Confidence in organized religion hits all-time low in Gallup poll

[Crow]

Americans' confidence in religious institutions has hit an all-time low, with only 44 percent expressing a "great deal" of confidence in organized religion, according to a new Gallup survey.

This follows a downward trend since the 1970s, when 68 percent of Americans had a high degree of confidence.

Gallup cites two big blows to confidence in organized religion: 1980s scandals involving televangelists like Jim Bakker and the Catholic sex abuse scandal in the 2000s.

Perhaps as an outgrowth of the abuse scandal, Catholics lag far behind Protestants in their confidence in the church, by a margin of 10 percentage points.

But the scandals of recent decades, and the ensuing lack of confidence in organized religion, are not necessarily affecting the importance of religion in peoples' lives, Gallup finds.

It's also worth noting that organized religion is far from the only institution in which Americans are losing confidence. Americans also are souring on schools, banks and television news, according to Gallup's survey.

Article continued at: http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/20...llup-poll?lite

[lxskllr]

I'm on the far left of the bell curve. I don't have confidence in much of anything. The sun rising every day is my strongest belief, and sometimes I'm unsure of that :^D

[sgreger1]

I'm on the far left of the bell curve. I don't have confidence in much of anything. The sun rising every day is my strongest belief, and sometimes I'm unsure of that :^D

Don't worry, they will take that away soon enough

[halocog]

I don't want to cause a flamewar or bad blood with anyone here, but I think this is a really good thing. Pick up a history book, and you'll find nearly every organized religion causes pain and suffering more than they benefit. Just my $0.02

[sgreger1]

Yah I think the less religion the better off everyone is. I think everyone should be free to believe or practice what they want, so long as it doesn't infringe on the rights of others, but I don't think religion has a positive effect on the world in this day and age.

[deadohsky]

Yah I think the less religion the better off everyone is. I think everyone should be free to believe or practice what they want, so long as it doesn't infringe on the rights of others, but I don't think religion has a positive effect on the world in this day and age.

I completely agree with what you said, my question would be, has religion ever had a positive effect on the world? I can see it having a positive effect on certain individuals at particularly tough times, but the world as whole?

I personally think that the negatives of organized religion and all of the heinous acts it has condoned or promoted far out weigh the small benefit it has had to individuals.

Don't take this as a personal attack sgreger. I'm really just curious if you think it has ever had a positive effect on the world as whole.

[truthwolf1]

Most of us were forced/led into some type of faith as kids which was more of a community social gathering over anything else. I believe there is value in it because it gives everyone a chance to either follow that same path, choose a different one or believe that there is no God no nothing after light's out.

[Mordred]

I'm on the far left of the bell curve. I don't have confidence in much of anything. The sun rising every day is my strongest belief, and sometimes I'm unsure of that :^D

And that's a very healthy attitude to have. Conmen are called that for a reason, they take advantage of a person's confidence. Question everything.

As for organised religion, I mean, is that really a suprise to anyone? Everybody can pick up the bible and read it. Everybody can pray to God, or Jesus, or whoever, on their own. There is no need for a middle-man anymore, there hasn't been for a long time. And that's not even taking into account the fact that more and more people are straight up atheists like me. That alone makes you take a good, hard look at churches and their (dubious) practices.

The surprising thing, to me, is that there still ARE churches.

[BadAxe]

Most of us were forced/led into some type of faith as kids which was more of a community social gathering over anything else. I believe there is value in it because it gives everyone a chance to either follow that same path, choose a different one or believe that there is no God no nothing after light's out.

Just because one does not believe in god, does not mean there is nothing after death. I, being a former catholic, now atheist, believe that I don't know what is after death. That should be the case for anyone, religious or not, because the fact is, we just don't know. I don't see how there is only something after death if there is a god. Heck, whatever is after death could be a spiritual thing connected to the planet, or something of that nature. But I just don't belief that the afterlife, whatever that may be, can only exist if a god exists. Thats just something, like god, that has been made up by man.

[sgreger1]

I completely agree with what you said, my question would be, has religion ever had a positive effect on the world? I can see it having a positive effect on certain individuals at particularly tough times, but the world as whole?

