Poll: do you believe in God?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And "double standard"? Ha - you do all of the same crap you complain they are doing. Go back and read your own posts, you hypocritical jerk.

Yet you attack me not them, hmmm.

I don't and never have;
- make up generalizations about "all atheists"
- ridicule atheists
- until two weeks ago, treated their threads the way you guys treat religion threads
I also don't see anybody else doing this with the exception of a single fundie.

The atheist hate-trolling has been going on as long as I've been on DCUM, which is several years now. I just started giving you guys a taste of your own medicine a week or two ago. If the moderator had done anything about those two long-standing bad actors, this wouldn't be necessary. My only goal is to make it possible for religious people to have actual conversations here.

I have to say, your whining about being "victims" is hysterical and puts the "h" in "hypocrite."

Grow up. I will say this: you lack a funny bone,

I am not the keeper of the Religion forum. I don't read every thread trying to police others. I can only control me and I was enjoying this thread until you started your hysterical rants. So please just STFU.

Go start another Stalin thread since you seem to enjoy that type of thread so much. I'm sure you'll spin up more atheists who you can blame for the actions of others. Seems like a really good use of everyone's time.

Hey PP, did you jump on the "Organized religion is a net negative" thread to criticize that OP? Nah, didn't think so.

You think the OP of that was an atheist troll? Sounded like someone who just didn't like organized religion - specifically fundamental? I dunno. I didn't see that thread until it was already a rage train going full-steam ahead.

I've said it a million times - take religion off of Recent Topics.

Huh? Stop making stuff up. Show us where said OP was an a atheist troll. I think this poll is unrepresentative and generally ridiculous, but I never called her a troll.

Why not answer my posts at 6:53 and 7:17 about the conclusions, if any, we should be drawing from this "poll." That's a thought. Or do you just want to "police" other posters?

Sorry, weren't you asking me earlier to police the atheist trolls? Now you want me to police anyone on Religion who doesn't agree with you? WTF?

Also: stop twisting everything I say. TIA!

What the heck is so offensive about asking you to share your views on the "poll"? It's the thread topic, after all,. You just want to take offense.

Ok - so who exactly do you want me to police?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And "double standard"? Ha - you do all of the same crap you complain they are doing. Go back and read your own posts, you hypocritical jerk.

Yet you attack me not them, hmmm.

I don't and never have;
- make up generalizations about "all atheists"
- ridicule atheists
- until two weeks ago, treated their threads the way you guys treat religion threads
I also don't see anybody else doing this with the exception of a single fundie.

The atheist hate-trolling has been going on as long as I've been on DCUM, which is several years now. I just started giving you guys a taste of your own medicine a week or two ago. If the moderator had done anything about those two long-standing bad actors, this wouldn't be necessary. My only goal is to make it possible for religious people to have actual conversations here.

I have to say, your whining about being "victims" is hysterical and puts the "h" in "hypocrite."

Grow up. I will say this: you lack a funny bone,

I suggest just ignoring posts that seem belligerent or off-topic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This poll may be an unbiased sample of who's on DCUM's religion forum. It's impossible to say that with certainty because maybe some religious people saw it was posted by an atheist and didn't bother. Second, probably many religious people don't bother with the religion forum to begin with. But it could be valid for DCUM's religion forum only.

There is no evidence whatsoever that it's an unbiased sample of the larger population.

In particular, Op's theory that people are more willing to be open online than over the phone doesn't seem born out by the answers to OP's specific question about this. Some people (atheist and religious) said they don't answer the phone, but nobody said they would hesitate to share their belief or non-belief.

So unless someone has a better theory about why these results are so different from other polls, it seems clear that the DCUM religion forum is not typical.

What % of religious people answer a phone call from an unknown number? What % of atheists? Perhaps atheists are more skeptical in general and less likely to pick up the phone. Even if they did it's not quite as "anonymous" as DCUM. Maybe saying something out loud, even to a stranger, is more daunting than DCUM.

But nobody here said they were afraid to share their atheism. So this poll doesn't help one way or another.

