For example, many blend christianity with Eastern or new age philosophies such as reincarnation, astrology and the belief in spiritual energy in physical objects. Sizeable minorities in all major U.S. religious groups say they have experienced supernatural phenomena, such as being in touch with the dead or with ghosts.

A third of Americans attend different religious services. Personally I find this amazing. When I studied different religions, I lost my faith in all of them pretty quickly because they sort of canceled each other out. Instead 35% of Americans seem to handle the conflicting faiths and stories just fine.

24% of Americans and 22% of christians, specifically, believe in astrology and 15% have consulted a fortuneteller or psychic. Damn, I’m in the wrong business.

Nearly half (49%) of the public says they’ve had a religious or mystical experience, defined as a “moment of sudden religious insight or awakening.”

This is interesting but not surprising. About 1/4 of adults express belief in tenets of certain Eastern religions: 24% believe in reincarnation, 23% believe in yoga as a spiritual practice. 26% believe in spiritual energy located in physical things such as mountains, trees or crystals and 25% believe in astrology. About 16% believe in the ‘evil eye’ or that certain people can curse or cast spells that cause bad things to happen to someone.

“Compared with other religious traditions, white evangelical Protestants consistently express lower levels of acceptance of both Eastern beliefs (reincarnation, yoga) and New Age beliefs (spiritual energy in physical things and astrology). For example, roughly one-in-ten white evangelicals believes in reincarnation, compared with 24% among mainline Protestants, 25% among both white Catholics and those unaffiliated with any religion, and 29% among black Protestants. Similarly, 13% of white evangelicals believe in astrology, compared with roughly one-quarter or more among other religious traditions. There are few differences among religious traditions in belief in the “evil eye,” though black Protestants stand out for high levels of belief on this question (32%).”

“Among Protestants, high levels of religious commitment are associated with lower levels of acceptance of Eastern or New Age beliefs. Among both evangelical and mainline Protestants, those who attend church weekly express much lower levels of belief in reincarnation, yoga, the existence of spiritual energy in physical things and astrology compared with those who attend religious services less often. Among Catholics, by contrast, frequency of church attendance is linked much less closely with these kinds of beliefs, although those who attend less often do express higher levels of belief in astrology compared with weekly attenders.”

“Hispanics are more likely than whites to believe in yoga, spiritual energy in physical objects, astrology and the evil eye, and blacks are more likely than whites to believe in reincarnation and the evil eye. Older people (those over age 65) consistently express lower levels of acceptance of these kinds of beliefs compared with younger people. These beliefs are more common among Democrats and independents than Republicans and are more widely held by liberals and moderates than conservatives. The difference between liberals and conservatives is especially pronounced on the question of belief in yoga as a spiritual practice; nearly four-in-ten liberals express this belief (39%), compared with 15% of conservatives.”

29% of Americans say they’ve felt in touch with someone who has died. 18% have been in the presence of a ghost and 15% have consulted a psychic or fortuneteller.

“Evangelical Protestants are the group least likely to say they have felt in touch with a dead person (20%). Members of other religious traditions are much more familiar with this type of phenomenon, with 37% of black Protestants, 35% of white Catholics, 31% of the unaffiliated and 29% of white mainline Protestants saying they have felt in touch with someone who has died. Differences between evangelicals and other religious traditions are smaller on the questions of ghostly experiences and consultations with fortunetellers.”

Women report being in touch with a dead person more than men. Women are also more than twice as likely to have consulted a psychic or fortuneteller. (20% vs 10%) Interestingly, a college education doesn’t stop people from consulting a psychic. (13% for the less educated, 17% for those with a college education). Conservatives and Republicans report fewer of these experiences than Liberals or Democrats though.

“In total, upwards of six-in-ten adults (65%) express belief in or report having experience with at least one of these diverse supernatural phenomena (belief in reincarnation, belief in spiritual energy located in physical things, belief in yoga as spiritual practice, belief in the “evil eye,” belief in astrology, having been in touch with the dead, consulting a psychic, or experiencing a ghostly encounter). This includes roughly one-quarter of the population (23%) who report having only one of these beliefs or experiences. More than four-in-ten people (43%) answer two or more of these items affirmatively, including 25% who answer two or three of these items affirmatively and nearly one-in-five (18%) who answer yes to four or more. Roughly one-third of the public (35%) answers no to all eight items.”

