# Do Americans really believe in God, or do they just say they do? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 29, 2015, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-americans-really-believe-in-god-or-do-they-just-say-they-do/741670 "2015-12-29T19:29:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2015, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-americans-really-believe-in-god-or-do-they-just-say-they-do/741670/21 "2015-12-29T21:15:37Z")
i think many people believe in god. I don’t believe it is nearly as many as say they do. They may _want_ to believe. They may want \*others \*to think they believe. They may enjoy many of the benefits of belonging to a church (fellowship, bake sales, networking, whatever) I don’t think, however, all of these 86% actually think the god of their church actually exists. ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2015, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-americans-really-believe-in-god-or-do-they-just-say-they-do/741670/22 "2015-12-29T21:16:00Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > Not everyone who believes in God believes _people_ go to hell. The argument still works with infinite reward and nothing. So long as the good outcome is infinitely better than the bad one, people should be willing to trade any finite amount of suffering for the slightest additional chance of receiving it. If the good outcome is only finitely better than the bad one, then you can horse trade for some temporal satisfaction. But then the original Pascal’s wager really stops being an effective recruiting tool 🙂 . ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2015, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-americans-really-believe-in-god-or-do-they-just-say-they-do/741670/23 "2015-12-29T21:17:55Z")
I suspect it is correct, but as others have said I’m guessing for many it is a rather amorphous belief, rather than a rigid creed. The God of please-let-the-Packers-win-this-Sunday as it were. Which is _still_ belief in a higher, supernatural power however lightweight, so I still think it counts. I have a friend who doesn’t consider himself religious in most ways, doesn’t belong to attend a church, was married in city hall, never makes expressions of faith, etc. - but to my surprise he still professes belief in God. Just kind of a liberal, non-denominational, ineffable and unknowable sort of God. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2015, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-americans-really-believe-in-god-or-do-they-just-say-they-do/741670/24 "2015-12-29T21:21:55Z")
A lot of Americans do not behave as if they believe in the God they profess that they do. Maybe there are a lot of Christians who figure on using the ‘Get Out of Jail Free’ card before they die, but it doesn’t really explain their concept of religious morality. I suspect that a large majority does believe in the AAA road side service God that you can call on when in need, but not the one makes a difference the rest of the time. Among the true believers there’s a huge quilt of qualities of belief. There are those who believe in the magical Big Guy in the Sky and have no idea what their own religion says about God, those who believe in a mysterious force that mere mortals cannot comprehend, those who see the Hand of God on the steering wheel of history and others who belief in a God that set the universe in motion on it’s predestined path long ago. There are those who don’t believe in God but will never say so with 100% certainty, either to hedge their bets or unable to shake that last glimmer of doubt. When it’s all said and done I think at best a slim majority of Americans are true believers. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2015, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-americans-really-believe-in-god-or-do-they-just-say-they-do/741670/25 "2015-12-29T21:55:58Z")
I take people at their word when it comes to whether they believe in God or gods and what religion they are or aren’t. ---
**Author:** ![Macca26](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/13edae/32.png) [@Macca26](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Macca26)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2015, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-americans-really-believe-in-god-or-do-they-just-say-they-do/741670/26 "2015-12-29T22:20:38Z")
I’m not going to fight anyone over it, but it’s obvious that many people do not actually, truly, literally, believe in god. As others have said, their actions simply do not align. I know some people who really do believe, and it’s very obvious that they believe. They strive to follow the teachings earnestly and live with god in their life. But there is a vast amount who never act on those teachings, never make mention of them, and make no special effort to practice them. And I’m sure, when handed a survey will write “I believe in god” or “I am a christian” despite never partaking of any aspects of a belief in god. That is, aside from (as **Tamerlane** so neatly quipped), “god please-let-the-Packers-win-this-Sunday” which doesn’t really mean much of anything at all when it comes to actual belief. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2015, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-americans-really-believe-in-god-or-do-they-just-say-they-do/741670/27 "2015-12-29T22:27:59Z")