Given Congress' recent action on internet privacy, I'd worry more about posting on DCUM than over the telephone where some poll company robo-dialed me. So I don't buy the theory that atheists are reluctant over the phone but not over the Internet.

Any theory that atheists are less likely to pick up the phone AND less likely to tell the truth when on the phone seems purely speculative to me. It also seems a tad self-serving.

Maybe Pew should start a poll...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting. The posts seem almost exactly evenly split between people of faith and atheists. By contrast, national polls like the Pew poll find 6-7% atheists and another 13% who are spiritual/religious but aren't affiliated with a religious institution.

OP, do you conclude that other polls are flawed? Why? At the start you hypothesized that it's because people are uncomfortable talking about religion over the phone. I don't see that here, and certainly not among the atheists here. Do you disagree?

Do we conclude, alternatively, that this forum is unrepresentative? What accounts for the higher representation of atheists than in the general population? Some here claim this forum is hostile to belief, do you agree or disagree?

As I've said a few times I wasn't trying to draw any scientific conclusions.

There is plenty of hostility on this forum. Maybe it was from atheists in the past but now it's from atheist haters.

Sorry, individuals of any religious persuasion can't be responsible for the thoughts and actions of strangers on the internet.

Stop with the "atheist haters" charade. We correct our children but we love them. All this whiny victimhood about people "hating" atheists because...um...some of you troll constantly and/or are incredibly disrespectful, makes you look ridiculous.

TAKE RESPONSIBILITY for the atheist bad behavior.

Sorry for the caps, but it seems necessary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting. The posts seem almost exactly evenly split between people of faith and atheists. By contrast, national polls like the Pew poll find 6-7% atheists and another 13% who are spiritual/religious but aren't affiliated with a religious institution.

OP, do you conclude that other polls are flawed? Why? At the start you hypothesized that it's because people are uncomfortable talking about religion over the phone. I don't see that here, and certainly not among the atheists here. Do you disagree?

Do we conclude, alternatively, that this forum is unrepresentative? What accounts for the higher representation of atheists than in the general population? Some here claim this forum is hostile to belief, do you agree or disagree?

As I've said a few times I wasn't trying to draw any scientific conclusions.

There is plenty of hostility on this forum. Maybe it was from atheists in the past but now it's from atheist haters.

Stop with the "atheist haters" charade. We correct our children but we love them. All this whiny victimhood about people "hating" atheists because...um...some of you troll constantly and/or are incredibly disrespectful, makes you look ridiculous.

TAKE RESPONSIBILITY for the atheist bad behavior.

Sorry for the caps, but it seems necessary.

Sorry, individuals of any religious persuasion can't be responsible for the thoughts and actions of strangers on the internet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This poll may be an unbiased sample of who's on DCUM's religion forum. It's impossible to say that with certainty because maybe some religious people saw it was posted by an atheist and didn't bother. Second, probably many religious people don't bother with the religion forum to begin with. But it could be valid for DCUM's religion forum only.

There is no evidence whatsoever that it's an unbiased sample of the larger population.

In particular, Op's theory that people are more willing to be open online than over the phone doesn't seem born out by the answers to OP's specific question about this. Some people (atheist and religious) said they don't answer the phone, but nobody said they would hesitate to share their belief or non-belief.

So unless someone has a better theory about why these results are so different from other polls, it seems clear that the DCUM religion forum is not typical.

What % of religious people answer a phone call from an unknown number? What % of atheists? Perhaps atheists are more skeptical in general and less likely to pick up the phone. Even if they did it's not quite as "anonymous" as DCUM. Maybe saying something out loud, even to a stranger, is more daunting than DCUM.

But nobody here said they were afraid to share their atheism. So this poll doesn't help one way or another.

Given Congress' recent action on internet privacy, I'd worry more about posting on DCUM than over the telephone where some poll company robo-dialed me. So I don't buy the theory that atheists are reluctant over the phone but not over the Internet.

Any theory that atheists are less likely to pick up the phone AND less likely to tell the truth when on the phone seems purely speculative to me. It also seems a tad self-serving.

