I don’t mean to be disrespectful of people’s religious beliefs. Really…I don’t. But this is a problem.
About one-third of the American adult population believes the Bible is the actual word of God and is to be taken literally word for word, a new Gallup poll reveals. This percentage is only slightly lower than several decades ago.
Gallup reports that the majority of those “who don’t believe that the Bible is literally true believe that it is the inspired word of God but that not everything it in should be taken literally.” Finally, about one in five Americans believe the Bible is merely an ancient book of “fables, legends, history, and moral precepts recorded by man.”
Somehow, I gotta believe this number is related:
But don’t worry…there’s hope.
There is also a strong relationship between education and belief in a literal Bible, Gallup explains, with such belief becoming much less prevalent as schooling continues.
Somehow, I gotta believe this number is related.
An in-depth analysis of a series of polls conducted June through September found 48% incorrectly believed that evidence of links between Iraq and al Qaeda have been found, 22% that weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq, and 25% that world public opinion favored the US going to war with Iraq. Overall 60% had at least one of these three misperceptions…
The frequency of Americans’ misperceptions varies significantly depending on their source of news. The percentage of respondents who had one or more of the three misperceptions listed above is shown below.
Friends don’t let friends watch cable news.
As for that idea that the Bible is literally true? Try this one on for size.
Deuteronomy 22:28-29 (King James Version)
28 If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, which is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found;
29 Then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel’s father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife; because he hath humbled her, he may not put her away all his days.
So, the best way to get that wife you always wanted but couldn’t impress? Rape her, and pay her pops fifty shekels in silver. She’s yours. Have fun boys. But remember…no divorce.
13 Comments
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=fifty+shekels+silver&btnG=Google+Search
50 shekels seems buy just about everything?, oxen, seed, barley..
if I had a nickel for…
“thought to have originally applied to a specific volume of barley (‘she’ = akkadian for barley). the shekel was originally derived from the weight of 180 grains (one grain weighs about 0.047 grams, so roughly 8.5 g per shekel).”
that would make 50 shekels worth almost 1lb of barley, which today can be had in bulk for as little as $1.
those were the days, huh? israel’s new sheqel is now up to 25¢, so 50 shekels comes out to $12!
inflation kills, nu?
Your post would be funny enough to get through a whole day if it weren’t so sad. If the percentages are a true reflection of the thinking of so many folks then this is probably the most serious problem this country has encounted in its history.
I got some money saved up.
Where are the babes?
This
is the reason that there has been a two-decade effort to dumb-down the American educational system, to emphasize wrote learning and punish teachers for any attempt to get their students to think.
The data you quote indicates that the Fascists are making progress; they’ve now got about a third of the electorate abrogating all logic.
the reason that there has been a two-decade effort to dumb-down the American educational system
Exactly.
The data you quote indicates that the Fascists are making progress; they’ve now got about a third of the electorate abrogating all logic.
I’m not so sure about that. It’s more like they’re down to a third of the electorate. Religious belief, especially among the younger folks, is in decline. In some regions of the country (principally, the Pacific Northwest), as much as a quarter of the population describes themselves as non-religious. (Of course, where I live in TN, it’s 7%, though that number may be artificially low, since admitting to agnosticism around here is an invitation to ceaseless harassment.)
Education aside, the key to obliterating religion as a major social force in the long run is abolishing the tax exemption for churches. As it stands, granting special tax privileges to religious organizations effectively funnels billions of dollars a year into conservative and anti-intellectual groups, including the nation’s largest hate group, the Southern Baptist Convention, which now fills the niche previously occupied by the Klan.
While I think we are on the same path toward a goal–clear separation of Church and State–I would not remove the exemption for true religious activity, I’d define it much more clearly and increase the penalties for abuse.
I’m disturbed today by something I heard on Air America’s State of Belief–a show I really admire. They had a series of quotes from this year’s graduates of Regents University. They truly believe that our laws all come from the Bible, and specifically Leviticus. (Remember that book? The one that clearly warns against wearing cotton and wool at the same time, eating pork…but allows a father to send his daughter out to be gang raped by strangers???)
The disturbing integration of religious fundamentalists into the fabric of our judicial system is going to haunt us for many years. It won’t go away if we get a progressive president. I’m truly frightened by the lack of scientific literacy (aka: Logic) in my fundamentalist neighbors. They may only represent a few percent, but they are very intimidating.
Over at KOS, there is an interesting diary about the media:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/5/26/10548/6089
Looking back over Watergate and thinking about this religious confusion with truth and facts, it seems to me that folks go the religious-subjective route today because nobody in the media gives them hard facts to challenge the b.s. When hard facts are found by say good journalistic techniques, most folks will give into such facts over hockus-pockus. So what has happened today that takes away hard facts. As the KOS diary says:
Giving air time to two conflicting opinions purporting to be an unvarnished presentation of fact does not meet the ideal of objective journalism; presenting both sides of an issue is always laudable, but honest journalism demands a commitment to truth.
This sounds an awful lot like what CNN and others are doing now in the name of news reporting, and it is truly a disservice to the public when it comes to finding the truth. However, it is probably a step better than what Fox news does because they are unobjectively bias toward propaganda instead of just presenting conflicting opinions! Still, the truth as shown by real facts would be helpful for the public to know, but such facts require hard journalistic work to discover, and that is just not happening too much anymore. Also, subjective b.s. can survive and be used by charlatans more easily when the truth is left behind the veil of neutrality!!
It’s worse than that; the media actively panders to religion. How many Jesus articles have been on the front page of the major newsweeklies over the past several years? I can’t believe that there has ever been a news week slow enough for a rehash of stories about someone who may or may not have existed two thousand years ago to be the lead story.
Mind you, I’m not talking about stories about the role of religion in society, though those too are often fluff. I’m referring specifically to stories about Jesus, who, if anything, is definitely not news.
Source: Skeptic Files
Expect for Katrina coverage, I’ve abstained from cable news and network news for nearly 10 years. I even find NPR and PBS a bit fluffy in their somewhat obstructionist coverage. But then I’m also a NW heathen. I prefer Canadian news. My hardcore friends somehow capture Canadian satellite feeds so they can watch news from all the provinces. That’s dedication.
“no divorce”
I am extremely sympathetic to your viewpoint, Steven D, and was 50-50 on offering a correction. Jewish law explicitly provides for divorce, as Jesus of Nazareth is alleged to have acknowledged in his Mark 10:2-12:
Even in the Roman Catholic tradition, two “privileges” (the Pauline and Petrine privileges) allow for the dissolution of a facially valid marriage.
It’s relevant to your argument because the majority of Roman Catholics do not believe in the literal accuracy of every word of the Bible; Biblical inerrancy is a feature of low-church Protestantism, which has been on net more tolerant of divorce than the Catholic Church. The Anglican Church was founded in part out of an infamous dispute about divorce, and mainline Protestant churches dicourage but do not bar remarriage after divorce per se.
The Orthodox Churches strongly condemn divorce but do allow divorce and remarriage under limited, disfavored circumstances.