I think the vast majority of believers simply haven’t given it much thought. It’s something they were brought up with, it’s a belief that ties them to their community, and there is no incentive to look too deeply at the issue. But I think that still counts as belief, so that’s how I answered the poll. Compare it to evolution. I think most believers are kind of like a kid who first learns about evolution. They “believe” it, because they were told it, and have no reason to question. But they don’t believe in the way evolutionary biologists do. They don’t have a deep understanding of the concept, they can’t successfully defend their belief in a logical debate, they don’t know the nuances or logical consequences of those beliefs. The Darwins and Dawkins and Goulds of religious belief are few and far between. It’s mainly the bishops, the monks, the seminary students, the pastors and the reverends who have spent their whole lives studying and thinking about this issue. And I’d suspect a significant percentage of those are kind of stuck in a job where their belief is mandatory, and they probably believe it mostly out of practicality rather than out of a deep conviction that it’s true. The people who spend years of study and contemplation on the issue of God and still hold those convictions deeply are exceedingly rare in my opinion. Not that I think atheists are much better. I’ve met many who are only atheists because that’s how they were raised, or that’s what their friends believe, or they just want to be iconoclasts and rebels. But I do think the rate of thinking critically about their own beliefs is higher among atheists, if only because it’s still pretty rare to be raised as an atheist. Most of us became atheists gradually over the course of months or years due to contemplating our beliefs. Very, very few religious believers became that way through conscious introspection. Most were just born into it. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2015, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-americans-really-believe-in-god-or-do-they-just-say-they-do/741670/28 "2015-12-29T22:49:00Z")
I think most people believe in a god that they can live with. Back when I was a believer, my version of God didn’t watch my every move. He didn’t really care what I did with myself as long as I wasn’t evil. If I prayed hard enough, he would come through. He didn’t cast sinners to hell. Evil people just went _poof_ out of existence. He was a reasonable god. The god I was taught in Sunday School wasn’t reasonable, so he was unbelievable for me. But I also know that I called myself a believer for a few years when really I didn’t anymore. I can’t imagine that I’m the only one like this. ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2015, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-americans-really-believe-in-god-or-do-they-just-say-they-do/741670/29 "2015-12-29T23:24:12Z")
Just quick note: The term “does not believe in God” is offensive. It presupposes the existence of “God” and that some are somehow ignorant of “God”'s _ **factual** _ existence. Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2015, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-americans-really-believe-in-god-or-do-they-just-say-they-do/741670/30 "2015-12-29T23:32:10Z")
> [@usedtobe](#): > > Just quick note: > > The term “does not believe in God” is offensive. > > It presupposes the existence of “God” and that some are somehow ignorant of “God”'s _ **factual** _ existence. > > Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. I don’t see why asking if you believe in something presupposes its existence. I could easily start a poll asking if people believe in Bigfoot, or the Loch Ness monster, or the Invisible Pink Unicorn. That would not presuppose that any of these exist or that I believe that they exist. ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2015, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-americans-really-believe-in-god-or-do-they-just-say-they-do/741670/31 "2015-12-29T23:42:51Z")
> [@usedtobe](#): > > Just quick note: > > The term “does not believe in God” is offensive. > > It presupposes the existence of “God” and that some are somehow ignorant of “God”'s _ **factual** _ existence. Yeah, serious question: are you joking? I honestly can’t tell. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2015, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-americans-really-believe-in-god-or-do-they-just-say-they-do/741670/32 "2015-12-29T23:45:57Z")
If anything, I would object to the phrasing and capitalization, which is completely monotheistic and carries a pretty strong Abrahamic implication on top of it. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2015, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-americans-really-believe-in-god-or-do-they-just-say-they-do/741670/33 "2015-12-29T23:54:18Z")
> [@OneCentStamp](#): > > If anything, I would object to the phrasing and capitalization, which is completely monotheistic and carries a pretty strong Abrahamic implication on top of it. Because this poll was asking specifically about the Gallup poll, I formatted the questions with the same phrasing as the original Gallup question, which was “Do you believe in God?” ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2015, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-americans-really-believe-in-god-or-do-they-just-say-they-do/741670/34 "2015-12-30T00:01:40Z")
Maybe the number of theists is even higher, but they didn’t answer in the affirmative because they believe in multiple gods or a god with a name, and “God”, singular and capitalized, usually refers pretty specifically to the god of Abraham. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2015, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-americans-really-believe-in-god-or-do-they-just-say-they-do/741670/35 "2015-12-30T01:21:09Z")
