# How many people in this world actually believe that the Devil is a real being with powers? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 1, 2018, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-in-this-world-actually-believe-that-the-devil-is-a-real-being-with-powers/815237 "2018-06-01T03:01:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![xcalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/5daacb/32.png) [@xcalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xcalibre)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2018, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-in-this-world-actually-believe-that-the-devil-is-a-real-being-with-powers/815237/21 "2018-06-01T22:29:23Z")
Why do you think it isn’t? > **[Islamic view of the Bible](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_view_of_the_Christian_Bible)** > > The Quran states that several prior writings constitute holy books given by God to the prophets and messengers amongst the Children of Israel, in the same way the Quran was revealed to Muhammad. These include the Tawrat, believed by Muslims to have been given by God to the prophets and messengers amongst the Children of Israel, the Zabur (used in reference to the Psalms) revealed to David (Dawud); and the Injil revealed to Jesus (Isa). > The Islamic methodology of tafsir al-Qur'an bi-l-Kitab (Arab... > [@CookingWithGas](#): > > Christianity is not the foundation of Islam, but both religions rest on older common foundations of monotheism. Islam acknowledges the existence of Jesus and considers him to be a prophet of God but does not subscribe to his divine origin, which is the most important tenet of Christianity (IMHO). Islam does recognize a devil figure, as does much of Christianity but this particular idea can be also seen in the Hebrew bible, and the idea of a supernatural bad guy can even be seen in the ancient-Egyptian god Seth. > > As for the Devil, I’m not sure why someone would write off the devil as simply a personification of evil if they are not at the same time writing off God as a personification of good. Nor do I know how you would reconcile the omnipotence of God with the existence of a Devil, must less the existence of evil. > > (The OP seems to be asking a factual question yet posted in GD so not sure what discussion is desired here.) ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2018, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-in-this-world-actually-believe-that-the-devil-is-a-real-being-with-powers/815237/22 "2018-06-02T02:13:16Z")
I don’t know how many people think the devil is a “real being.” Metaphysical conceits aside, however, I do believe the devil exists; its embodiment on earth is the institution known as the Vatican. Who makes the biggest stink about the devil being amongst us? Who makes the biggest claims about being able to save people from the devil? What better place for the devil to hide than as the devil’s implacable adversary? Who would suspect such a devious scheme, especially among true believers? As for doing evil, the record of the Vatican and church policies throughout history speak for themselves right up to the present day. All of which puts the Church’s genuine good works (e.g., care for the aged and infirm) in the perspective of: it is sometimes necessary to do some good in order to do greater evil. Just a theory, of course. ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2018, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-in-this-world-actually-believe-that-the-devil-is-a-real-being-with-powers/815237/23 "2018-06-02T02:39:47Z")
> [@Dropo](#): > > I don’t know how many people think the devil is a “real being.” Metaphysical conceits aside, however, I do believe the devil exists; its embodiment on earth is the institution known as the Vatican. Who makes the biggest stink about the devil being amongst us? Who makes the biggest claims about being able to save people from the devil? American evangelicals, hands down, no contest there. The Catholics are a distant also-ran by comparison. ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2018, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-in-this-world-actually-believe-that-the-devil-is-a-real-being-with-powers/815237/24 "2018-06-02T03:42:57Z")
The Devil exists in Judaism too, doesn’t he? The Book of Job talks about the Devil and that’s part of the Old Testament. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2018, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-in-this-world-actually-believe-that-the-devil-is-a-real-being-with-powers/815237/25 "2018-06-02T04:11:40Z")
The Book of Job is an exercise in “Holy Shit, why would you want to worship this god?” Even as it is supposed to be about man’s patience and inability to understand why the good suffer, because God is above men and we don’t know everything about why he decides certain things. “Hey, watch this. I’ll just wipe out a hundred people to see how this guy reacts” :eek: It is generally agreed that it was written in the 6th century BC and modified over the years to make Job more patient and so forth. ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2018, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-in-this-world-actually-believe-that-the-devil-is-a-real-being-with-powers/815237/26 "2018-06-02T05:11:00Z")
> [@Jacquernagy](#): > > The Devil exists in Judaism too, doesn’t he? The Book of Job talks about the Devil and that’s part of the Old Testament. Specifically, that book is more or less God winning a bet with the Devil. ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2018, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-in-this-world-actually-believe-that-the-devil-is-a-real-being-with-powers/815237/27 "2018-06-02T05:25:30Z")
I’m trying very hard to wrap my head around the idea of God betting on something. Trying very hard indeed. ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2018, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-in-this-world-actually-believe-that-the-devil-is-a-real-being-with-powers/815237/28 "2018-06-02T05:41:09Z")
> [@Jacquernagy](#): > > I’m trying very hard to wrap my head around the idea of God betting on something. Trying very hard indeed. AFAIR it was “Bet you can’t corrupt my man Job here”, if that helps. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2018, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-in-this-world-actually-believe-that-the-devil-is-a-real-being-with-powers/815237/29 "2018-06-02T06:40:17Z")
> [@Jacquernagy](#): > > I’m trying very hard to wrap my head around the idea of God betting on something. Trying very hard indeed. Have you read Job? Satan there is far different from the one Christians believe in. He appears to be part of God’s court for one thing. Also, though the actions are motivated by Satan’s challenge of God, God does all the bad things, not Satan. Remember, though God killed all of Job’s family and livestock, he got new ones back again, so everything was hunky dory. Cattle, children, wife. No big difference back then. Talk about your patriarchy! ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2018, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-in-this-world-actually-believe-that-the-devil-is-a-real-being-with-powers/815237/30 "2018-06-02T08:16:42Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Have you read Job? Satan there is far different from the one Christians believe in. Anyone who claims to take the Bible literally, or who claims that the Bible is inerrant, is claiming to believe the version of the Devil that’s written in the book of Job. I know that the claims are empty talk, but nevertheless, people are making the claims. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2018, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-in-this-world-actually-believe-that-the-devil-is-a-real-being-with-powers/815237/31 "2018-06-02T13:43:29Z")
