The Truly Scary Results of Sam Harris' Survey On Xian Religious Beliefs in America

[stopbush]

Yikes!

Just a few of the frightening findings:

70%+ of believers strongly believe that, "The Bible is the most important book we have."

65% of believers strongly believe that, "Angels really exist."

70%+ of believers strongly believe that, "Humans are sinful by nature and are inherently in need of Christian salvation."

70%+ of believers strongly DISAGREE that, "Satan is almost certainly fictional."

70%+ of believers strongly DISAGREE that, "the virgin birth of Jesus is a myth."

50% of believers strongly believe that, "The Biblical story of creation is basically true."

...and it gets worse. See here:


http://www.samharris.org/site/full_text/survey-results-religious-beliefs

[Stand and Fight]

1. Unrecommeding on one basis...

I think the survey is silly. It's silly because the two test groups are polar opposites. OF COURSE, Christians and Athiests don't agree on the beliefs sited in the OP or the others on the linked site. It would be more viable if it was a blind response from random people. These results are no surprise and not at all shocking given the test groups.

[Stand and Fight]

2. Second... I would also recommend that the OP list the test groups. n/t

[hughee99]

3. Why is this scary?

The basic concept of christianity revolves around things that AT LEAST 30% of those who follow the religion don't even believe. Half the christians don't even believe their own creation story. It sounds like many christians aren't taking the bible literally. I'd be interested to see what these numbers are like in 10 years, or were 10 years ago. I suspect this is trending toward more and more disbelief, even among identified christians (I identify as a catholic and I don't believe any of this stuff).

If they want to believe in angels, the devil, vampires or the great pumpkin, that doesn't bother me as long as they leave the rest of us out of it.

[Angry Dragon]

6. I believe

The way I read the post is that he is afraid they will try to put their beliefs on the rest of us.

[ORDagnabbit]

7. Try? they do.... just look around.

[Angry Dragon]

8. I do not know how you can say that

They are so tolerant of others' beliefs. :evilgrin:

[hughee99]

22. In that case, what does it matter how unrealistic their beliefs are?

What matters is how many of them are truly committed to "spreading the word". All religions believe things that are impossible to prove.

[Deep13]

11. Does this really need to be answered?

Beliefs direct how we act. Beliefs that do not match reality encourage hardful actions.

[hughee99]

21. They do?

I know many people that believe in ghosts. I've met several that believe in the power of crystals. Buddhists (like other religions) believe in a higher power. My daughter believes in Santa Clause. None seem to be directly responsible for harmful actions as far as I can tell. Can beliefs encourage harmful actions? Sure. Does one necessarily follow from the other? No.

[Deep13]

24. I didn't say necessarily.

Believing in the power of crystals may cause people to forgo scientific medicine. Also it allows false hope peddlers to prey on the emotionally vulnerable. Belief in ghosts that can tell us things does the same thing.

SOME Buddhists believe in a supreme being. Some of the ones that do considered the Japanese emperor to be that supreme being and committed unimaginable horrors because that "god" directed him to do it. Some Buddhists submitted to a brutal theocracy in Tibet for generations because they thought the ruling monks spoke for god. Buddhists are a much more diverse group than Christians and many do not believe in a personal god.

In Hamlet, the title character kills his whole family because of something a hallucination told him. Nevertheless, merely believing in ghosts generally does not involve the kind of dogma that religion or other dogmatic beliefs require. Generally speaking, people do not commit murder because of a belief in ghosts.

And all irrational beliefs damage critical thinking skills that really can help us find the truth. I don't think anyone has ever flown a sleigh into a building because of Santa Claus. Still such a belief taken on faith can be an impediment to learning rational thought. My own feeling is that it is better for children to know that visiting every single Christian child in the world in one night from a flying sleigh is impossible since the alternative is learning to accept the impossible on authority. I'm not suggesting belief in Santa is horrible or anything, just that it might conceivably have an unintended consequence.

[skepticscott]

34. The difference with the Santa Claus myth

is that most kids figure out on their own that it's not real before they're old enough for irrational beliefs to cause too much harm, and all parents who let their children have fun with it when they're young eventually let them outgrow it. That's in stark contrast to how parents let their children relate to the myths of organized religion.

[Jim__]

25. Beliefs that match reality can also encourage harmful actions.

Is the world overcrowded? Yes. Are we in competition for necessary resources? Yes. These 2 simple truths can encourage people to harmful actions.

