That Harris poll blogged about below suggests that there is a lot of overlap between those who believe in orthodox Christian beliefs and those who believe in unorthodox supernatural beliefs. A lot of the same people believe in Jesus and the Bible and also in UFO’s and reincarnation. I was struck with this conclusion:
“I think these numbers show that Americans are both devout and rebellious at the same time,” said Steve Waldman, co-founder and editor in chief of Beliefnet, an online spiritual source that also polls the public.
“Americans embrace key parts of tradition and faith, but they add other sorts of stuff, the supplementary beliefs that might not be on the approved list,” he added.
He is on to something. I know I’m both devout and rebellious, but I’m not rebellious against what makes me devout; rather, my devoutness makes me rebellious against our non-devout established order. But that both of these very American tendencies exist within American religion explains a lot. At the root, I suspect, is that American have problems with authority. Each individual wants to make up his own theology.
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