“With the exception of white evangelicals, majorities of all major religious traditions report holding at least one of these beliefs or having experienced one of these phenomena. In fact, roughly half of black Protestants (50%), the religiously unaffiliated (48%) and Catholics (47%) answer yes to two or more of these items, as do 43% of white mainline Protestants. A slim majority of white evangelicals (53%) answer no to all eight questions, while 47% indicate belief or familiarity with at least one of these items. Among white evangelicals and white mainline Protestants, higher levels of religious commitment (as measured by frequency of church attendance) are associated with lower levels of belief in these phenomena and familiarity with these experiences.”

“Among the unaffiliated, three-in-ten have had a religious or mystical experience. This is lower than nearly any other religious segment of the population but is still a higher proportion than among the general public in 1962 (22%). These kinds of experiences are particularly common among the “religious unaffiliated” (i.e., those who describe their religion as “nothing in particular” and say that religion is at least somewhat important in their lives), among whom 51% have had a religious or mystical experience. Among self-described atheists, agnostics and the “secular unaffiliated” (i.e., those who describe their religion as “nothing in particular” and say that religion is not important in their lives), roughly one-in-five (18%) say they have had this kind of experience.”

“Mystical or religious experiences are most common among people who regularly attend religious services. More than six-in-ten of those who attend weekly say they have had this kind of experience (61%), compared with half of those who attend monthly or yearly (48%) and just one-third of those who seldom or never attend religious services (33%).”

“Blacks are much more likely than whites or Hispanics (69%, 47% and 44%, respectively) to report religious or mystical experiences. More than half (55%) of baby boomers (age 50-64) identify with such experiences, compared with fewer young adults and seniors (43% each).”

“There is little difference along party lines on this question. Roughly half of Republicans, Democrats and independents say they have had a religious or mystical experience. More than half of conservatives (55%) claim to have had such experiences, similar to the number of liberals who have had these kinds of experiences (50%) and much higher than among moderates (43%).”

Now, as with all surveys, this was just a small, diverse sampling of the public. 4,013 adults to be exact. So keep that in mind.

I guess what I find disturbing is how many diverse and conflicting beliefs these people walk around with. That’s called cognitive dissonance (anxiety that results from simultaneously holding contradictory or otherwise incompatible attitudes, beliefs or the like).  Only I guess it’s not when it doesn’t register in the conscience.

Are the masses of people who populate America this unconscious? This unaware of what they believe? How terrifying is that?

The sad thing is, this isn’t shocking. I mean, just look at what is on offer for TV these days. Ghost Hunter, anyone?

Mindless drivel spoonfed to self-absorbed, willfully ignorant narcissists.

Well, here’s a lolcat to cheer you up!

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Mr. Deity and Da Man

Go to MrDeity.com to see all of the episodes from the beginning. You can subscribe to them through iTunes as well.

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The other day a new person commented on HDC. They have recently deconverted (yay!) and shared an uncomfortable story from work:

I recently had an experience today at work which made me so angry, but valuing keeping my job, I held my tongue.

Two hasidic Jews walked into the store I worked at and they were dressed in the typical hasidic style and were carrying around a pillow with Hebrew words on it. One of them approached me and asked me if any of the employees at my store were Jewish. I inferred this to mean that they did not want to do business with a non-Jew. (Today also happens to be their Sabbath so maybe that had something to do with it). I found it inappropriate to ask for many reasons. Firstly I felt insulted that my non-Jewishness somehow taints me from a normal business interaction. 2nd it’s not my business to know my co-worker’s spirtiual beliefs if any. Naturally I wanted to tell them to shove it, but since I’m not looking to be fired, I simply replied with “I’m sorry but I don’t know specifically what my co-worker’s beliefs are”. They looked disappointed and walked away.

Has anyone ever had an uncomfortable experience in the work place regarding either co-workers or customers/clients who frustrated you with either arrogance of their religion or pushing their ideas on you?

It’s a great question they ask. So I’ll ask you:

• Have you had any experiences at work that were frustrating or uncomfortable regarding religion?
• Are you “out of the religious closet” at work?
• Any proselytizing at work?
• Who have you had problems with, if at all? Co-workers? Customers? Bosses?
• Have you said anything in return? If so did you get in trouble for being non-religious?
• On the other hand, have you had any good nonreligious experiences at work? Are you able to be out of the closet?

