Before you get all excited about the Pew Research results and begin thinking that the rising number of those who report no religious affiliation means a more rational approach to all things religious, think again. Yesterday’s release of research by the Public Religion Research Institute shows that fifty-two percent of the American population (52%) believe that to be “truly American” it was very important that you believe in God. A further seventeen percent (17%) thought it was important. That is a whopping sixty-nine percent (69%) of Americans who think that if you don’t believe in God, you’re not truly American. Furthermore, fifty-three percent (53%) of Americans believe it is important or very important that the god you believe in is Christian.
Here’s the graphic:
When speaking in Miami last February, one of the gentlemen in the audience had a conversation with my partner, Scott, at the end of the program. He shared with Scott that he had been concerned about the church inviting me to speak there, noting that for many people, being an atheist was the equivalent of being a satanic worshipper. Then, after some consideration he said, “Worse! It’s, well, it’s un-American!” Evidently, he was right on the button.
Add to these statistics the theory that the number of people who actually go to a religious service weekly is significantly lower than reported, perhaps fewer than twenty percent actually attend (over-reporting on religious attendance is called the “halo” effect) and you have a fairly high chance that the beliefs held by those who would argue that not believing in the god called God is un-American do not reflect contemporary scholarship. Like the Hungarian 1950’s immigrant who still uses colloquialisms that are decades old, those whose theological beliefs have been handed down from previous generations are mostly unaware of any advances that have taken place in belief. I differentiate those in the pews from clergy because the knowledge shared from the pulpit is often limited for pastoral reasons. Which adds to the problem. Those who were in the pews a couple of generations ago and who have handed down their beliefs were very likely already several generations of thinking behind their clergy. When the good American people read “In God We Trust” on their dollar bills, they are talking about a god many in mainline denominations would not recognize: a judgmental, all-knowing, all-powerful, theistic being who is going to guide and protect those who act in accordance with his revealed truths.
Sometimes I am alarmed at my naiveté, my belief that everyone will find a way to create a sustainable future for all, that the world is populated by people who care deeply about one another and who would step up to lend a helping hand, no matter what. I know that many, many people use their belief in the god called God to make the world a more beautiful place, doing exactly the kinds of things I believe must be done to ensure that we are working toward a world where all might live with dignity. And there are many, many people in many, many faiths who do that important work.
But to be able to so clearly draw a line between those who believe as you do and those who do not and to think that those on the other side of that line aren’t “truly” your fellow citizens, moots the argument that those who would do so are also using their belief in the god called God to build well-being into others’ lives or to honour and respect them. It gives permission to remove or deny rights, to query loyalty to the state and, in times of social and political unrest, to restrict mobility or imprison. It represents a level of potential hostility that would not split the country down the middle, but would allow the majority to disown a minority in the pursuit of that majority’s own freedoms.
There are some who would try to appease my concern by noting that the up and coming generation is far more likely to accept those who do not believe in the god called God as being as truly American as are they. I’m not soothed by that statistic. Not yet. As long as those who hold the keys to the offices of power, corporately, judicially, and politically continue to be of the generation that discriminates in a country that continues to export its beliefs and the judgmental attitudes inscribed within them. I’ll continue to be concerned.
9 Responses
And what can we say about Canadians? My experience is that there still a lingering belief held by most of the post 65 crowd, that normality is definitely about holding onto a theistic god who will make everything ‘all betta’. So better hang onto some belief in such an entity even if it no longer resonates personally. What I find disconcerting in my associations with this crowd is that belief in this kind of deity goes hand in hand with trusting corporate capitalism to solve the problems of the world, e.g. climate change and environmental degradation and consumption as the ‘raison d’etre’ for life. I find very few that will even consider the possibility that we “made this bed, so now have to sleep in it”, i.e. we have some responsibility for changing everything (a la Naomi Klein) and there isn’t anything we seriously need to do to change anything. So leave it to Walmart, McDonalds, and Coca Cola to fix everything, and just hang in there and keep doing what we’ve always done (including believing in an interventionist deity), and it will swing around to being like the good old days once again. I expect that attitude is just as alive and well among Canadians as it is among US folks.
