Into the Wardrobe

Great post, Karen!

Actually, I'm not surprised by the data. For example, Catholics are over 70% and mainline Protestants even higher--no surprise considering how large a role both groups have played in initiating interfaith dialogue.

I'm also not surprised to see that Jews are at 82% and 89%. Deed thoroughly outweighs creed in Judaism

And, of course, Hinduism and Buddhism are both known for their religious pluralism, so no surprise on their high percentages.

But I wonder how one of these questions played out. So many Jews don't believe in an afterlife--Reconstructionist Jews, for example, have even removed references to an afterlife from their liturgy--so what do you do with the first question? And does that question even make sense in the context of most of Buddhism? Or Hinduism, for that matter, where the goal is not eternal life, per se, but reunification with the divine?

An Orthodox Jew would have no problem answering that first question. She would say yes and quote the Talmud: "The righteous of all nations have a place in the world to come." But what do you say when you're not so sure there is a world to come?

I suppose you just consider the spirit of the question and say yes--but, really, this is a very Christian-centric poll!

Here are some other results from the survey:

92% of Americans believe in God
This includes 60% who believe in a personal God and 25% who believe in God as an impersonal force
74% believe in heaven and 59% believe in hell
58% of Americans pray daily

Most Americans believe their scriptures or sacred texts come directly from God
This includes 89% of Evangelicals, 86% of Muslims, 62% of Catholics, 37% of Jews, 37% of Hindus and 18% of Buddhists

I do wonder how some of the questions were phrased. 79% of Catholics believing that other religions can lead a person to heaven seems a bit high. I wonder if they include other Christian churches as "other religions". That would make that 79% stat (as well as the 57% of Evangelicals) look more realistic to me.

- Dan -

Hmmm, interesting. I only mentioned Greek because I ignorantly assumed they would be more numerous and easy to find in America.
Father Sergius Clark, a chaplain at our local hospital, gave me a free American Bible Society Bible which had the Apocrypha so I could read it, so I really should return the favor by visiting his Orthodox Church. ST-JUSTIN-MARTYR.ORG