Survey Shows U.S. Religious Tolerance

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[LyricFox]

Survey Shows U.S. Religious Tolerance

Although a majority of Americans say religion is very important to them, nearly three-quarters of them say they believe that many faiths besides their own can lead to salvation, according to a survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/24/us/24religion.html?hp

[Melamphoros]

Survey Shows U.S. Religious Tolerance

Although a majority of Americans say religion is very important to them, nearly three-quarters of them say they believe that many faiths besides their own can lead to salvation, according to a survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/24/us/24religion.html?hp

*raises eyebrows*

I wonder how many people were polled in the Bible Belt as opposed to other areas.

[cucuio]

Survey Shows U.S. Religious Tolerance

Although a majority of Americans say religion is very important to them, nearly three-quarters of them say they believe that many faiths besides their own can lead to salvation, according to a survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.

I was actually wondering how many people polled believed like my religion teacher, who didn't think there were religions beyond Christianity, Islamic, and/or Judaism.

[Sperran]

*raises eyebrows*

I wonder how many people were polled in the Bible Belt as opposed to other areas.

I wonder how many of those folks think a faith besides their own means Presbyterian instead of Methodist?   

Sperran

[RandallS]

I wonder how many of those folks think a faith besides their own means Presbyterian instead of Methodist?   

While I'm sure there are some, I suspect what is happening in many cases is these people were asked in private instead of it public. I've ran into a number of conservative evangelicals (and even some fundies) who say everyone is going to hell who doesn't believe just like they do on the record (especially when with others who share their beliefs) but privately seem far less sure that they can read their deity's mind.

[Wintermoon]

"...an ability among many Americans to hold beliefs that might contradict the doctrines of their professed faiths."

I know a teenager my age who calls herself Lutheran, and said she thinks people go to heaven and then get reincarnated. Not a view I've ever heard of before...

These sorts of surveys really interest me, but half the fun is trying to think of all the things that could skew results. You certainly can't take them at face value. Take the stats about 'atheists' opinions. These groups are all self-proclaimed, so we must indeed ask "'What does atheist mean?'" Look at the word disputes all over TC- a survey dissolved to numbers can't encompass all these nuances.

[Sperran]

These sorts of surveys really interest me, but half the fun is trying to think of all the things that could skew results. You certainly can't take them at face value.

At least this one was conducted by the Pew Trust, which usually is about as accurate as possible with these types of studies.

Sperran

[Juniper]

*raises eyebrows*

I wonder how many people were polled in the Bible Belt as opposed to other areas.

That's what I was thinking.

[Star]

I wonder how many of those folks think a faith besides their own means Presbyterian instead of Methodist?   

Smileys aside, I actually do know several people (including some who ought to know better) who refer to different denominations of Christianity as "different religions".  I wouldn't be surprised if that's influencing the results to some degree, although I would like to (perhaps optimistically) think that not enough people would make that mistake to be a significant factor.

[Wintermoon]

At least this one was conducted by the Pew Trust, which usually is about as accurate as possible with these types of studies.

Sperran

From the little I know, I agree that they seem fairly reliable. Their survey about moving between religions, which was mentioned in the article, is worth a peek.

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