Religion in America: An Observation

Apparently 90% of the country believes in God, according to Newsweek. That's probably the same as how many people think the sky is blue or the world is round. God-belief is widely considered an obvious thing, which is automatically put in everyone's head. It is rarely, if ever questioned, because God-belief is something people feel better just accepting as true. It is acceptable for a person to question or even doubt the existence of God. What one may see as signs of God's existence, such as nature or certain miracles, may be just seen as coincidences to others. However, even today, many who may question or even doubt God's existence may not admit to their skepticisms due to the unpopularity of agnosticism, having said that, I am far from being an agnostic. I cannot imagine what life would be like without a God to believe in, but I'm not a person of organized religion either. I think the theory that Americans believe in God ergo are religious is rather erroneous. While that may be true of a large number of those who believe in God, I think there is an underrepresented, underestimate minority who believe in God, have spiritual believes, but do not adhere to certain organized religions. These people are not the stereotypical Evangelical types you see on TV at large gatherings raising their hands and singing.

One point that interests me is that half of all Americans discredit the theory of evolution. It's a nice story to think God created the earth in six days or that Adam and Eve existed and we all descend from them, but those theories are aesthetically impossible. I think there is some mixture of the theory of creationism and evolution. I tend to lean more toward the theory of evolution, but with the help of God.

Another interesting point in this article I found is that Americans are becoming more accepting of agnostics or atheists, 47% according to this poll, with just under half saying they know someone who is atheist or agnostic. This makes me feel better. It makes me believe there is a growing "Live and Let Live" attitude in this country which I've long criticized the Republican Party and Evangelical Christians for rallying against. I ceased attending church about four years ago (I was raised Catholic,) because I was tired of their "Go out and change people who disagree with the Pope" attitude. I am an American first, Christian second (actually, I am a Christian like ninth.) My belief that in America everyone has the right to his or her beliefs and their own opinions trumps what I see as the church's belief of "We must force everyone to adhere to our ideology." I began to feel that under the Republican majority, that attitude was being killed off. Now, this leads me to believe we Americans have become "Live and Let Live" people again.

I am very critical and very open about my criticism of organized religion for its apparent attempts to stage a coup on this democracy. It shouldn't make a difference what presidential candidate Pat Robertson or James Dobson endorses. They are not political figures, they are religious figures. They do not belong in politics. This is not just my belief; this was the belief of our founding fathers, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Benjamin Franklin. They were all spiritual God-believers, but purposely left a certain religion out of the American government for a good reason. There is a quote, which had been attributed to President Madison; though there's no proof that he said it. Nevertheless, whoever said it, said a mouthful;

"The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe in blood for centuries"