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LINK Religion Considered Important to 72% of Americans

Religion is important to 72% in U.S., including 51% "very important"
Record-low 46% in U.S. say religion can solve all or most problems
78% think religion is losing its influence on American life

#religion
jerry99 8 Dec 28
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Level 8

I don’t see any reduction in religious influences anywhere. ?

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Level 7

I consider it very important just because of the number of people beleive that crap.

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Level 9

Of course religion is loosing its influence, our numbers are growing and showing that this country could an atheist nation one day. I hope that day is soon.

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Level 8

In my area there are over 400 Protestant and more than 20 Roman Catholic churches plus who knows how many other flavors. So I think if you're looking for a place for you and your family to make friends and feel at home you're likely to pick one of those as opposed to say, the model railroaders club or motorcycle gang. I don't assume that means that all those people are true believers; more likely that's what they grew up with.

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Level 7

The numbers show a decline over time, though. Between 2007 and 2014, the percentage of Americans who identified as Christian fell from 78% to 70% (Pew Research Center 2015). So while it's declining slowly, it is declining,

Orbit Level 7 Dec 28, 2018
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Level 8

I think people feel obligated to say, of course religion is important (for some given value of important) but this survey doesn't appear to drill down to how important and in what way so I'm not too impressed by it. If 72% claim it's important to them but 46%, nearly half of those, don't think religion can solve all or most problems, then for the 46% it's important for solving certain problems. The 72% don't all think it can solve all or most problems, so that's significant.

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Level 8

The majority of Americans are still deluded by religion.

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Level 9

What a surprise that one of the most backward western nations has a high percentage of religious belief.

0

Level 8

world religion news says otherwise: [worldreligionnews.com]

g

Probably has to do with wording more than anything else. THE AMERICAN FAMILY SURVEY 2018 says "Only 43 Percent of Americans Say Religion is an Important Part of their Identity"
The Gallup poll says 51% of all Americans consider religion very important in their own life, 21% fairly important.
Point is, way too many people take religion seriously.
I'd like to see an analysis of how many people look to religion for community vs. how many for mysticism and mythology.

@jerry99 i think people who look to religion for community are still not thinking outside that particular box, which is not to say i doubt their intelligence, or even their sincerity regarding their atheism. it's just that there is so much else out there, and choosing religion for community puts one in community with religionists! can't we choose our communities?

g
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