> [@DavidwithanR](#): > > Anyone who claims to take the Bible literally, or who claims that the Bible is inerrant, is claiming to believe the version of the Devil that’s written in the book of Job. Is there room for someone to take the book of Job as literal truth without identifying “the satan” in it with the Devil? ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2018, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-in-this-world-actually-believe-that-the-devil-is-a-real-being-with-powers/815237/32 "2018-06-02T14:08:14Z")
Which version? The original 6th century BC version, the @250 BC final version or the Islamic version, which is quite different? ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2018, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-in-this-world-actually-believe-that-the-devil-is-a-real-being-with-powers/815237/33 "2018-06-02T14:39:13Z")
I believe that evil exists. I don’t believe in a guy with horns and a pitchfork, any more than I believe in a old white guy in robes up in the sky, that is just childish foolishness, but I believe there is such a thing as evil, and that it is a force in the world. The Bible is a book of many stories, many authors, composed over a couple thousand years give or take. It is even more foolishness to think that conceptions of God and Satan didn’t shift around in that time. Job is an excellent example. I sure get tired of the people on this board thinking that all Christians are benighted literalists in the mold of willfully ignorant fundamentalism. It’s so boring. Why, one might imagine there was only one single solitary correct way of understanding the world. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2018, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-in-this-world-actually-believe-that-the-devil-is-a-real-being-with-powers/815237/34 "2018-06-02T14:44:16Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > […]I believe there is such a thing as evil, and that it is a force in the world. I don’t believe in good and evil as “forces” in the world. I believe in the [normal distribution](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_distribution). ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2018, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-in-this-world-actually-believe-that-the-devil-is-a-real-being-with-powers/815237/35 "2018-06-02T14:57:33Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > I sure get tired of the people on this board thinking that all Christians are benighted literalists in the mold of willfully ignorant fundamentalism. It’s so boring. Why, one might imagine there was only one single solitary correct way of understanding the world. Then perhaps you should have actually read this thread where we talk about different kinds of Christian faiths. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2018, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-in-this-world-actually-believe-that-the-devil-is-a-real-being-with-powers/815237/36 "2018-06-02T15:22:35Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > I sure get tired of the people on this board thinking that all Christians are benighted literalists in the mold of willfully ignorant fundamentalism. It’s so boring. Why, one might imagine there was only one single solitary correct way of understanding the world. And I get tired of this unsupported assumption popping up over and over again as an excuse no to engage in nuanced discussion. ---
**Author:** ![Steken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2018, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-in-this-world-actually-believe-that-the-devil-is-a-real-being-with-powers/815237/37 "2018-06-02T16:18:59Z")
> [@nelliebly](#): > > Don’t forget Hinduism, holds that there is a demon god called Kali. There are 1.1 billion Hindus in the world. I don’t know how many of them believe in Kali. In Hinduism, Kali is a goddess, not a “demon god” (whatever that means). ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2018, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-in-this-world-actually-believe-that-the-devil-is-a-real-being-with-powers/815237/38 "2018-06-02T18:11:31Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Is there room for someone to take the book of Job as literal truth without identifying “the satan” in it with the Devil? Not if the same name is used for “a different guy” in other places. Claiming literal truthfulness in a demonstrably false book is the problem of the person making the claim, not the problem of the person who hears the claim. Similar problem with the two different and incompatible creation stories in Genesis, or the two different and incompatible stories of the birth of Jesus. I say they’re made-up stories, so I have nothing to justify, but the person who claims incompatible stories are both true has a lot of explaining to do. ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2018, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-in-this-world-actually-believe-that-the-devil-is-a-real-being-with-powers/815237/39 "2018-06-02T18:15:18Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > I believe that evil exists. I don’t believe in a guy with horns and a pitchfork, any more than I believe in a old white guy in robes up in the sky, that is just childish foolishness, but I believe there is such a thing as evil, and that it is a force in the world. > > The Bible is a book of many stories, many authors, composed over a couple thousand years give or take. It is even more foolishness to think that conceptions of God and Satan didn’t shift around in that time. Job is an excellent example. > > I sure get tired of the people on this board thinking that all Christians are benighted literalists in the mold of willfully ignorant fundamentalism. It’s so boring. Why, one might imagine there was only one single solitary correct way of understanding the world. I’m an atheist Christian myself. A very significant proportion of American Christians **are** benighted literalists, unfortunately. It would be silly to ignore that fact. ---
**Author:** ![Steken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2018, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-in-this-world-actually-believe-that-the-devil-is-a-real-being-with-powers/815237/40 "2018-06-02T19:17:19Z")
> [@DavidwithanR](#): > > A very significant proportion of American Christians **are** benighted literalists Going by [this](http://news.gallup.com/poll/210704/record-few-americans-believe-bible-literal-word-god.aspx), some 30% of American Christians believe in Biblical literalism (as in, believe that “the Bible is the actual word of God and is to be taken literally, word for word”) as of 2017. Of course, American Christians only make up around 10% of the world’s Christians. So Biblical literalism might well be common among American Christians without being common among Christians worldwide. Indeed, AFAIK, it was always primarily an Anglo-American phenomenon anyway. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-in-this-world-actually-believe-that-the-devil-is-a-real-being-with-powers/815237.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-in-this-world-actually-believe-that-the-devil-is-a-real-being-with-powers/815237.md?page=3)