Last week I promised that I would get religion, and so I have. But rather than a diary on "what religion" are you, I thought I would drill down to an underlying question... what sort of God(s) do you believe in, if any? By God(s), I include any conception of a higher power or spirit or essence that moves the universe or is within us all; so long as what is meant is super/supra/extra-natural (does not have to be old man with a beard).
(As always, this poll will work best if it were to be up in the Recommended Diaries" secion for the whole day, allowing all regions of the country a chance to see it both in the morning and evening).
I will come back to "what religion are you" per se later, with the usual problem being how to make a list of no more than 15 choices that are complete and mutually exclusive. Your suggestions on this are very welcome; some reference lists are linked to below.
So... I was thinking about the "what religion are you" question. Clearly an important social and personal demographic. One of those classic questions, like politics, that we used to be told not to talk about at work or other polite genteel settings. It is my fervent hope not to offend anybody, but definitely to have some useful discussion.
But, as I was struggling with how to come up with no more that 15 mutually exclusive categories that would also not leave anybody out (yeah, right), I was thinking... hmmm... is there another dimension to this question?
Perhaps this is not an issue for you your friends. But, like many in my social circle I have both a religious-cultural identity (Jewish in my case, but the same applies for many a lapsed Catholic and others) and am essentially an atheist. But, I occasionally attend services. I even like some parts of the service. But I don't really believe in god. or god(s). or spirits... or angels... etc. Just your basic secular humanist. And yes... I would probably answer "Jewish" and not "Atheist" if the choices were mutually exclusive. It is not just me, lol. There are many atheists who are not devout enough as atheists not to put themselves down as some religion on the basis of it being part of their identity. On the other hand, many are.
Regardless of that cultural-personal identity conundrum, there is also the suggestion that folks who really believe in God share something, that folks who do not really believe in God do not. And they share that belief in the reality and importance of a higher power, even if one is Baptist and the other is Muslim. or Catholic, or Jewish, or Hindu, or Neo-Pagan.
And what that belief in God is, differs for different folks.
Fortunately, the folks over at BeliefNet, where they list about 128 religions (help - gotta group them to get to 15), also have some polls:
There is the Belief-o-Matic which in return for your answering 20 questions about your concept of God, the afterlife, human nature, and more, will tell you what religion (if any) you practice...or ought to consider practicing.
And they have the What's your spiritual type? poll to get beyond traditional categories.
And so I am asking the religion question in terms of what kind of god(s) do you believe in, if any?
I believe that God(s):
By God(s), we mean to include any conception of a higher power or spirit or essence that moves the universe or is within us all; so long as what is meant is super/supra/extra-natural (does not have to be old man with a bead).
- Exists, and still routinely, intervenes in earthly and human events
- Exists, and sometimes but rarely, still intervenes in earthly/human events.
- Exists, and used to intervene in earthly/human events, but never does anymore.
- Exists, got the universe going, but never intervened in earthly/human events.
- Exists in some sense, but never intervened in even cosmic, nor earthly/human events.
- Is a spiritual ideal, not an actual being.
- Does not exist; but that there is something spiritual or super-natural; something beyond just physics, chemistry and biology; universe is not reducible to just math and science even in principle.
- Does not exist and never did; and there is nothing supernatural, no spirit; the universe is completely natural and has no higher aspect. True atheist.
- It is my firm belief that I really really do not know; that we cannot know (well thought out devout agnostic).
- Something really not covered by any of the above.
Please note, that nowhere am I asking if the Bible is meant literally or metaphorically or who wrote it. This is independent of those sorts of questions. It is my hope that traditional Christian believers and other Western Abrahamic believers can answer these questions honestly without offense... and that so can Bahia, Hindus, Jainists, Buddhists; Scientologists, neo-Pagans; Agnostics, Atheists, etc.
I think, but may be wrong (and I am sure you will correct me) that:
- 1 or 2 are standard "Abrahamic" beliefs.
- 3 includes variations of withdrawal or god is dead. I'd be interested in knowing when and why god not longer intercesses.
- I think that 4 & 5 are what is sometimes called Naturalism; also related to Deism.
- in my mind 6 & 7 are related, though 6 is a bit more formal; I am not saying this well... tell me.
- 8 is classic strong Atheist and true for most Secular Humanist too.
- 9 is for the true Agnostic, not just the wish-washy, but for those who truly take the stance that what is key is that the answer is unknowable.
- 10 please do tell us...
Those who have followed these demographic diaries know that I do not like what I consider cop-out categories, but for the sake of communal peace, I have included #9 and #10.
For more on all the different religions that are out there:
For more on Religion in the U.S. see:
Fyi: According to the Religious Tolerance site, the following are the largest major world religions, each with over three million followers:
- Baha'i Faith
- Buddhism
- Christianity
- Confucianism
- Hinduism
- Islam
- Jainism
- Judaism
- Shinto
- Sikhism
- Taoism
- Vodun (Voodoo)
Update: Some clarify edits after first 20 or so comments... By God(s), I include any conception of a higher power or spirit or essence that moves the universe or is within us all; so long as what is meant is super/supra/extra-natural (does not have to be old man with a beard).
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Last weeks poll asked: What Region of the U.S. do you live in?
The Daily Kossack geographic distribution compared to U.S. as a whole.
h/t to commenter crisitunity below, but updating to "final results"
New England: 8% of Kossacks, 4.7% of nation
Northwest: 8% of Kossacks, 3.4% of nation
SE Mid-Atlantic: 6% of Kossacks, 4.9% of nation
W North Central: 7% of Kossacks, 6.7% of nation
Alaska: 0.3% of Kossacks, 0.2% of nation
Hawaii: 0.5% of Kossacks, 0.4% of nation
Mtn West: 6% of Kossacks, 7.0% of nation
California: 13% of Kossacks, 12.2% of nation
N Mid-Atlantic: 13% of Kossacks, 13.4% of nation
E North Central: 13% of Kossacks, 15.5% of nation
South: 6% of Kossacks, 10.1% of nation
W South Central: 7% of Kossacks, 11.4% of nation
Florida: 3% of Kossacks, 6.0% of nation
SW Mid-Atlantic: 2% of Kossacks, 4.0% of nation
My interpretation is that this is very good representativeness, a little low in the south, but not too bad.
Prior diaries have suggested that DKos probably has good representation of, or is at least reasonably diverse by, Age and Urban-SubUrban-Rural; but less so by Gender/Sex/Orientation or Income and Social-Economic Class; and not at all by Race/Ethnicity.
(I just know that somebody is getting their sociology or poli sci. thesis off all these polls; lol)