The recent Pew Forum study on religion, widely reported in the media, shows that the vast majority of Americans remains religious: 92 percent believe in God. This percentage has remained relatively stable for more than half a century.
Atheists remain a tiny proportion of the population with some interesting anomalies: 21 percent of self-identified atheists say they believe in God, with nearly 10 percent of them "absolutely sure" of it. What this means is that 21 percent of self-described atheists are highly confused and 10 percent are certified nut-cases.
What got the most attention, however, was Pew's discovery that a majority of religious Americans believe that other religions make valid claims about God and can lead to heaven. Around 80 percent of Catholics, Protestants and Jews, as well as 55 percent of Muslims, reject the idea that their religion is the only way.
These findings, however, hardly suggest that pluralism has overtaken truth as the defining feature of American religion. First of all, Christianity is the only religion to hold another religion to be wholly true. That religion is Judaism. Second, Catholics and Protestants have become increasingly convinced that it is fidelity to creedal Christianity--and not the denominational differences of past centuries--that is decisive for salvation. Finally many people don't realize that just as Christianity sees itself as succeeding and incorporating Judaism, so Islam sees itself as coming after and incorporating both Judaism and Christianity. Consequently I'm not surprised that most Muslims view Jews and Christians as fellow monotheists rather than hell-bound infidels.
Soon my Orange County debate with atheist Christopher Hitchens and Jewish radio host Dennis Prager will be up on the web and I'll link to it. The debate, amusingly billed as a Christian-Atheist-Jewish showdown, had some fiery and fascinating exchanges. At one point Hitchens sought to alienate me from the Jews in the audience by asking me if good and decent Jews can go to heaven. I said I believe they can. This is no denial of the central Christian proposition that Christ is the way to salvation. The Bible clearly specifies that there is salvation through Christ for his followers.
But Scripture and Christian teaching leave open the question of what happens to virtuous non-Christians who either lived before Christ or who have not had a chance to accept him. My hope and belief is that God's mercy can extend to them also, as it did to Moses and Abraham and the God-fearing Jews of the Old Testament. If so, they too would be saved through Christ's sacrifice on the cross, even if they did not consciously and explicitly embrace that sacrifice. As for atheists who reject God and affirm with Hitchens that they want nothing to do with heaven, we can be reasonably confident that God will respect their free will and reluctantly grant their wish.
There are two kinds of pluralism: the kind that holds that truth does not matter, and the kind that holds that truth matters greatly but as flawed human beings our reason and experience gives us only limited access to the truth. The first kind of pluralism is deadly for religion, and is typically embraced by flaccid people who are too lazy to think or who have been seduced by postmodernist flimflam. The second kind of pluralism is the shared ground of debate between intelligent believers and unbelievers. The stakes could not be higher.
Reader Comments ( Page 3 of 69)
31. D'Stupid Sez: As for atheists who reject God and affirm with Hitchens that they want nothing to do with heaven, we can be reasonably confident that God will respect their free will and reluctantly grant their wish.
A) We don't reject god any more than we reject Zeus, Athena or Donald Duck. We just know that they are fictional.
B) It's not that we don't want anything to do with Heaven. We just recognize it as the same place as Shangri-La, Utopia and Sesame Street. Again, fictional.
C) As far as god granting wishes. When did god become the Genie in Alladin's Lamp? Is that all he really is to you snake oil purchasers? Someone to wish upon when you want something? How facile.
THEN D'Stupid Sez: typically embraced by flaccid people who are too lazy to think or who have been seduced by postmodernist flimflam.
Wow - sounds like organized religion to me. Y'Know, like "Intellegent Design." Or "The Bible Says It, I Believe it, That Settles It" bumber sticker God Nazis. Or the puds who voted for a Cocaine Using Drunk with AWOL Soldier issues with a fraudulant Texas accent because he said he was "Born Again" when all signs said "I'm a Liar."
Yes, muscular brains at work there, y'all.
T.Brough at 1:44PM on Jun 25th 2008
32. Now SOMBER is the one I would like to thank for putting a lot of my thoughts into a consise article.
Thank you Somber, well done.
emanon at 1:09PM on Jun 25th 2008
33. Ironically, the christ-ians tend to disregard the words of christ whenever it's convenient.
That's why I call them hypochrists.