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ANYHOO… where was I? Oh, yeah. Facebook and family. What’s the deal with everyone being so god this, jesus that lately? And they’re so in-my-face about it. I am pretty sure they all know I’m an atheist. Where’s the respect? Why can’t they tone it down? It’s incredibly – dare I say it – offensive to me to have to be bombarded with this sheeple thinking every day. My friends are all atheists (how interesting, don’t you think? LOL), but the family… they’re unbearable. In the last week, every conversation with them has involved their invocation of their holy lord and savior, all to my irritation.

Now, I know you will probably disagree with me, but I haven’t said a word to any of them. I’ve politely ignored the pleas that I pray for them or the requests for a miracle to save them from their bad situations (which they got themselves into … sans god). Being on Facebook really has it in my face even more. They want to chat with me all day and it seems that the invocations to god come fast and furious. It’s maddening. Or the stuff they leave on their pages – it’s like swimming in a pool of religious hallmark cards, and all the papercuts that would cause.

I know that this is my fault. I’ve kept my mouth shut all these years and now they just walk all over me. One of them actually gets really frustrated and snippy with me when I say happy holidays instead of merry christmas. She goes on and on about putting the christ back in christmas all through december. Unbearable. Oh, I should mention, 98% of these family members are in-laws. Yeah, that’s probably important, isn’t it?

So, I feel like I’ve reached a crossroads. Granted, it’s my fault for indulging them for so long. But how do I restore my sanity now? Do I say, ‘HEY, you are all idiots! There’s no invisible sky daddy!” Ok, that’s a bit harsh. Um, do I post pro-atheist stuff all over my facebook page? Hmm, that’s so passive aggressive, and easy for them to ignore, which would leave me where I am now.

I want to be nice and respectful. But no one is respecting me. I’m so sick of their god being thrown in my face all the time. I have a feeling that most of them will be offended by any little thing I do or say, then will pointedly ignore that it was said, and just shout jesus-isms from the rooftops even louder.

So I’m asking for your help. Like I said, I am pretty sure most of them already know I’m an atheist. I give them respect but get none in return. How do I get some sanity back? Is it even possible? Or do I have to just become a hermit in a shack in the woods, and get myself a nice old typewriter? I’m so frustrated!

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Of course, we all hope the kid is ok. But sobriety aside, this is too funny. I guess god wasn’t paying attention? Or maybe Zeus wanted to up the ante in the card game they were all playing in heaven? I wonder if the poor kid said ‘Oh god’ as he saw the church looming in his vision? At any rate, this is proof once again that physics is both amazing and awesome. I’d say it might also reinforce the fact that there’s no god, but you can’t prove a negative, as we all know.

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Here are 5 christian movements that are crazy and evil. As if any christian-based movement isn’t evil, I know! LOL… anyway, I just wanted to bring these issues to your attention, if you didn’t already know about them.

1. The Patriarchy Movement: the baptists want to undo feminism and get women back into the kitchen, barefoot and pregnant and subservient to their husbands. 3,000 women have signed the manifesto which was unveiled October 11, 2008. Apparently a lot of our societal ills are because women are so uppity these days. So hey, let’s just go back to the Iron Age where men can marry as many women as they like, drag them around, beat them, and keep them pregnant. That sounds healthy. Obviously women aren’t smart enough to do anything but have babies, cook and clean. Right? WRONG. STFU, already. The 3,000 women who signed that document are so brainwashed, they don’t even have brain cells left to think with.
2. creationism: those crazy christians are like pit bulls with this issue. They lost in Texas recently (big sigh of relief) but won in Louisiana. How crazy do you have to be to believe in a talking snake and a tree of knowledge and Adam and Eve, etc? Crazy like a fox, because they’re dictating how kids will be taught in school. creationism… doesn’t it say there’s some type of creator? Isn’t that a violation of the Separation of Church and State in the Bill of Rights, since they are pushing this indoctrination into public schools? Why is this even an issue?
3. Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation: Prop 8, and now this. A private school in California is allowed to discrimate against 2 girls for having  “a bond of intimacy” that was “characteristic of a lesbian relationship.” They didn’t DO anything. They were just close. WTF? And this is also dangerous ground because a school or organization can use their religious beliefs as justification for discrimination.
4. The Indoctrination of Innocent Children: Ok, so this is as old as the very idea of religion, but it’s evil and it needs attention. Most children will automatically follow in the religious footsteps of their parents, especially the kids that are home-schooled (which seems to be used quite a bit by christians to make sure the teaching of their kids are god-centered). It’s wrong, plain and simple, to raise a child to believe in fairy tales. What is different from raising your child to believe in Santa (who was a real man – St. Nicholas of Myra who actually attended the first ecumenical council in 325 CE in Niceaea.)
5. Ok, I’m tired, and I must admit, I’ve gone off the deep end while writing this list. So here you go, something that is so awful it should make you laugh:  I know, I know, it totally goes in with number 4′s indoctrination of children. This kind of stuff will totally screw up your kiddies! The website is here, in case you need some overpriced crazy christian clothes.  They offer salvation too. How convenient. wow.. an online shortcut to god.