I expect it is to a certain extent, but we have statistically been lower on the religious spectrum for some time. Our numbers for religious affiliation have been lower over all but I’ll need to find the links to prove that. Thanks for your post, Dale.
Environmental sustainability is very slowly becoming a political issue in Canada and the United States, but extreme weather events occurring in North America in the past several years have given rise in the media to the thought that global warming is at fault. There is now more public concern.
With regard to the acceptability of atheistic beliefs, my friends and relatives are either supportive or indifferent, except for one family of devoted Roman Catholics, and as a couple my wife and I are fully accepted socially by these relatives. Family tradition seems to be the anchor for these relatives who regularly attend their church and send their children to the Ontario Separate School System.
My post-65 friends and relatives are Unitarian or mostly nonaffiliated, and by the comments I read in the United Church Observer, rural and small town people are generally more religiously conservative.
I wonder if the apparent conservatism that you read in the letters to the Observer and discern as being in small towns and rural neighbourhoods reflects the community nature of those places. Church has been a source of community connection. To lose it may threaten the loss of the sense of community in those rural areas. At the same time, the infiltration of the internet into every nook and cranny of civilization may ensure the ultimate loss of real community anyway, rural or otherwise.
Thanks for your comments, Ley.
Gretta,
The word Atheist can be so polarizing. As I read more of your writings perhaps I begin to understand why you have elected to push the semantic pendulum. But that’s another issue for another day …
Recently I met a fellow traveller also seeking an alternate spirituality, but the religious heritage of his country (South American) carries even more weight than the USofA. I have been searching for an excerpt of your wisdom that would walk that fine line, pendulum mid-swing. Some way to introduce your vision to his vision.
And found it in the last three paragraphs of your post. Thank-you!
So glad it was helpful! Do connect me to your fellow traveller if you believe I may be helpful in any way.
In the USA
I have a deep concern that the U.S. Is slowly abandoning the separation of church and state in favor of a theocracy. We have a habit of electing people to congress who vote against our own interests. There are vast political divisions. At the same time there is vast voter apathy. Many people vote on social issues tied to religion. Now that congressional districts in states have been drastically gerrymandered, it is nearly impossible for liberal candidates to get elected, even if as a whole they win the popular vote. That means congress may not change until policy or lack of policy begins to profoundly affect people and more show up to vote. Across the country states are enacting laws that protect religious freedom at the expense of our rights to freedom from religion. Already, Texas is defying the supreme court’s ruling on gay marriage.
I think we are in the midst of a culture war here. Things that we thought we decided years ago are up in the are again. There has been a rise in fundamentalist churches while mainstream congregations dwindle. At the same time there is a rise in never-been-churched younger people. For fundamentalists honoring your neighbor is not as important as saving their soul from hell.
Recently, at my daughter’s nursing home a fundamentalist group came to do a church service. The preacher screamed and wept for 40 minutes. When I complained to staff that I thought it was abusive to tell people with dementia that they are going to hell if they don’t get saved, they looked at me like I came from Mars. There is no effective way to communicate or reason with people who believe that they have the moral high ground.
Since Obama has been in office I have learned that when it comes to human rights and equality we can never let our guard down. I do have hope that young people can change things. There is more activism. “Black lives matter” and the “The fight for 15” offer some hope.
Thanks for your ever-thought provoking posts.
Hi Nancy,
I can feel the tension from here, believe me. We like to think that we have a more secure division of church and state but I do not believe we can, at all, be complacent. Over the last decade, I have watched as the media has managed to identify a single person as the voice of the evangelical right. As a result, that individual has incredibly more political weight than he should ever have had access to. We need to be vigilant about maintaining religious freedom while demanding the right to freedom from religion.
Thanks for your comment, Nancy.
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