We're the koolaid
drinkers: 70%

We're the koolaid
drinkers: 70%

4. "What is your religion if any"
USA
No religion 9%
Not sure 1%
Buddhist 1%
Other religions 31%
Catholic 26%
Protestant 30%
Jewish 1%
Muslim 1%

The Pope represents an institution.

Nearly all U.S. respondents said faith is important to them and only 2 percent
said they do not believe in God. Almost 40 percent said religious leaders should
try to sway policymakers, notably higher than in other countries.

But the majority clearly think not....

Kurt Nicklas wrote:

Poll: Religious Devotion High in U.S. By RACHEL ZOLL, AP Religion Writer
Mon Jun 6, 7:33 AM ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050606/ap_on_re_us/religion_ap_ipsos_poll

Religious devotion sets the United States apart from some of its closest allies.

What on earth is meant by "religious devotion?" If whoever devised the
survey thinks that church attendance is a benchmark for personal
spirituality, then I suggest that something was lost in translation.

Americans profess unquestioning belief in God

That means nothing. What kind of God do they profess to believe in?

and are far more willing to mix

faith and politics than people in other countries, AP-Ipsos polling found.

But why they would want to remains a mystery.

In Western Europe, where Pope Benedict XVI complains that growing secularism has
left churches unfilled on Sundays, people are the least devout among the 10
countries surveyed for The Associated Press by Ipsos.

Less devout? How do they know? The Pope represents an institution. It
may be a religious institution, but it remains an institution. That is
a world removed from personal faith, or a perceived personal
relationship with God.....

Only Mexicans come close to Americans in embracing faith, the poll found. But
unlike Americans, Mexicans strongly object to clergy lobbying lawmakers, in line
with the nation's historical opposition to church influence.

I have never, in latin countries, found an average man over the age of
20 who regularly attends church. It seems to be left to women.

"In the United States, you have an abundance of religions trying to motivate
Americans to greater involvement," said Roger Finke, a sociologist at Penn State
University. "It's one thing that makes a tremendous difference here."

The polling was conducted in May in the United States, Australia, Britain,
Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, South Korea and Spain.

Nearly all U.S. respondents said faith is important to them and only 2 percent
said they do not believe in God. Almost 40 percent said religious leaders should
try to sway policymakers, notably higher than in other countries.

But the majority clearly think not....

"Our nation was founded on Judeo-Christian policies

I always thought it was based on the principles of Locke and
Montesqueu.....

and religious leaders have

an obligation to speak out on public policy, otherwise they're wimps," said
David Black, a retiree from Osborne, Pa., who agreed to be interviewed after he
was polled.

In contrast, 85 percent of French object to clergy activism - the strongest
opposition of any nation surveyed. France has strict curbs on public religious
expression and, according to the poll, 19 percent are atheists. South Korea is
the only other nation with that high a percentage of nonbelievers.

Australians are generally split over the importance of faith, while two-thirds
of South Koreans and Canadians said religion is central to their lives. People
in all three countries strongly oppose mixing religion and politics.

Researchers disagree over why people in the United States have such a different
religious outlook, said Brent Nelsen, an expert in politics and religion at
Furman University in South Carolina.

Some say rejecting religion is a natural response to modernization and consider
the United States a strange exception to the trend. Others say Europe is the
anomaly;

That's a bloody big anomaly!

people in modernized countries inevitably return to religion because

they yearn for tradition, according to the theory.

Some analysts, like Finke, use a business model. According to his theory, a long
history of religious freedom in the United States created a greater supply of
worship options than in other countries, and that proliferation inspired wider
observance. Some European countries still subsidize churches, in effect
regulating or limiting religious options, Finke said.

And that is complete crap. What are these subsidies?

History also could be a factor.

Many countries other than the United States have been through bloody religious
conflict that contributes to their suspicion of giving clergy any say in policy.

But isn't the puritan tradition of theocratic communities to be
considered? What kind of 'experts' are these?

A variety of factors contribute to the sentiment about separating religion and
politics.

"In Germany, they have a Christian Democratic Party, and they talk about
Christian values, but they don't talk about them in quite the same way that we
do," Nelsen said. "For them, the Christian part of the Christian values are held
privately and it's not that acceptable to bring those out into the open."