Maybe Pew should start a poll...

Well that was profound. I offered up some thoughts and you come back with this.

But hey, if this is the author of the you new "Atheists are bad people" thread, then you already demonstrated that you have no interests or goals outside of playing victim and picking fights.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting. The posts seem almost exactly evenly split between people of faith and atheists. By contrast, national polls like the Pew poll find 6-7% atheists and another 13% who are spiritual/religious but aren't affiliated with a religious institution.

OP, do you conclude that other polls are flawed? Why? At the start you hypothesized that it's because people are uncomfortable talking about religion over the phone. I don't see that here, and certainly not among the atheists here. Do you disagree?

Do we conclude, alternatively, that this forum is unrepresentative? What accounts for the higher representation of atheists than in the general population? Some here claim this forum is hostile to belief, do you agree or disagree?

As I've said a few times I wasn't trying to draw any scientific conclusions.

There is plenty of hostility on this forum. Maybe it was from atheists in the past but now it's from atheist haters.

olling. The

Stop with the "atheist haters" charade. We correct our children but we love them. All this whiny victimhood about people "hating" atheists because...um...some of you troll constantly and/or are incredibly disrespectful, makes you look ridiculous.

TAKE RESPONSIBILITY for the atheist bad behavior.

Sorry for the caps, but it seems necessary.

Sorry, individuals of any religious persuasion can't be responsible for the thoughts and actions of strangers on the internet.

Right. But you can be fair. If you're going to hate on the religious trolls, then you can at least modestly police all the blatant atheist trolling that goes on here. That's the hypocrisy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This poll may be an unbiased sample of who's on DCUM's religion forum. It's impossible to say that with certainty because maybe some religious people saw it was posted by an atheist and didn't bother. Second, probably many religious people don't bother with the religion forum to begin with. But it could be valid for DCUM's religion forum only.

There is no evidence whatsoever that it's an unbiased sample of the larger population.

In particular, Op's theory that people are more willing to be open online than over the phone doesn't seem born out by the answers to OP's specific question about this. Some people (atheist and religious) said they don't answer the phone, but nobody said they would hesitate to share their belief or non-belief.

So unless someone has a better theory about why these results are so different from other polls, it seems clear that the DCUM religion forum is not typical.

What % of religious people answer a phone call from an unknown number? What % of atheists? Perhaps atheists are more skeptical in general and less likely to pick up the phone. Even if they did it's not quite as "anonymous" as DCUM. Maybe saying something out loud, even to a stranger, is more daunting than DCUM.

But nobody here said they were afraid to share their atheism. So this poll doesn't help one way or another.

Given Congress' recent action on internet privacy, I'd worry more about posting on DCUM than over the telephone where some poll company robo-dialed me. So I don't buy the theory that atheists are reluctant over the phone but not over the Internet.

Any theory that atheists are less likely to pick up the phone AND less likely to tell the truth when on the phone seems purely speculative to me. It also seems a tad self-serving.

Maybe Pew should start a poll...

Well that was profound. I offered up some thoughts and you come back with this.

But hey, if this is the author of the you new "Atheists are bad people" thread, then you already demonstrated that you have no interests or goals outside of playing victim and picking fights.

I'm sorry, but you are drawing out your own conclusions, so does it really matter what I say? I offered up an idea and you said it was self-serving. Okay....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This poll may be an unbiased sample of who's on DCUM's religion forum. It's impossible to say that with certainty because maybe some religious people saw it was posted by an atheist and didn't bother. Second, probably many religious people don't bother with the religion forum to begin with. But it could be valid for DCUM's religion forum only.

There is no evidence whatsoever that it's an unbiased sample of the larger population.

In particular, Op's theory that people are more willing to be open online than over the phone doesn't seem born out by the answers to OP's specific question about this. Some people (atheist and religious) said they don't answer the phone, but nobody said they would hesitate to share their belief or non-belief.

So unless someone has a better theory about why these results are so different from other polls, it seems clear that the DCUM religion forum is not typical.

