“21% of self-proclaimed atheists believe in either a personal God or an impersonal force.”
So, the article is very much intact.
Blogs4God
Mollie’s fallacy is that those 31% aren’t atheists. She defines anyone who doesn’t go to church as an atheist.
Thus, the entire article falls apart.