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Journal Trolling4Dollars's Journal: Scary Poll Result (Unconfirmed) 49

Journal by Trolling4Dollars
I have to do a little research, but my wife read last week that in a poll (for what they're worth) that asked what religion Americans identify with across the country, the answer was 41% evangelical/fundamentalist christianity. Sorry, but that just frightens me. When nearly half of the population of the U.S. believes in such a damaging and destructive faith, we are in SERIOUS trouble. It also goes far in explaining why this country is so fucked up. These people need to be educated and shown why their beliefs are extremist and in many cases flawed. It's one thing to believe in god and be nice to people. It's something entirely different to think that your chosen faith is the only game in town and everyone else is destined for hell and damnation. I'm going to see if I can find this poll to link here. Honestly. I thought that in 2004 we'd have less of that thing rather than more.

Update: The closest I could find was this link at ABC.com. Even though it's not quite 40% it's still a little alarming. The numbers break it down a bit more across various demographics. And if I'm being completely and unabashedly honest, it's the WHITE evangelicals that frighten me more than the non-white. Either way, it's still unnerving.

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Scary Poll Result (Unconfirmed) More

Scary Poll Result (Unconfirmed)

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  • And even I find that scary. Fundamentalist evangelicals are second only to the Islamic Death Cults in terms of destructive potential.
    • I think the Sojourners [prnewswire.com] are a great group trying to bridge the Catholic-Protestant-Fundamentalist divide. Please have a look and click through to sojo.net.
      • Interesting- but I believe if that's what they're trying to do, they've failed. They may be uniting the left wings of Catholicism and Mainline Protestantism- but evangelical fundamentalism has a major stake in W's reelection- and many of them actually do believe W to be a Prophet of God.
        • Anyone who discredits the religion of another, only call into doubt the sincerity of their own.
        • They're trying to unite right-wing Catholicism with Evangelical Protistant Fundamentalism -- please have another look at their press release and web site.

          I'm not saying that they are successful, only that I'm very glad someone is trying to get the truth out to those two groups.

          • Well, Right Wing Catholicism (of the sort Mel Gibson practices and his father Hutton wrote about) is pretty much divorced from the teachings of the Vatican anyway, and has been since the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958, the Feeneyite Heresy ending in the excommunication of Fr. Feeney in 1972, and the SSPX rebellion ending with the excommunication of Archbishop Lefebvre in 1989. There are some competing anti-Popes out there, and I'm sure all of them are pro-Bush....
            • My mistake, I forgot the wing went that far right. Sigh. Well, I guess Sojorners tries to appeal to mainstream anti-abortion catholics and right-wing protistants and fundamentalists.
              • Kind of sad- but here's my mental image of the Church for the past 40 years:

                A huge ocean liner. The Pope is the captain, trying to steer a straight course between the twin icebergs of moral relativism and scrupulosity, either one of which will destroy the ship. Down in the engine room, with the cover off the greasy shaft on the rudder, are those trying to turn the rudder left with their bare hands. They believe in moral relativism because they've been hurt by the church- whether as nuns working with unw
  • and my non-ecumenicalist beliefs.
    • It's not the non-ecumenical part that scares us. It's the evangelistic part. When it becomes a required virtue to "save the heathen godless unsaved", it's a very short step to "convert or die" (or more realistically, "convert or you're not a REAL American", which trends to its extreme at George Bush Jr. saying that Atheists shouldn't even really be considered citizens.)
      • Consider two things:

        One, I do believe that anyone who does not trust in the saving blood of Christ is destined for eternal destruction. Ergo, I must warn as many people as possible.

        Two, I can not make *anyone* believe. Not even my own kid. And I wont try. My job is simply to present the truth of the gospel, pray, and build up the saints (I.e. help myself and other Christians follow Christ more fully). Conversion by the sword (or other weapon) is futile, as it does not lead to belief, but only lipservice. E

        • Personally, I think I speak for the great majority of non-Christians when I say I've heard all I need to from many eloquent supporters of your religion, and I appreciate the ones of you who seem to be in possession of some of the Buddha-nature...

          How about you don't remind me that I'm going to hell, and I don't remind you that I hope you ascend to something higher next reincarnation?

          I have nothing against Christianity, per se, but I really wish you guys would stop with the evangelism. There's a church on
          • How am I, as a Christian, going to be able to determine if you are one of the ignorant or one who has heard and chosen not to belief? Granted, your point stands for people who push their beliefs relentlessly, but unless you where a shirt that says, "I know the gospel, now leave me alone", it would behove me to at least mention something about it with you, and then have a full on discussion if you were interested.

