Or, at least, many profess to, including the Obamas.

THAT kind of belief gets in the way of thinking.

I rather doubt it. Most Democrats are rationalists.

But frankly and regretfully, politicians in the USA need to pretend to be Christians.

If a person is going to put that much effort into deceiving the public, they don't belong in office.

I thought we lived in an Age of Reason, not the dark Ages still!

Of course, this poll fails to explain why hardly anyone I know believes those fairy tales......

It seems the important thing isn't that one have a specific rational basis for the belief, or even that one be able to coherently explain what it is, exactly, that they're claiming belief in.. Nor is it important if for some of that 90% the word means some giant invisible man in the sky ready to throw hurricanes at New Orleans over gay pride marches, while for others of that 90% the word "God" can mean, 12 Step style, "The Universe" or even "a doorknob".

That wildly different, even wholly contradictory, definitions of the word "God" are included in the statement of belief by that 90%, matters not one whit, it seems....

No, the important thing is that one state loudly and clearly their firm belief in the word which is never actually defined or logically explained.. so they can be differentiated from, you know..

those people.

You claim the poll is inaccurate because the wording is vague and broad; you'd prefer it ask people whether they believe in a "giant invisible man in the sky." But that's YOUR impression of religion/faith/spirituality. Many, many people who consider themselves religious, spiritual, faithful, whatever DO have a concept of God (or Gods) that is far more complex, nuanced, and personal than that. And that includes the people who attend church and call themselves as "Christians." There is a subset of obnoxious atheists who simply can't accept that "God" can mean anything other than "magical sky fairy."

as if that proves something, without bothering to even attempt at a commonly agreed-on definition of what the word means.

So lacking even a basic common definition for what the word "God" means (including, but by no means limited to- does this make me one of those annoyingly pesky Atheists? - a "magical sky fairy" as well as numerous totally contradictory definitons of the word) what is the purpose of this poll?

Oh, I'll tell you what the purpose of the poll is. As a "fuck you" to Atheists. That's about it.

Edited to add: Given your misunderstanding of what I said before, you might want to reread my prior post, and work on your reading comprehension a bit. Just a suggestion.

than Mooney's 'humans'. Personally, I accepted the concept of evolution before I had a good idea of what people meant by 'God' (and this was growing up with a Christian mother, and an agnostic father) - because I had plenty of pictures of dinosaurs and other extinct animals, in chronological order. Nothing "pre-disposed me against its acceptance". It's simpler to understand (change over time, at least - I admit natural selection needs a bit more thought than a 5 year old might give) than an invisible person who may or may not watch everything, and may or may not know what you're thinking, and may or may not be able to do everything.

Evolution isn't.

Science is unforgiving of that which cannot be demonstrated, while belief is personal reality even when based on a group consensus.

Completely stop it in some cases.

... is that "Christians" purport to disbelieve in evolution, but in the real world they are totally wedded to evolutionary concepts such as survival of the fittest.

Their apparent disdain of the poor and needy fly in the face of Jesus' teachings and fall squarely into the realm of social Darwinism.

then man should not be interfering in God's plan by making his own rules and regulations! Deregulate now and accept the rule of God!! Down with gubmint!!!

I suspect that sort of logic may have something to do with fundies' continued support of RW corporatists, deregulators, and government bashers--against their own interests. Government is their common enemy, albeit for different reasons.

it can be tough to accept the idea that humans may be related to filthy, ugly monkeys.