What % of religious people answer a phone call from an unknown number? What % of atheists? Perhaps atheists are more skeptical in general and less likely to pick up the phone. Even if they did it's not quite as "anonymous" as DCUM. Maybe saying something out loud, even to a stranger, is more daunting than DCUM.

But nobody here said they were afraid to share their atheism. So this poll doesn't help one way or another.

Given Congress' recent action on internet privacy, I'd worry more about posting on DCUM than over the telephone where some poll company robo-dialed me. So I don't buy the theory that atheists are reluctant over the phone but not over the Internet.

Any theory that atheists are less likely to pick up the phone AND less likely to tell the truth when on the phone seems purely speculative to me. It also seems a tad self-serving.

Maybe Pew should start a poll...

Well that was profound. I offered up some thoughts and you come back with this.

But hey, if this is the author of the you new "Atheists are bad people" thread, then you already demonstrated that you have no interests or goals outside of playing victim and picking fights.

I'm sorry, but you are drawing out your own conclusions, so does it really matter what I say? I offered up an idea and you said it was self-serving. Okay....

So defend your idea instead of crying about how it didn't meet with universal adoration.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like some people aren't comfortable sharing their beliefs about God so current polls may be inaccurate.
http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_58f67e31e4b0de5bac41d3eb

So let's do a little informal poll to see who we have here in DCUMland.

1. Do you believe in God? [b]I try
2. Do you believe in a "higher power" or intelligent force at hand? Yes
3. Do you participate in organized religion? No
4. Do you believe most of the tenets of your religion? N/A
5. Which religion? N/A
6. How often do you pray? Every day
7. How often do you attend religious services?
8. How were you brought up in religion? Same religion as now? Catholic/no way
9. How are you bringing up your children wrt religion? They were/grown
10. How important is your religion/spirituality to you? Very

Some questions about sharing that information with others:
A. Were you comfortable responding to these questions on DCUM? Yes
B. Are you comfortable discussing your true personal beliefs with friends and family? Yes
C. Would you share your true personal beliefs to a stranger on a telephone poll? No

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This poll may be an unbiased sample of who's on DCUM's religion forum. It's impossible to say that with certainty because maybe some religious people saw it was posted by an atheist and didn't bother. Second, probably many religious people don't bother with the religion forum to begin with. But it could be valid for DCUM's religion forum only.

There is no evidence whatsoever that it's an unbiased sample of the larger population.

In particular, Op's theory that people are more willing to be open online than over the phone doesn't seem born out by the answers to OP's specific question about this. Some people (atheist and religious) said they don't answer the phone, but nobody said they would hesitate to share their belief or non-belief.

So unless someone has a better theory about why these results are so different from other polls, it seems clear that the DCUM religion forum is not typical.

What % of religious people answer a phone call from an unknown number? What % of atheists? Perhaps atheists are more skeptical in general and less likely to pick up the phone. Even if they did it's not quite as "anonymous" as DCUM. Maybe saying something out loud, even to a stranger, is more daunting than DCUM.

But nobody here said they were afraid to share their atheism. So this poll doesn't help one way or another.

Given Congress' recent action on internet privacy, I'd worry more about posting on DCUM than over the telephone where some poll company robo-dialed me. So I don't buy the theory that atheists are reluctant over the phone but not over the Internet.

Any theory that atheists are less likely to pick up the phone AND less likely to tell the truth when on the phone seems purely speculative to me. It also seems a tad self-serving.

Maybe Pew should start a poll...

Well that was profound. I offered up some thoughts and you come back with this.

But hey, if this is the author of the you new "Atheists are bad people" thread, then you already demonstrated that you have no interests or goals outside of playing victim and picking fights.

I'm sorry, but you are drawing out your own conclusions, so does it really matter what I say? I offered up an idea and you said it was self-serving. Okay....

So defend your idea instead of crying about how it didn't meet with universal adoration.

You shared your opinions and I shared mine. I'm not trying to draw conclusions and/or convince anyone of anything. I just don't see anything productive coming out of this "discussion".

