6 Brumaire CCXII (October 27, 2003)
Silly Quotations
Today's silly quote comes to us courtesy of the LA Times, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, and the Barna Research Group.
Barna recently performed a survey of American beliefs related to death, heaven, and hell. The results weren't terribly surprising; roughly 3 quarters of those surveyed believed in heaven and hell, with nearly 2 thirds believing they are bound for heaven and less than one percent claiming to be residing in a warm handbasket.
That's not where the quote comes from, and I'm not going to give you my thoughts on that (although I'm sure they're fairly obvious). No, I'm interested in the section of the article that refers to the results from self-proclaimed atheists and agnostics. More specifically, this quote:
"[H]alf the atheists and agnostics surveyed believed that everyone had a soul, that heaven and hell existed and that there was life after death. One in eight atheists and agonistics believe that accepting Jesus Christ as savior probably makes life after death possible."
Wait a minute, accepting Jesus Christ as saviour makes life after death possible? What the hell kind of atheists are we talking about here? I'm thinking they missed the part of the definition that says "one who denies the existence of God." Wait a minute, that's the entire definition.
I'd say "Only in America, folks," but somehow I'm sure that that's not the case.
I think it shows a large amount of stupidity, but I suppose it's also possible some of them have interesting belief systems.
What interests me more is that so many people who clearly aren't atheist try to identify as atheist. I think it shows that atheism is becoming more socially acceptable.
It's like "vegetarians" who still eat chicken and fish, or who just don't eat beef. They're not vegetarian, but they still want to identify with what is considered a positive health choice. (And this might make me a hippocrite, because I call myself vegetarian but I still eat dairy and eggs).
I know a vegetarian who is a chain smoker.
Its possibly one of the most interesting personalities in the world.
I knew a guy once who calmly informed me that he was a vegetarian as we sat down to eat the pepperoni pizza he'd just picked up...
Posted by Nancy at 7 Brumaire CCXII 01:03 (2003/10/28)
Hey, I was eating pepperoni pizza last night.
Of course the pepperoni was soy-based and I'm not sure what the cheese was made out of...
Posted by g026r at 7 Brumaire CCXII 01:07 (2003/10/28)
This was from a pizza place, so I sincerely doubt there was soy involved at all.
Posted by Nancy at 7 Brumaire CCXII 01:15 (2003/10/28)
I figured you were talking about a pizza place.
Back in high school I knew a girl who called herself a vegetarian yet ate at McDonald's. Her justification was that it "wasn't real meat anyways."
Posted by g026r at 7 Brumaire CCXII 12:13 (2003/10/28)
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