And some people in America would consider their social views 'left
wing'!

In Spain, where the government subsidizes the Catholic Church,

What is this subsidy?


and in Germany,

which is split between Catholics and Protestants, people are about evenly
divided over whether they consider faith important. The results are almost
identical in Britain, whose state church, the Church of England, is struggling
to fill pews.

It...er....always has been....

Italians are the only European exception in the poll. Eighty percent said
religion is significant to them and just over half said they unquestioningly
believe in God.

But even in Italy, home to the Catholic Church, resistance to religious
engagement in politics is evident. Only three in 10 think the clergy should try
to influence government decisions; a lower percentage in Spain, Germany and
England said the same.

Within the United States, some of the most pressing policy issues involve
complex moral questions - such as gay marriage, abortion and stem cell research
- that understandably draw religious leaders into public debate, said John
Green, an expert on religion and politics at the University of Akron.

But not really in Europe. they may be issues, but not party political
issues.

The poll found Republicans are much more likely than Democrats to think clergy
should try to influence government decisions - a sign of the challenges ahead
for Democrats as they attempt to reach out to more religious voters.

"Rightly or wrongly, Republicans tend to perceive religion as, quote-unquote,
`on their side,'" Green said.

God isn't on the side of any political party. Trust me!

Dr. Barry Worthington

The survey did find trends in belief that transcend national boundaries. Women
tend to be more devout than men, and older people have stronger faith than
younger people.

The Associated Press-Ipsos polls of about 1,000 adults in each of the 10
countries were taken May 12-26. Each has a margin of sampling error of plus or
minus 3 percentage points.


--
Kurt Nicklas
"Why isn't Fallwell(sic) dead anyway?"
---Milton F. Brewster (milt73@sonic.net)

Kurt Nicklas wrote:

Poll: Religious Devotion High in U.S. By RACHEL ZOLL, AP Religion Writer
Mon Jun 6, 7:33 AM ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050606/ap_on_re_us/religion_ap_ipsos_poll

Religious devotion sets the United States apart from some of its closest allies.
Americans profess unquestioning belief in God and are far more willing to mix
faith and politics than people in other countries, AP-Ipsos polling found.

Thereby violating the first amendment to the Constitution.

"Our nation was founded on Judeo-Christian policies and religious leaders have
an obligation to speak out on public policy, otherwise they're wimps," said
David Black, a retiree from Osborne, Pa., who agreed to be interviewed after he
was polled.

Absolutely untrue. Thomas Jefferson famously pointed out
that the first amendment creates a "wall of separation
between church and state". And consider this:

"As the Government of the United States of America is not,
in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has
in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion,
or tranquillity, of Mussulmen; and, as the said States never
entered into any war, or act of hostility against any
Mahometan nation, it is declared by the parties, that no
pretext arising from religious opinions, shall ever produce
an interruption of the harmony existing between the two
countries."
-- The Treaty of Tripoli, entered into by the USA under
George Washington

Note that as a duly-entered treaty, this made it the law of
the land that the US was *not* founded on "Judeo-Christian
policies".

--
Dan Clore

My collected fiction, _The Unspeakable and Others_:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1587154838/thedanclorenecro/
Lord We˙rdgliffe & Necronomicon Page:
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/9879/
News & Views for Anarchists & Activists:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smygo

Strange pleasures are known to him who flaunts the
immarcescible purple of poetry before the color-blind.
-- Clark Ashton Smith, "Epigrams and Apothegms"

On 6 Jun 2005 10:07:21 -0700, Kurt Nicklas <kurtnicklas@aport2000.ru>
wrote:

Poll: Religious Devotion High in U.S. By RACHEL ZOLL, AP Religion Writer
Mon Jun 6, 7:33 AM ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050606/ap_on_re_us/religion_ap_ipsos_poll

Religious devotion sets the United States apart from some of its closest allies.
Americans profess unquestioning belief in God and are far more willing to mix
faith and politics than people in other countries, AP-Ipsos polling found.

Why should atheists give a *****? We're set aside as the lunatic
fringe and not even given lip service. Do you think prattling about
how everyone is superstitious is some sort of convincing argument?