I do sincerely think a poll could be helpful though - you really think most people would be as honest sharing their thoughts out loud to a person who called them on their phone (so really not anonymous) as they would here on DCUM? Most people don't even pick up the phone - doesn't that tell you something?

[Anonymous]

My take-away from this informal poll is that the results undermine OP's theory that atheism is under-represented in polls like the Pew poll.

In particular, OP asked specifically if anybody would hesitate to tell a poster about their belief or atheism, and nobody said "yes." Although some might speculate that atheists are less likely to pick up the phone on the first place, we have no evidence to support this idea.

Does anybody disagree?

(Technical note: you need at least 25-30 observations for statistical validity, which we don't have. You need many, many more, as well as geographic and SES distribution, to make claims on a national scale. You need to be confident your sample is unbiased (in terms of representation, obviously people here have their own biases), which this forum doesn't seem to be. So I don't think we can say anything from this poll one way or another.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This poll may be an unbiased sample of who's on DCUM's religion forum. It's impossible to say that with certainty because maybe some religious people saw it was posted by an atheist and didn't bother. Second, probably many religious people don't bother with the religion forum to begin with. But it could be valid for DCUM's religion forum only.

There is no evidence whatsoever that it's an unbiased sample of the larger population.

In particular, Op's theory that people are more willing to be open online than over the phone doesn't seem born out by the answers to OP's specific question about this. Some people (atheist and religious) said they don't answer the phone, but nobody said they would hesitate to share their belief or non-belief.

So unless someone has a better theory about why these results are so different from other polls, it seems clear that the DCUM religion forum is not typical.

What % of religious people answer a phone call from an unknown number? What % of atheists? Perhaps atheists are more skeptical in general and less likely to pick up the phone. Even if they did it's not quite as "anonymous" as DCUM. Maybe saying something out loud, even to a stranger, is more daunting than DCUM.

But nobody here said they were afraid to share their atheism. So this poll doesn't help one way or another.

Given Congress' recent action on internet privacy, I'd worry more about posting on DCUM than over the telephone where some poll company robo-dialed me. So I don't buy the theory that atheists are reluctant over the phone but not over the Internet.

Any theory that atheists are less likely to pick up the phone AND less likely to tell the truth when on the phone seems purely speculative to me. It also seems a tad self-serving.

Maybe Pew should start a poll...

Well that was profound. I offered up some thoughts and you come back with this.

But hey, if this is the author of the you new "Atheists are bad people" thread, then you already demonstrated that you have no interests or goals outside of playing victim and picking fights.

I'm sorry, but you are drawing out your own conclusions, so does it really matter what I say? I offered up an idea and you said it was self-serving. Okay....

So defend your idea instead of crying about how it didn't meet with universal adoration.

You shared your opinions and I shared mine. I'm not trying to draw conclusions and/or convince anyone of anything. I just don't see anything productive coming out of this "discussion".

I do sincerely think a poll could be helpful though - you really think most people would be as honest sharing their thoughts out loud to a person who called them on their phone (so really not anonymous) as they would here on DCUM? Most people don't even pick up the phone - doesn't that tell you something?

Here, atheists and believers alike indicated they would have no problem with talking about faith over the phone.

I agree the internet is even less private these days.

What should we conclude from the fact that most people don't pick up the phone? I don't. I'm religious, fwiw. This doesnt tell me anything in particular, absent hard evidence.

[Anonymous]

We can't tell anything, one way or another, about the results of OP's poll. This is because it's statistically flawed in many ways, as described above.

If I were an atheist, I'd be jumping in the "OP's poll is unrepresentative" bandwagon, precisely because it undermines OP' theory. As it is, this all deserves a big shrug.

[Anonymous]

What should we conclude from the fact that most people don't pick up the phone? I don't. I'm religious, fwiw. This doesn't tell me anything in particular, absent hard evidence.

We don't even have a home phone so we're certainly not represented in any telephone polls.

So who DOES pick up the phone? Does Pew have any data on the people who respond to their polls?