{"id":3420,"date":"2011-04-19T12:46:00","date_gmt":"2011-04-19T12:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2011\/04\/those-god-fearing-atheists.html"},"modified":"2011-04-19T12:46:00","modified_gmt":"2011-04-19T12:46:00","slug":"those-god-fearing-atheists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2011\/04\/those-god-fearing-atheists.html","title":{"rendered":"Those God-fearing atheists!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Many folks across the blogosphere are having fun with this one.\u00a0 The Pew Research Center is typically at least close to hitting the mark, though I\u2019ve expressed my own skepticism about studies, research, and surveys over the years.\u00a0 Nonetheless, as measurements go, the Pew is about as good as we have, especially when looking at the topic of religion in America.\u00a0 It\u2019s especially well received in the MSM when it suggests America is becoming less religious, or more young people are saying sayonara<\/em> to their childhood faiths.\u00a0 So it has been with much joy and giggling that this summary of key findings<\/a> has been making the rounds. <\/p>\n

The favorite stats are those 10% of atheists who pray, actually pray.\u00a0 And even more fun, those 21% of atheists who believe in a God, as well as 6% who believe in a personal God!\u00a0 Yeah, folks could say they meant \u2018that\u2019s the kind of God I believe people mean when I reject God\u2019, but that\u2019s stretching it that all of the respondents would have meant such a nuanced response.\u00a0 And pray?\u00a0 Who in the world do you pray to? <\/p>\n

As tempting as it is to make no little amount of hay out of this, it isn\u2019t surprising.\u00a0 Fact is, despite our eternal desire to lump people into groups, folks aren\u2019t so easy to categorize.\u00a0 Whether the early Church, or the Imperial Church, or the Middle Ages, or the Renaissance Church, or the Colonial Church, or whatever, folks are usually not monolithic no matter how hard you try to say otherwise.\u00a0 Look at Catholics, and how many flaunt the use of birth control, even abortion.\u00a0 Look at how many Evangelical Protestants claim that you get to heaven the old fashioned way, by earning it.\u00a0 Or how few Jews believe in a personal God.\u00a0 Or the fact that King James Only, Fundamentalist, Literalistic Protestants make up a relatively small portion of the Christian community.\u00a0 All of these are inconvenient obstacles for the one who wants to zealously label everyone\u00a0remotely associated with a stereotype as part of the big problem.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Am I shocked that 10% of atheists admit to maintaining a regular prayer life?\u00a0 No.\u00a0 No more than I am shocked at how many Catholics use birth control.\u00a0 Us humans aren\u2019t known for our fidelity to teaching, no matter what the doctrine.\u00a0 Just read Genesis.\u00a0 We also can find ourselves part of something we are only ho-hum about, just because.\u00a0 Fact is, when I was an agnostic, most of my secular fellows weren\u2019t that way for any deep, profound reasons.\u00a0 A couple could argue religion with the best of them, and I used to have fun playing devil\u2019s advocate to hear their reasoning.\u00a0 But most I knew couldn\u2019t have strung together a coherent thought to explain their unbelief if they had to.\u00a0 They were in it for the parties, the sex, the hedonism and narcissism of the age.\u00a0 As far as they knew, whatever you wanted to say bad about religion was OK with them, as long as it didn\u2019t interfere with the cocktail hour.\u00a0 And despite the popular culture\u2019s attempt to portray things otherwise, that is pretty much the truth today. <\/div>\n

Now, the predominant post-modern\u00a0narrative is basically this:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Democrats care, Republicans care about money<\/li>\n
  • Liberals are sophisticated and intelligent, Conservatives are boorish and ignorant<\/li>\n
  • Non-believers are witty and also intelligent, Religious believers (especially Christian), are dumb and hateful<\/li>\n
  • Homosexuals are superior to heterosexuals in just about every conceivable way<\/li>\n
  • If you have a British accent, you get double the points<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    So it tends to be a bigger disappointment to the media producers when a little dose of reality gets in the way, than for your average thinking person who knows that such sweeping generalizations aren\u2019t worth a roll of used toilet paper.\u00a0 Even if our lovely cultural commentators can easily dismiss it, as we often do when research doesn\u2019t tell us what we want to hear, there\u2019s still that sad reality of complex participants that displays itself whenever one stops and actually listens to what so many of any group has to say.\u00a0 Especially on the Internet!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Many folks across the blogosphere are having fun with this one.\u00a0 The Pew Research Center is typically at least close to hitting the mark, though I\u2019ve expressed my own skepticism about studies, research, and surveys over the years.\u00a0 Nonetheless, as measurements go, the Pew is about as good as we have, especially when looking at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2805,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThose God-fearing atheists!<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Many folks across the blogosphere are having fun with this one.  The Pew Research Center is typically at least close to hitting the mark, though I've\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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