May 10, 2018

Younger Americans far less likely to belief in God

The Hill - A large majority of Americans says it believes in God or a higher power, but those in the millennial generation are far less likely to say they believe in God as described in the Bible than are older respondents.

Just 43 percent of those between the ages of 18 and 29 say they believe in God as described in the Bible, according to a new survey from the Pew Research Center. Almost an equal share, 39 percent, say they believe in some other higher power or spiritual force.

By contrast, about two-thirds of those over the age of 50 say they believe in the biblical God, while a little more than a quarter say they believe in a spiritual force other than God.

Only about 1 in 20 older Americans does not believe in a God or higher power, while 16 percent of the youngest cohort say they do not believe.

2 comments:

Tom Puckett said...

Its important to take into account sampling size when making such sweep generalities. I have a book in the library, something about how to lie with statistics...

Who is conducting the survey and who they give it to (take it from) is also important. Kids in Harlem scored genius scores in intelligence tests when the questions were tailored to them and their backgrounds, but not so much when affulent white neighborhood questions were asked.

I wonder how the kids in this survey would respond to the Ghostbusters (1984) application pop-quiz:

Janine Melnitz: Do you believe in UFOs, astral projections, mental telepathy, ESP, clairvoyance, spirit photography, telekinetic movement, full trance mediums, the Loch Ness monster and the theory of Atlantis?

Winston Zeddemore: Ah, if there's a steady paycheck in it, I'll believe anything you say.

Cheers, Tom

Anonymous said...

Bravo! Well said you!

That IQ tests are class- and culture-bound is appreciated by far too few people, including professionals who should certainly know better.