I went option 2 but I did have problems with the wording. I would think it more like 60-70% and I don’t know that they are lying so much as being generous in their definition of divinity/divine being. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2015, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-americans-really-believe-in-god-or-do-they-just-say-they-do/741670/36 "2015-12-30T01:35:54Z")
> [@usedtobe](#): > > Just quick note: > > The term “does not believe in God” is offensive. > > It presupposes the existence of “God” and that some are somehow ignorant of “God”'s _ **factual** _ existence. Only to you. ---
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2015, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-americans-really-believe-in-god-or-do-they-just-say-they-do/741670/37 "2015-12-30T01:51:18Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > I think the vast majority of believers simply haven’t given it much thought. It’s something they were brought up with, it’s a belief that ties them to their community, and there is no incentive to look too deeply at the issue. But I think that still counts as belief, so that’s how I answered the poll. > > Compare it to evolution. I think most believers are kind of like a kid who first learns about evolution. They “believe” it, because they were told it, and have no reason to question. But they don’t believe in the way evolutionary biologists do. They don’t have a deep understanding of the concept, they can’t successfully defend their belief in a logical debate, they don’t know the nuances or logical consequences of those beliefs. > > The Darwins and Dawkins and Goulds of religious belief are few and far between. It’s mainly the bishops, the monks, the seminary students, the pastors and the reverends who have spent their whole lives studying and thinking about this issue. And I’d suspect a significant percentage of those are kind of stuck in a job where their belief is mandatory, and they probably believe it mostly out of practicality rather than out of a deep conviction that it’s true. The people who spend years of study and contemplation on the issue of God and still hold those convictions deeply are exceedingly rare in my opinion. > > Not that I think atheists are much better. I’ve met many who are only atheists because that’s how they were raised, or that’s what their friends believe, or they just want to be iconoclasts and rebels. But I do think the rate of thinking critically about their own beliefs is higher among atheists, if only because it’s still pretty rare to be raised as an atheist. Most of us became atheists gradually over the course of months or years due to contemplating our beliefs. Very, very few religious believers became that way through conscious introspection. Most were just born into it. Only atheists think that belivers don’t think about their beliefs. This is an arrogance born of the idea that “if they really thought about it they would agree with me because it is the only reasonable conclusion.” ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2015, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-americans-really-believe-in-god-or-do-they-just-say-they-do/741670/38 "2015-12-30T01:57:41Z")
> [@SpoilerVirgin](#): > > According to the most recent [Gallup poll](http://www.gallup.com/poll/1690/religion.aspx), 86% of Americans said that they believe in God. Am I reading it wrong? To me, it looks like 86% said “yes” in 1999 and 80% said “yes” in 2010. EDIT: I see, I’m looking at a slightly different question: “Which of the following statements comes closest to your belief about God – you believe in God, you don’t believe in God, but you do believe in a universal spirit or higher power, or you don’t believe in either?” ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2015, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-americans-really-believe-in-god-or-do-they-just-say-they-do/741670/39 "2015-12-30T02:23:55Z")
> [@OneCentStamp](#): > > If anything, I would object to the phrasing and capitalization, which is completely monotheistic and carries a pretty strong Abrahamic implication on top of it. As for the capitalization, I have no problem with it any more than I have with the capitalization of anyone’s proper name. His name is “God”. His species is “god”. It is odd that he is named after his species. Maybe his parents just weren’t all that creative. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2015, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-americans-really-believe-in-god-or-do-they-just-say-they-do/741670/40 "2015-12-30T02:49:39Z")
> [@leahcim](#): > > As for the capitalization, I have no problem with it any more than I have with the capitalization of anyone’s proper name. His name is “God”. His species is “god”. > > It is odd that he is named after his species. Maybe his parents just weren’t all that creative. Maybe it’s baggage I carry from my own upbringing, but when I read “God,” I interpret that to imply “the one and only.” Like a Christian, Muslim, or Zoroastrian would say. Allah is _God_. Vishnu is _a god_, as is Odin. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-americans-really-believe-in-god-or-do-they-just-say-they-do/741670.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-americans-really-believe-in-god-or-do-they-just-say-they-do/741670.md?page=3)