Survey: One Quarter of Americans Could Claim 'No Religion' in 20 Years

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I’d be hung up on to face that too!

Kreyj of AL 9:50PM November 19, 2009

We can all sleep well knowing the TX Ranger and his apostrophe police are on the lookout.

Religiosity of a population is inversely proportional to I.Q as well as GDP.

It has been studied over and over again, with each resulting in a near exact linear regression.

http://hypnosis.home.netcom.com/iq_vs_religiosity.htm

Dan of WA 4:17AM October 06, 2009

"If your following a man-made dogma, your just of a low IQ."

This was my favorite comment thus far due to the poor grammar and (intended) implication that the commenter is among those with a higher IQ. Of course, the content of the comment is nonsense of itself, as even this study shows (no distinction in terms of education levels). Although, it was the crack at religious believers based on their "low IQ," amidst a sentence full of grammatical flaws that made the comment priceless.

Ranger of TX 9:39PM October 02, 2009

It's great to see Deism finally getting some attention! People need to know that you can believe in God without believing in a "revealed" religion or "holy" book like the Bible or Koran. Deism is grounded in Nature and in our God-given reason and helps to free people from the fear injected into them by the "revealed" religions. It's a natural evolution in religious/spiritual thought.

Progress! Bob Johnson

http://www.deism.com

Bob Johnson of FL 4:04PM October 02, 2009

Just a theory.

Brian of FL 10:50AM October 01, 2009

Tested? How could it possibly be tested when the theory states it would be a process that would take millions of years.

You can't just whip up a lab experiment and say there! it's been proven!

Tom of MN 10:30PM September 28, 2009

People not understanding what a theory and a law is.

Here's a hint: theory = predictive power. theory != guess. And guess what? Evolution can and has been tested.

This makes me weep for science education in america. It also makes me wish people would stop talking otu of their ass, but that's not going to happen.

Greg of PA 9:49AM September 28, 2009

There is a reason evolution isn't a law, but a theory. You cannot prove that evolution is truth without any doubt whatsoever, much like no matter how much the idea of creation could make sense you still couldn't prove it. To treat it as gospel is not the way the community of science works or at least it didn't until evolution came around.

How do I know this? Well in school they always would teach us that this was the case with theories; ideas would come up and be tested until it becomes a theory, but oeven then people understood that it might always be proven wrong later.

However, evolution started out as an idea based on observation and became a theory that took on a life of its own. Ideas based on other ideas about how the world was created. THere is nothing that you can pull out in those books that can truly say it has been proven. Even in light of this people will say it's not true and then throw other ideas in your face that are cleverly explained, but still not proof. I have very smart athiest friends and it has been my observation that this is the case whenever I have been told about evolution.

Because of this I frimly believe that belief in evolution is no different from religion. In fact I would go as far as to say it is a religion of science. Why? Because, just like religion, you believe something is true without any shred of actual evidence.

To those who say there is enough evidence I would have to say it's impossible because of the way the media is in the US, if there were evidence enough to prove evolution as truth it would be all over the news.

Tom of MN 12:13AM September 28, 2009

"Fewer than 10 percent of those identifying with no religious tradition call themselves atheists or hold atheistic beliefs, according to the new study."

What are these atheist beliefs referred to in the article? I can't find them in the Full Report. There are no "atheist beliefs". As an atheist you can believe anything as long as you do not believe in deities (that makes you a theist, obviously).

It's sad to see when an article about non-belief is spreading misconceptions about atheists.

That said, it is good to see that the secular trend continues. USA is the only western democracy where the religious population is bigger than the non-religious. You are also the only western democracy without public health-care. It will be interesting to follow which will be adopted first by the US of the two.

Fredrik Bendz 8:16PM September 27, 2009

GS of Georgia, don't take it personal.

Joan just doesn't want you around her children. It's not your religion, or your Dogma, It's just that your not that intelligent.

Can we just get it out there?

If your following a man-made dogma, your just of a low IQ. You've abolished science.

It can be proven, but I don't think this is the forum.

Please, just don't come to the northwest. Stay in Georgia. Have a bountiful, Jesus-filled life.

Dan of WA 3:41AM September 25, 2009

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Dan Gilgoff covers religion for U.S. News & World Report. He is the author of The Jesus Machine: How James Dobson, Focus on the Family, and Evangelical America are Winning the Culture War, and is a former politics editor at beliefnet. E-mail Dan at godandcountry@usnews.com.

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