Godless Heathen Brian at 1:09PM on Jun 25th 2008
34. Ironically, the christ-ians tend to disregard the words of christ whenever it's convenient.
That's why I call them hypochrists.
Godless Heathen Brian at 1:10PM on Jun 25th 2008
35. I like taoism better. They make no claims of spiritual authority to anyone, make no effort to convert anyone, and you dont live your life in order to secure some seat at the table of the afterlife.
Christianity: A religion based on living your entire life for your death.
CaptainCack at 1:12PM on Jun 25th 2008
36. double dope is so full of crap it's beyond funny.
he claims he is virtuous, and he is full of hope and belief that virtuous non-christians will be accepted in heaven. he is actually full of crap, and full of himself. jesus attempted to enter in, but dd was so full of himself that jesu went elsewhere.
I wonder if he thinks his hero bush is a virtuous man who is deserving of heaven. I wonder if he thinks cheney is virtuous and deserving of heaven. I wonder if he thinks the ill-tempered, mysoginistic, hard-drinkin, hard-livin mccain is virtuous and going to heaven. what a joke!
America's Most Gangsta at 1:21PM on Jun 25th 2008
37. When Dinesh was a young, starving boy in India, he converted to christianity soley because that was the only way the Christian Childrens Foundation would offer him any bread.
mandingo at 1:18PM on Jun 25th 2008
38. When Curt Cobain was a kid growing up in his small Washington town, he spray-painted "Jesus is Gay" on a railroad trestle. That made his little town flip out. Amazing what religion does to people.
America's Most Gangsta at 1:21PM on Jun 25th 2008
39. 35. When Dinesh was a young, starving boy in India, he converted to christianity soley because that was the only way the Christian Childrens Foundation would offer him any bread.
mandingo at 1:18PM on Jun 25th 2008
...and he is still shitting on the untouchables.
America's Most Gangsta at 1:23PM on Jun 25th 2008
40. AOLWTF?
Mokele Mbembe at 1:49PM on Jun 25th 2008
41. If you actually look at the statistics only 60% believe in a personal god. Also in the whole report they never defined what an "impersonal force" is. People could have responded yes while thinking of pantheism. If you count people who believe similar things to Spinoza as "religious" or believers in god, your survey is definitely flawed. Grouping together universal spirit and God is disingenuous; they are two radically different concepts that show a widely different outlook on religion in general.
The interesting finding for me is that 50% of Muslims in the US do not believe that the Koran is the literal word of God, when an integral belief of Islam is that the Koran was dictated word by word to Mohammed without any changes.
Ross at 1:50PM on Jun 25th 2008
42. DD the male who lives on fantasy island. This man believes dead people come back to life and hang out somewhere in outer space and will return with angels to save the planet. Sounds like a bad 1950's sci fi movie. Just who is the nut job DD? Your a cult member and that's all you are.
Larry at 1:52PM on Jun 25th 2008
43. What are you talking about Dinesh? Islam is not a continuance of Christianity (Mormonism is, though). The Koran, if you read it, states, quite clearly, that the Bible is corrupted and if you believe if you are a Christian or Jew, you will burn in Hell just like the atheists. It does not matter how pious or God-fearing you were. If you aren't Muslim, you go to Hell.
MO at 2:17PM on Jun 25th 2008
44. ex-christian: So, by his Martin Scorsese-Mafia bullshit, [the Pope's] tracing his religious roots back to the old country give him the authority to call Jesus a liar.
PV: You aren't understanding anything of which you are attempting to speak.
preteristvision at 2:06PM on Jun 25th 2008
45. As for atheists who reject God and affirm with Hitchens that they want nothing to do with heaven, we can be reasonably confident that God will respect their free will and reluctantly grant their wish.
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As for delusional christians who reject logic and affirm with D'Souza that they want nothing to do with eventual world peace and us all getting along with each other as a species so that we can finally make real progress, we liberals can be reasonably confident that they will enthusiastically grant their OWN wishes. Unfortunately for the rest of us.
Godless Heathen Brian at 2:07PM on Jun 25th 2008