A 2004 BBC poll showed the number of people in the US who don't believe in a god to be about 10%.[5] A 2005 Gallup poll showed that a smaller 5% of the US population believed that a god didn't exist.[18] The 2001 ARIS report found that while 29.5 million U.S. Americans (14.1%) describe themselves as "without religion", only 902,000 (0.4%) positively claim to be atheist, with another 991,000 (0.5%) professing agnosticism.[19]
These polls are often problematic for a variety of reasons: One is that some atheists self identify as part of another group (such as Buddhism). Another is that som fear "outing" themselves so do not answer truthfully.
Eh - to each his own, I say. I don't really find those facts disturbing, though I must say I am surprised. I thought the NY Times said God was dead years ago.
Depends on what belief in the Cowboy caused them to do. If the Cowboy preached that his followers should hunt down and brand unbelievers, I would be disturbed. If the Cowboy said that you should love you neighbor, not kill, not steal, you know the rest I would not be disturbed as much.
It is not a persons belief(or non-belief) that concerns me, but what they do with it. I personally find a person preaching fervently against religion as irritating as a person preaching fervantly for it.
If you don't personally believe in God, just look at religion as a Social Imaginary. It has been a useful tool for getting us out of caves. Whether the tool has outlived its purpose has yet to be seen.
It's my belief that people can believe whatever they want. They can also dress however they want. I'll still raise my eyebrow if I think their beliefs odd or their clothes funny.
Archi, would it bother you if 96% od Americans believed that the earth was the unmoving, flat center of the universe? I would bother me. When people have irrational beliefs, we should want to help them see the error of their ideas.
Archi, would it bother you if 96% od Americans believed that the earth was the unmoving, flat center of the universe?
If it happened overnight that nearly everyone started believing in a flat Earth, it would disturb me, because that would be a radical change in the social reality.
If flat-Earth was a social imaginary, it probably wouldn't bother me. Science would obviously not be evolved in this fictional situation. I would still have my belief that the Earth is actually a funicular curve. Others would say "I believe the Earth is flat, and I would say "that's nice". It would not disturb me to the point of arguing.
What a person believes or doesn't bother me until it interferes with my own belief system. If David wants to worship a Cowboy, I am fine with that. If he tries to outlaw property right because the Cowboy preaches against the evils of fences(barbed wire is The Devils tool), then I will oppose him.
If David eats beans around a campfire the first Monday of every month, I don't care. Do I believe that bean plants were created when Cowboy brushed burrs of his chaps after driving the Sun-Cow across the sky? No, but David does and I'm fine with that. I could even join him for a bowl and listen to his stories without being offended. If he engages me in a theological debate, I may join in, but I feel it would be rude to barge into camp during Fabaceae-Feast and tell him his beliefs were a bunch of hot, moist, aromatic air.
Cowpokianity works for a lot of people. If it helps David structure his life, if it makes him feel good, is that so bad? Is that good feeling real? Is that structure real? Of course they are real. Should want to help him see the error of his ideas? What benefit would there be in popping up with a philosophical argument that the Cowboy doesn't exist? I would be stealing a tool that he has used to build his life.
No... I think I'll let David believe what he wants to believe.
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