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THE QUESTION
What Atheists Believe
According to a new Pew survey, 21% of American atheists believe in God or a universal spirit, 12% believe in heaven and 10% pray at least once a week. What do you make of this?
Posted by
Sally Quinn and Jon Meacham on July 1, 2008 7:58 AM
FROM THE PANEL
True Atheists are Anti-Belief
To me, the fact that so many people identify as atheists actually means that they deny specific names or expressions of God, or just have a different understanding of the man-God relationship. To truly be an atheist requires a good amount of intellectual rigor and clarity of mind.
Posted by Adin Steinsaltz, on July 8, 2008 10:06 AM
Room for Humility in All Believers
What this study should do is produce the (traditional Christian) virtue of modesty about being "right" intellectually. Having the right idea is good, but not enough.
Posted by John Mark Reynolds, on July 8, 2008 8:13 AM
Thank God For The Atheists
The more we believe in something, the more ready we need to be to question it and even to walk away from it. Abraham lived that lesson and so, I think, do those twenty-one percent of atheists who claim to believe in something.
Posted by Brad Hirschfield, on July 7, 2008 10:32 AM
Atheists, Pew, and Webster's
"Atheists" who believe in God, one suspects, prefer not to be identified with a particular religious group. So too, "agnostics" who are really non-churched Christians prefer not to be identified with a popular notion of Christianity.
Posted by Pamela K. Taylor, on July 7, 2008 9:57 AM
More A-Theists Than We Realize
It is a pity that theological knowledge so seldom makes it down to the people in the pews. It seems from this Pew Survey, however, that it might be making it in the ranks of the atheists.
Posted by John Shelby Spong, on July 7, 2008 7:57 AM
Pluralism is a Strength, not a Weakness
This Pew Forum study underscores the fact that America is the most religious pluralistic nation in the world. In fact, Interfaith Alliance is made up of people from over 75 different faith traditions, as well as many people who do not have a faith tradition.
Posted by Welton Gaddy, on July 7, 2008 5:24 AM
The Boundaries of Belief
Claiming to be an atheist who believes in God is like claiming to be a happily married bachelor. Rarely does one discover nonsense in such a pristine state. Still this hasn’t stopped many people from concluding that there is a schism in the atheist community.
Posted by Sam Harris, on July 4, 2008 10:16 AM
God or Not?
Let's face it: there are many Christians who are not really sure that God exists. If we read the psalms, we see this nagging doubt.
Posted by Susan K. Smith, on July 4, 2008 9:06 AM
There Are No Atheists
Yes, even atheists pray because the image of God is implanted in us. Independent studies have showed that we yearn to know God. It’s the way we’re wired. So to be an atheist takes a stubborn refusal to acknowledge that which deep down we all know to be true.
Posted by Charles "Chuck" Colson, on July 4, 2008 8:54 AM
Believing Outside the Box
Atheists who believe in a universal spirit are no more or less surprising, or troubling (depending on your perspective), than Christians who believe in the healing powers of yoga or Zuni who believe in Jesus.
Posted by Lisa Miller, on July 4, 2008 6:49 AM
Removing Labels
For most of my life, I considered myself an atheist. Today I would not call myself an atheist. I don't have a label. To me, labels and definitions are probably the least important thing about religion. The last thing that matters is what you call yourself. It's how you live your life.
Posted by Sally Quinn, on July 2, 2008 3:23 PM
Relationships (Even with God) are Hard
Heschel writes, "At times we must believe in Him in spite of Him." It's that way in all relationships--in marriage, with children, in the workplace. No relationship is perfect at all times.
Posted by Andy Bachman, on July 2, 2008 2:05 PM
Atheists Have the Will to Believe
For decades my custom has been to ask professed atheists, “What deity are you denying?” Almost always it’s a childhood god now outgrown: the person grew tall, but his/her god remained small.
Posted by Willis E. Elliott, on July 2, 2008 12:21 PM
Don't Know Much About Theology, Don't Know Much Philosophy...
Americans as a people have become supremely ignorant about and indifferent to the specific meanings of words, and they are equally confused about important historical distinctions. Why shouldn't some American atheists be as ignorant about the meaning of atheism as many religious Americans are about religion?
Posted by Susan Jacoby, on July 1, 2008 12:11 PM
Atheists and the Will to Believe
How will belief evolve next? Maybe these believing atheists are showing us the way, along with Einstein, beyond a personal God on to the shores of eternity.
Posted by Deepak Chopra, on July 1, 2008 11:05 AM
Which God Don't You Believe In?
When people call themselves atheists, they often mean not that they don't believe in any god at all as the term would indicate, but they don't believe in a particular version or description of God.
Posted by Brian D. McLaren, on July 1, 2008 10:56 AM
Fool and God Soon Parted
Anyone calling himself/herself an atheist and still claiming to believe in God or a "universal spirit" is closer to being an agnostic than an atheist.
Posted by Cal Thomas, on July 1, 2008 9:47 AM
Problem of Definition or Desire?
Maybe some atheists don't believe in God but would like to if they could find a way. The universality of religion and the quest for God seems to confirm that there is an unsatisfied desire for God is almost all of us.
Posted by Leith Anderson, on July 1, 2008 12:14 AM
Atheists Must Believe
I think the problem with most of us is that we are unable to define clearly what we mean by God and heaven or hell.
Posted by Arun Gandhi, on June 30, 2008 9:41 AM
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