Exactly. People are free to choose, and no religion is suppressed (I’m sure Der Trihs will be along shortly to vehemently disagree with this assertion :p). Since a large majority of Americans are at least nominally Christian of one sect or another, it’s militantly unsurprising that in a poll most would profess some believe or other in a God or higher power.
Of course he’s free to say what he feels. Are you under the impression that the U.S. has police of vice and virtue?
Again, no idea what you are getting at as you are all over the place here. What, exactly, did you want to discuss in this thread?
As to Obama, I’d say that it’s pretty obvious that he expressed his religious believe, though as with all politicians it also has to do with a political message. But Obama is a Christian, so again it’s not really surprising that he tosses in occasional references to faith and God in his speeches, especially when you again consider that the large majority of Americans are Christian or some other religious orientation with who talking about God, religion or faith is going to resonate at least nominally.
The results tell another story. Why Britain, France or Italy would be so extremely different ? Is the US really free from religion ?
I’m a Jew. I’m atheist. My parents and Grandparents were atheists. I was on a cruise on the Seine, most of the people were well to do Americans. It was really a floating restaurant. So, you know, they pressed me to say where I’m from etc. I said I’m an atheist Jew. Without trying to impress anyone. After 5 minutes of trying to explain how can a Jew be atheist, and actually people begging me to say I’m in fact agnostic, people at my table looked at me as if I was trying to poison their food. I’ve never experienced anything like this. I never told anyone American I was atheist since.
Consider who settled the U.S., and why they did came here.
Thanks everyone. The response was enlightening.
In any case, regarding Obama, I doubt he has any personal religious belief. Do you people think otherwise ?
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I’m a Jew. I’m atheist. My parents and Grandparents were atheists.
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Bingo…you have freedom from and of religion. You can be whatever you want, believe whatever you want…or not believe anything if that’s what you want.
So what? It probably confused them that you claimed to be a Jew (which is a religion) while claiming to be an atheist, but regardless what difference does it make if they agreed or disagreed with your beliefs? Why do you care what they think of your beliefs or lifestyle as long as they can’t do anything about it except give you funny looks? That’s what freedom of and from religion means…it doesn’t mean that they all have to respect your beliefs or pretend they like them, it means they can’t impose them on you…and, conversely, you can’t impose yours on them, which ironically sounds like what you are getting at in this convoluted discussion.
What results, exactly? That Americans largely choose to be religious? I don’t know if you’re speaking of some collective freedom or what, but the United States recognizes freedom of religion as an individual right, and it’s not infringed upon unless one tries very hard to find tiny infringments (Nativity scenes and such).
Bear in mind that Jewishness has an ethnic component and a religions one, in a way that other group identities do not. The confusion is understandable, many areas of the U.S. are without a significant Jewish population, so exposure can be limited.
I’m sorry you had a bad experience with a group of Americans. If you told them you were a Communist or a nihilist, you might have gotten a similar reaction. People can react strongly to ideas that are foreign to them.
He self-identifies as a Christian, so as far as I’m concerned, he’s a Christian.
What do you base that on? The man is a Christian…why wouldn’t he? Because he’s supposedly left wing or a liberal?? :dubious:
I’m an atheist and no friend to the GOP, but if you think there is a political organization in the country that doesn’t “promote religion and pander to the religious to win elections” you’ve got blinders on. Democrats especially are no better in this regard.
EDIT: I should add that this American obsession with religion vastly predates all of our political parties. Causation goes the other way. Political parties pander to the religious because they wouldn’t exist otherwise.
Is this the topic of this thread now?
Partially that, partially because higher education corresponds with a tendency to be less religious.
I’m positive that there are several politiciants who are atheists or non-religious. It’s simply impossible for them to have a career without espousing a religious belief.
I wasn’t and I apologize if you felt so. I never try to push my atheism, or to consider believers to be idiots or inferior in any way. I was intrigued and puzzled by the sociological reason for the extreme breath and depth of religion in the US as against other Western democracies, that have the same formal freedoms. I am aware of the constitutional situation, please don’t conflate the two.
Ok, so is this the topic you wish to discuss? Why the people of the United States are more religious than those of its peer nations?
It’s hard to figure out where you are coming from or what, exactly, you want to discuss here. The reason the US is different than other countries is historical, as touched on up thread by another poster. Historically, especially early on, the US was founded and made up by people in Europe fleeing religious persecution and wanting a safe haven to worship the way they wanted too without either official or unofficial censure, pogroms or bonfires. Why is Europe more secular today than the US? Well, IMHO it has to do with the religious extremes they went to in slaughtering each other for centuries over religion. You say you are a Jew so you, more than any other should grasp this…many Jews came to the US to avoid periodically being slaughtered or shaken down by the local populace or by the governments in Europe. Many Christian sects are the same. Some of that STILL hasn’t changed, to be honest, and there is a lot more religious tension in Europe than in the US, especially from the minority sects and religion. By and large I think the average European just got tired of the slaughter and fighting, so they have moved to a more secular outlook. We don’t have the same problems, so there is no real need for the average American to move to a more secular stance.
Well, that would be us, wouldn’t it? So long as the vice is ignorance.
We’d be the neighborhood watch of vice and virtue: no official powers, just a volunteer spirit and a desire to do good.
Why?
Of course I do. He’s written about his religious beliefs since before he was running for President, and I don’t have any particular reason to doubt what he’s said about himself.
Are you under the impression that the USA was “built to be free of institutionalized religion”? Because if so, you are mistaken.