            Most of the evangelism that I have heard of/been a part of has consisted of notifiying people i
            • Oh man that reminds me of the tshirt I used to wear, "GOD save me from your followers". It was a big hit in North Carolina (especially the rural parts) lemme tell ya. Sadly it, err, "shrank" so I should get another printed, but I don't think it would have the same impact here in New Mexico.
            • Well, as I said, this is America. There is literally a church within walking distance of 90% of the residences in this country.

              Can't y'all assume we would stop in if we felt like it?
      • Which reminds me, we need to take the phrase "Under God" right the hell back OUT of the pledge of alligence. How about, "celebrating diversity", or "under Zeus" or somesuch crap instead, or removing the line entirely.
  • It all depends on how the question was asked, I could understand it if, for example, the choice was like this:
    Which of the two would you prefer:

    Options:
    41% Identify yourself as a fundamentalist christian
    59% Drink the grape kool-aid
    It's like the survey that said "97% preferred the taste of New Coke. The other 3% drank the Maalox".
    • Whatever. Just as long as all those fundies drink some...uh..Kool-Aid. The grape kind. Yes, it's really grape...DRINK UP!
      • Bwahahahahahahahaha!!!! That's almost as good as the one I heard last week suggesting that Kerry supporters should express their view by driving with their lights on during the day and Bush supporters should express theirs by driving with their lights off at night. ;P

  • I have already ranted and raved about how America seems to be splitting down the middle and how this can't possibly be a good thing(see the last election and the upcoming one for examples). The attitude, "I am right/you are an idiot" towards people who don't share one's beliefs seems to be really pervasive these days.
    I keep getting the feeling that our days as the top dog country are numbered. We won't be brought down by terrorists or other countries, but instead we will tear ourselves apart. Not
    • I think you're absolutely right. When my wife and I went on holiday in Australia, we were amazed at how self sufficient the Aussies are. This isn't really a comment on Australians as much as it's a comment on how ignorant Americans are kept about how much the world really DOESN'T need us anymore. I think what we're seeing is what happens when a country is heading towards the possibility of becoming irrelevant after decades of being the center of attention. The problem is that this country still has the
      • Yes, we are not the world. But who cares that benefits the world as a whole, we should think about ourselves first and others later.
        • Yes but it is that exact attitude that let Hitler have his way in Europe, when the nearby countries should have kicked his ass good before he could consolidate his power. Yes we should look out for our own interests (no one else will) but we need to keep in mind that other people live on this planet too, and what they do or think does have an impact on us. Invading Iraq rid the world of a truely evil dictator, but us doing it on our own while pissing on the interests of other countries wasn't such a great i
  • There's one problem with the notion of 'fundamentalists': it's a bit too wide. It's just as broad a generalization as "heretic" used to be: anyone "we" don't like is a fundamentalist.

    As usual, there are all kinds of people among them. I'm willing to believe that some are, indeed, dangerous, but not all of them want to tear the world apart and kill anyone that doesn't agree with them (the same stands for fundamentalist Muslims as well). Hell, the majority of them are ordinary people trying to get along with

    • Hehehe... you always have a completely different point of view from most people. The only issue I take with what you said is that if something has a negative impact in a REAL way on other people, then it's wrong. As an example. Banning gay marriage would have a negative impact on a whole lot of people. Legitimizing marriage has NO negative impact on anyone (even the people opposed to gay marriage). The logical conclusion is to legitimize gay marriage.

      If we look at things strictly based on "majority ru

  • believes in such a damaging and destructive faith, we are in SERIOUS trouble.

    If you are talking about crackheads like this [worldnetdaily.com], you're correct. But they are the looney wing, and all groups have them....

    I'm a Christian, Baptist. I'm not sure exactly what 'Evangelical' means. It's not defined in the article but it certainly doesn't mean 'Militant' or 'Scientologist' or 'Cult', which are 'damaging and destructive'.

    Isaac Newton and Winston Churchill were both Christians. All of my Christian friends are stab

    • I was raised in a First Assemblies of God church. I saw the insanity first hand. I also know there are reasonable Christians out there as well. In gener, the evangelicals are not reasonable. They are the kinds of people who put up web pages like godhatesfags.com. Not all of them, but a good number of them. So I wasn't ripping Christians. I was ripping loon-a-whack fundamentalists who think that anyone who isn't with them is against them. I'm talking people who are one step removed from snake-handler
      • Alright,

        you're off the hook this time (:-P)

        But if Americans are saying that they are evangelicals, then they are obviously referring to a less 'vitriolic' breed. They were probably referring to protestants.

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