[Deep13]

26. Right, we're better off believing lies.

Knowing the facts is the first step to solving the problem. Believing that god hates rubbers frustrates that goal.

[Jim__]

28. To point out the obvious, that's a non-sequitur.

You said: Beliefs that do not match reality encourage hardful actions. Since the same thing can be said about beliefs that match reality, your statement is essentially meaningless.

[hughee99]

30. People who believe that a higher power wants them to be good

to their fellow people does not frustrate that goal, does it?

[Deep13]

32. define "good"

Religion teaches people that doing harm in the name of god is good. The millions of people who voted for Prop. 8 and similar measure around the country thought they were doing good because it is what their god wanted. The 9/11 hijackers thought they were doing good. People who scare the shit out of children with descriptions of hell think they are doing good. The guy who shot Dr. Tiller thought he was literally saving children from being murdered. What can be better than that? There are countless examples.

[hughee99]

33. The millions of people who volunteer at soup kitchens,

homeless shelters, donate money, clothing, food, and time to get involved in the community. Are you really going to make the argument that religious people, in general, are violent and hateful because of their beliefs? Yes, there are religious people who do very bad things based on their beliefs, there's also an overwhelming number of people with the same beliefs who don't. Perhaps the beliefs aren't what causes one to commit such acts.

On the other hand, there are countless examples of violence committed for non-religious reasons as well.

[skepticscott]

35. None of those good acts

requires religious belief to make it happen. They would still go on in the absence of organized religion, which is not the case for the harm that religion does.

[hughee99]

36. You don't believe there are people who ONLY do it because

of their religious beliefs? Hatred and violence against others is often not religious based either, and would also go on in the absence of organized religion.

[Angry Dragon]

4. Does this trouble you??

If you are troubled by the findings then you need to use these beliefs to your benefit. You can use what you find in the Bible to ask them questions about what you find that do not make sense. Such as where did the rest of the people come from?? Such as the statement that a man with crushed genitals or missing genitals can not come into the house of the lord. Many things in the Bible that raise questions. How about the giants, God in genesis talks of other gods. The list goes on.

Ask them which god they are talking about or which Bible. If they want to use the book then they are not permitted to use tradition or people that have written books about the Bible or religion.

[damntexdem]

5. Who was sampled?

I see nothing about who these Xians are. Is this a representative random sample of those identifying as Xians?

[DeSwiss]

12. Here ya go....

http://www.samharris.org/site/full_text/survey-what-do-atheists-and-christians-believe-and-how-strongly-do-they-bel/

[charlie]

14. Online survey

It wasn't really for the purpose of polling opinion, but for this:

The goal of this survey was to produce stimuli of two categories – factual and religious – which would behave appropriately once we put members of each group inside our MRI scanner. We needed factual statements that both atheists and Christians would accept with the same order of confidence and religious statements that would divide them more or less diametrically.

http://www.samharris.org/site/full_text/survey-what-do-atheists-and-christians-believe-and-how-strongly-do-they-bel

[Recursion]

9. Hmm.. Christians have more diverse views than atheists

More Christians "cross over" on that poll than atheists do. Interesting.

[Deep13]

10. Not surprising. There is only one set of objective facts, nt

[stopbush]

18. Bingo! I think we have a winner!

[rd_kent]

20. Not interesting at all

It is to be expected as many "believers" dont believe the same things about every subject.

[Deep13]

27. It shows the wide gap in perceived reality. nt

[DeSwiss]

13. K&R!!!

[jgraz]

15. I'm usually a fan of Harris, but this is a dumb survey

How surprising is it that people who follow Christianity agree with Christian doctrine? It would have been much more interesting to ask what they think about evolution, cosmology and modern views of ethics and morals.

[juno jones]

16. It's not meant to be taken literally...

...it obviously refers to any manufacturer of dairy products...:evilgrin:

The willfull ignorance of most christians about their own damn religion goes marching on...

[mrbarber]

17. Oh my God...

Polling people who identify as being religious and founding out that they believe in the tenets of their faith?

THE HORROR!

Seriously, unrecced for sheer stupidity.

[rd_kent]

19. In what way were the results going to be any diofferent than expected?

Loaded questions and specific groups. This is not a survey, this is crap.

[Name removed]

23. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[sofa king]

29. And now they're cast adrift in the middle of a feeding frenzy.

With a book that tells them that whales are fish, and that they shouldn't eat the critters with shells.

Not exactly a survival manual, that.

[Duke Newcombe]

31. Oh noooess! Teh skeeeeery CHRISTIANS!!!

Whatever will we do?