I personally think that the negatives of organized religion and all of the heinous acts it has condoned or promoted far out weigh the small benefit it has had to individuals.

Don't take this as a personal attack sgreger. I'm really just curious if you think it has ever had a positive effect on the world as whole.

Well that would require a long, complicated answer. Really two answers which can be summed up as:

1) on one hand, overall, religion for the most part served to control people and cause conflict. The same can be said of governments, they generally have done more harm than good throughout history, but it doesn't mean they are completely useless.

2)Religion, long long ago, may have been of survival benefit to our early ancestors. The problem with becoming self aware and sentient is that you begin to question what it's all about and why you're here etc. Religion provided a reason to keep on going, as opposed to just offing yourself etc. It was a way for early man to reach into themselves and find power, (believing the power came from some external source like a God). People for a long time could at least have the peace of mind that if they accomplished whatever it was they needed to for their respective religion, that it would all pay off after death, even if life was shit. Religion is also (was also) a community building thing, and from as far back as the record goes we see that even hunter gatherer tribes had spiritual leaders and ceremonies. It's something that brings people together under a common umbrella and belief, which can benefit the group.

These things aren't really needed anyomore as they have been replaced with less arcane things. We now have ways of explaining things with science so believing in gods and gins and fairies isn't required anymore. We have other ways of building community now so going to church isn't the only place to meet new people or mingle with the townsfolk. We don't think as tribes anymore and most people want to all "get along" with all tribes across the world, so there is no need for us to have small groups with the mentality that they are better than the other and that the other should die for believing the wrong thing.


In other words, I think there was a time when religion played some positive role, but for the most of history the bads likely outweighed the good. But the same can be said of government, it has it's uses but over time it has a pretty bad track record. Doesn't mean it didn't serve any purpose at all (I mean it was clearly there for a reason).

[sgreger1]

Just because one does not believe in god, does not mean there is nothing after death. I, being a former catholic, now atheist, believe that I don't know what is after death. That should be the case for anyone, religious or not, because the fact is, we just don't know. I don't see how there is only something after death if there is a god. Heck, whatever is after death could be a spiritual thing connected to the planet, or something of that nature. But I just don't belief that the afterlife, whatever that may be, can only exist if a god exists. Thats just something, like god, that has been made up by man.

You're right, we really don't know. What we do know is that the brain is where the thoughts are (since it's the processing unit), and once you die that turns off, so the logical conclusion is that everything just goes black and you cease to exist. Of course there could be something else that happens that is just so out of this world that we are nowehre near close to understanding it, but one way or another, there is no way that "you" in the sense of your memories, thoughts, beliefs etc could survive death, since those things are all stored locally in the brain and stop working when the brain turns off. We can even prove this by observing people who have certain parts of their brain removed. We are 99.999% certain that once the brain turns off, that's it, and it all goes black.

[wa3zrm]

Yah I think the less religion the better off everyone is.

Have you ever heard of this hot little place called HELL?

[Frosted]

I don't want to cause a flamewar or bad blood with anyone here, but I think this is a really good thing. Pick up a history book, and you'll find nearly every organized religion causes pain and suffering more than they benefit. Just my $0.02

Exactly - that's been my personal experience. I'm glad to see people wake up.

[lxskllr]

Have you ever heard of this hot little place called HELL?

I've heard the mythology. I like stories as much as the next guy, but I don't conflate stories with reality.

[truthwolf1]

You're right, we really don't know. What we do know is that the brain is where the thoughts are (since it's the processing unit), and once you die that turns off, so the logical conclusion is that everything just goes black and you cease to exist. Of course there could be something else that happens that is just so out of this world that we are nowehre near close to understanding it, but one way or another, there is no way that "you" in the sense of your memories, thoughts, beliefs etc could survive death, since those things are all stored locally in the brain and stop working when the brain turns off. We can even prove this by observing people who have certain parts of their brain removed. We are 99.999% certain that once the brain turns off, that's it, and it all goes black.

That is the Hawkins perspective and a very depressing way in my mind to go through this journey. I will never accept it no matter how much science they conclude.