Religious Survey

The agnostic category is challenging to define succinctly. It means different things to different people. For some it is the belief that it is impossible to resolve conclusively whether there is a diety or not. For others it is skepticism about a deity, colored by various degrees of wishing for belief to be possible or irrefutable. Still for others it is a belief in a nebulous spirituality that is not quite in the mold of a deity but in another mold. I don't want to make your endeavor more difficult but there are a lot of nuances there to deal with.

 

You do realize you have a very poor cross-section here on PF? Your data is going to be highly skewed.

 

So, I'm curious...how do those other communities compare to PFers?

 

Oh wow..many are ...atheists.

Is this what happens, when you're into science?
(I guess I'm the exception then, since I love chemistry and yet I still believe in some higher power )

 

I think this is a very good idea to include data from this aspect.

 

But I want to be a scientist but I still believe in "god" :rofl:

 

I serously would have never guessed that to be the case at all. I was suprised when I saw the vote count at the top too, I was like, WOW, I never thought that would be the case. Can I ask why do you think this is the way?

 

Where is scientology? I want that option please. (You can list it under cult)

 

http://www.physorg.com/news102700045.html

The wording in the report makes it a bit vague. While I do not really consider myself to be religious in the sense of having religious affiliations, I do have what many would call "spiritual beliefs". For the sake of your poll the word "religious" is defined, but the survey specifically asked about affiliations, so this may not be inclusive. In either case it seems that about half of academic elites have religious beliefs. This would seem to be in line with the physics department at my alma mater.

 

I would guess that a strict discipline in critical thinking skills, and pattern finding is going to sway people into atheism, more than the no proof of god argument.

 

I think most Engineering or Science Majors (at my university) do not have a religion ... (or they have created their own lol), and I always wondered why

I change my religion every month; from Buddhism -- > Zen -- > Engineering -- > ...

 

Man, you left out "Suspending Judgment" which is the one I will answer with most of the time, if not I will just avoid the topic... depending on who is asking.

 

I chose agnostic. There could be some sort of order that drives the laws of the universe, maybe even an awareness. If this is the case, to me it would qualify as a "god"— though I'm sure it would be nothing like what we have described with our mythologies, so in the sense of religion I am an Atheist.

 

The study that I posted suggests that this is not so.

 

When I was searching for a religion a few years back, I really liked the idea of Buddhism and Zen. But after some research, I figured I could follow their tenants without subscribing to the mumbo jumbo.

Jefferson did a similar thing with the Bible. He took out all the supernatural stuff and just left the philosophies it was teaching in. I could live with that, too.

 

Amen .

As I expored more in religion when I was young, I found I could feel quite...spiritual?...as I listened to a beautiful psalm, or a Christmas carol, or an inspiring prayer. But as for the details, I can't believe in miracles or supernatural things any more than I can believe in a guy bending spoons using only his mind.