Religion

rug

(82,333 posts) Fri Jul 19, 2013, 06:49 PM Jul 2013

Report: Americans hold different views of what “religious” means

Lauren Markoe | Jul 18, 2013

(RNS) There is a lopsided divide in America about what it means to be a religious person, with a majority believing that it’s about acting morally but a strong minority equating it with faith.

Nearly six out of 10 Americans (59 percent) say that being a religious person “is primarily about living a good life and doing the right thing,” as opposed to the more than one-third (36 percent) who hold that being religious “is primarily about having faith and the right beliefs.”

The findings, released Thursday (July 18), are part of a report by the Public Religion Research Institute and the Brookings Institution that aims to paint a more nuanced picture of the American religious landscape, and the religious left in particular.

Robert P. Jones, CEO of PRRI, said that Americans’ two views of what makes a person religious harken back to the Protestant Reformation and to the Bible itself.

http://www.religionnews.com/2013/07/18/report-americans-hold-different-views-of-what-religious-means/

62 page report here:

http://publicreligion.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/2013-Economic-Values-Report-Final-.pdf

Note, the report itself surveys views of the religious on government and economic issues.

4 replies

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Report: Americans hold different views of what “religious” means (Original Post) rug Jul 2013 OP

Oy! Us non-believers have some woik to do. longship Jul 2013 #1

Not necessarily muriel_volestrangler Jul 2013 #4

This is turning out to be a really interesting report. cbayer Jul 2013 #2

Damn that REM LostOne4Ever Jul 2013 #3

longship

(40,416 posts)

1. Oy! Us non-believers have some woik to do.

Reply to rug (Original post)

Fri Jul 19, 2013, 07:26 PM

Jul 2013

Nearly six out of 10 Americans (59 percent) say that being a religious person “is primarily about living a good life and doing the right thing,” as opposed to the more than one-third (36 percent) who hold that being religious “is primarily about having faith and the right beliefs.”

So, if one turns that around and takes the logical opposite, it comes out that non-religious do not do the right thing or possibly have bad lives (59%) or don't have the right beliefs (36%).

Of course, non-believers have heard these characterizations forever. In times past, we were just killed for it. In some places on the planet that can still happen.

Amazing that the USA has so many people ignorant of what they're actually believing. I am sure they also think that people who adhere to another religious discipline than theirs also do not have the right beliefs.

Hence, the major issue with religions.

muriel_volestrangler

(101,361 posts)

4. Not necessarily

Reply to longship (Reply #1)

Sat Jul 20, 2013, 12:25 PM

Jul 2013

The question was:
In the end, being a religious person is primarily about:
Living a good life and doing the right thing
Having faith and the right beliefs

You can interpret that as "what should a religious person do?", rather than "how can you tell if a person is religious?"

For what you write about in your post, this is a more relevant question:

It is necessary to believe in God in order to be moral and have good values
27 Completely agree
25 Mostly agree
20 Mostly disagree
27 Completely disagree
1 Don’t know/Refused (VOL.)

So, a depressing majority of all people (ie the figure includes those who don't believe in a god) think that is at least mostly true. And only 27% completely disagree with it.

Questions and values here: http://publicreligion.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Economic-Values-Survey-TOPLINE.pdf