What religious issues or movements do you think should be on this list? There were so many to choose from, I sort of got overwhelmed. But we can do a follow-up list with your suggestions. Feel free to provide links or search terms in your comments. Let’s all stay informed! Oh, for the follow-up, we’ll include other stupid religions. No sense discriminating against the rest of the kooks.

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I think I have a candidate for the antichrist position. I used to think it was oprah and dr. phil together, tearing America down through bullshit and lies, making America weak and soft and stupid. But now I’ve been introduced to the insidious pastor rick warren. This fat, uncharismatic car salesman (soul salesman?) thinks he’s the Brain and we’re all Pinky. “What are we going to do tonight, Brain?” “Same thing we do every night, Pinky, try to take over the world.”

You think I exaggerate? I wish! The Huffington Post had a long and disturbing post about parasite warren the other day. Here is a video so you can see and hear this slimeball yourself. Notice when he’s speaking to the crowd of 30,000 people how eerily silent they are. How obedient and passive they are.

Seriously, is this dude appealing at all? Why do so many people respect and listen to him? WHY!? Did you read the Purpose Driven Life? Or the Purpose Driven Church? Have you tuned in to listen to this creep? Does he move you to do good works in the name of Jesus? Have you drunk the koolaid?

From the video, here is a transcript that is from the Huffington Post article:

Partial transcript of Rick Warren speech

[ ~minute 33:00 ]

“God is going to use you to change the world.

“We have a kingdom that nothing can destroy… it’s indestructible, it’s unshakable, going to last forever, it’s going to cover the planet.

So the kingdom is multinational, it’s powerful, it’s eternal and, number four (this is the best news), it’s inevitable because God is in control of history. History is his story.

And the Bible says this in Matthew 24 : ‘The Good news about God’s kingdom will be preached into all the world, in every nation, and then the end’s going to come. ‘

And you can go argue about prophecy all you want but Jesus Christ is not going to conclude history until everybody he’s wanted to hear the world has had a chance to hear the word. But one day God’s going to bring everything to a culmination.

For the past 18 months we have been on a stealth, secret mission – project – around the world. We’ve been sending members out, actually over 4500 members somewhere overseas, over the period of time, the last few years, going out to do what we’re gonna call the P.E.A.C.E. Plan.

You’ve been hearing little snippets about it, today we’re going to unveil it publicly. But the first thing before I even talk about it in a minute is you need to understand that at the heart of the P.E.A.C.E. Plan is this theme – The Kingdom of God.

Saddleback and our Purpose Driven Network has now trained over 400,000 pastors in over 162 countries.”

[ Minute ~43:00 ]

“What is the vision for the next 25 years ? I’ll tell you what it is.

It is the global expansion of the kingdom of God.

It is the total mobilization of his church.

And the third part is the goal of a radical devotion of every believer.

Now, I choose that word ‘radical’ intentionally, because only radicals change the world.

Everything great done in this world is done by passionate people.

Moderate people get moderately nothing done. And moderation will never slay the global giants. . .”

[ minute 48:45 ]

“In 1939, in a stadium much like this, in Munich Germany, they packed it out with young men and women in brown shirts, for a fanatical man standing behind a podium named Adolf Hitler, the personification of evil.

And in that stadium, those in brown shirts formed with their bodies a sign that said, in the whole stadium, “Hitler, we are yours.”

