Tópico: More Americans Believe in the Devil than in Darwin

[uiliníli]

More Americans Believe in the Devil, Hell and Angels than in Darwin’s Theory of Evolution
Nearly 25% of Americans Believe They Were Once another Person

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – December 10, 2008 – That very large majorities of the American public believe in God, miracles, the survival of the soul after death, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the Virgin birth will come as no great surprise. What may be more surprising is that substantial minorities believe in ghosts, UFOs, witches, astrology, and the belief that they themselves were once other people. Overall, more people believe in the devil, hell and angels than believe in Darwin’s theory of evolution.

These are some of the results of The Harris Poll®, a new nationwide survey of 2,126 U.S. adults surveyed online between November 10 and 17, 2008 by Harris Interactive®.

Some of the interesting findings in this new Harris Poll include:

    * 80% of adult Americans believe in God – unchanged since the last time we asked the question in 2005.
    * Large majorities of the public believe in miracles (75%), heaven (73%), angels (71%), that Jesus is God or the Son of God (71%), the resurrection of Jesus (70%), the survival of the soul after death (68%), hell (62%), the Virgin birth (Jesus born of Mary (61%) and the devil (59%).
    * Slightly more people – but both are minorities – believe in Darwin’s theory of evolution (47%) than in creationism (40%).
    * Sizeable minorities believe in ghosts (44%), UFOs (36%), witches (31%), astrology (31%), and reincarnation (24%).

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  Do you think Brazil is any better?

[Fabulous]

No.

[Luis Dantas]

Unfortunately, no.

Such a shame.

[uiliníli]

But I've learned something pretty intersting:

A Note on the Methodology Used and How It Affects the Results

Other research has shown that when replying to a question administered impersonally by a computer, people are less likely to say they believe in God, or attend Church services when they really don’t. It is generally believed that surveys conducted by live interviewers tend to exaggerate the numbers of people who report the socially desirable, or less embarrassing, behavior, and that the replies given to an online survey such as this, are more honest and therefore more accurate.

According to that survey, 80% of Americans believe on God, 10% don't and 9% are not sure. I've never imagined America would have about 19% of atheists and agnostics. Maybe the same phenomenom could be observed on Brazil too.

[Luis Dantas]

Quite possibly.

Belief in God, it seems, is largely a matter of appeasing social expectations.  Makes sense.

[Eremita]

Hey, we could conduct tests alike here... maybe, using some machine alike voting urns (or, just a plain computer).