And they nearly took the world.

Lenin once said, “give me 100 committed, totally committed men and I’ll change the world.” And, he nearly did.

A few years ago, they took the sayings of Chairman Mao, in China, put them in a little red book, and a group of young people committed them to memory and put it in their minds and they took that nation, the largest nation in the world by storm because they committed to memory the sayings of the Chairman Mao.

When I hear those kinds of stories, I think ‘what would happen if American Christians, if world Christians, if just the Christians in this stadium, followers of Christ, would say ‘Jesus, we are yours’ ?

What kind of spiritual awakening would we have ? ”

[ minute 51:50 ]

“Jesus said, ‘I want you to do this publicly.’ So what I want you to do is take the card, and in just a minute, and if you say ‘Rick, I am willing to serve God’s purposes in my generation.’

I want you to open up to the sign that says ‘Whatever it takes.’

Whatever it takes.

And I want you to just say, ‘This is my commitment, before God and in front of everybody else. I’m in.’ ”

And I would invite you to just stand quietly and hold up ‘Whatever it takes’. . .

I’m looking at a stadium full of people who are saying ‘whatever it takes’.

Whatever it takes, God. Time, talent, energy, money, effort, vision… God, whatever it takes.

Whatever it takes, that’s what I’m going to do.

And I believe that today we are making history. We’re making history that’s going to start a movement that will bring a new Reformation in the church of God and a new spiritual awakening in our world. And, our world needs it.

And today, as you say ‘whatever it takes,’ you’re saying publicly, “I’m in, God. I’m in…

…I’m in.’ “

Does that creep you out? A member of Huffpost sums it up rather succinctly:

JustAThought56 commented: I think it is an excellent metaphor and I understand it perfectly. He wanted to give an example of how strong and unshakable one’s faith should be in one of the world’s most influential spiritual leaders. So he picked the mindless adherence of masses of scared and demoralized people to the ranting and raving of a megalomaniac with homicidal tendencies that resulted in the horrific deaths of millions of people and exploded the world into mind-numbingly destructive global warfare. What’s not to understand?

Need more?

“Stop dreaming and start doing,” the Purpose Driven Life author told his Anaheim Stadium crowd. Warren described a global Christian movement to bring the message of Jesus Christ to every man, woman and child on Earth. “It’s going to cover the planet,” he proclaimed, “and then the end is going to come.”

Calling for “total mobilization of this church” and “radical devotion” to the cause, Pastor Warren sketched out his vision, which he declared was from God, of a “revolution”, launched through Warren’s “Purpose Driven” network of hundreds of thousands as pastors globally, to create a Christian world regime.

I’ve mentioned his associations with Uganda. See the Huffpost piece to read the full horror story.

Now here is the piece de resistance:

During his Anaheim speech, Warren revealed that he’d received a message from God to seek more influence, power and fame. God, Warren narrated, led him to Psalm 72, “Solomon’s prayer for more influence… in Psalm 72 [Solomon] says ‘God, I want you to make me more influential. God, I want you to give me more power. I want you to bless my life more. God, I want you to spread the fame of my name through other countries.’”

“It sounded pretty selfish,” mused Warren but, as he explained to the crowd, God had led him on a path towards solving the five biggest global problems.

Beyond ‘spiritual poverty’, egocentric leadership is the next most oppressive ‘global giant’, according to Rick Warren, and thus a higher priority than HIV/AIDS, poverty, and other material afflictions. “The world is full of little Saddams,” he observed, “they’re in every country, they’re in every church, they’re in every business, they’re in every homeowner’s association. They’re everywhere. You give a guy a little power and it goes to his head. “

Um, hello? Pot? This is Kettle! This slimeball has been on the cover of Time, and TED has given him a forum. Now our future hope, our future president Obama is giving him a forum to talk to all of America on an historic occassion. Why? This is how evil gets an insidious foothold. Sheeple blindly follow. Pay attention, my friends. This is nothing to take lightly.

Let’s hope I’m wrong and this guy is saddlebacking Ted Haggard in a public restroom next January.

4) To saddleback is to rail against gay sex in public while secretly indulging in the same in private. Ted Haggard? Total saddlebacker. Larry Craig? Saddlebacker. Rick Warren? Probably a saddlebacker. (Found here at Infidelicacy, thanks!)

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