114
submitted 4 months ago by einat2346 to c/atheism@lemmy.world
top 21 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] FMT99@lemmy.world 70 points 4 months ago

To be fair, most Christians reject most Biblical teachings, they just kind of pretend they don't.

[-] BreadstickNinja@lemmy.world 40 points 4 months ago

26% of children between the ages of 8 and 12 “consistently consult the Bible when trying to determine right from wrong”

26% of children are obviously lying. No 8 year old is breaking out the Bible every time they need to make a decision. Otherwise they'd know about the commandment that they shouldn't lie.

[-] Nollij@sopuli.xyz 5 points 4 months ago

I love your circular reasoning here. It's rare to see someone "begging the question" in the original sense.

[-] BreadstickNinja@lemmy.world 1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

I'm glad most people seemed to get the joke.

[-] Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 3 points 4 months ago

The joke does highlight a glaring weakness with studies like this: kids questioned about something their adults might be telling them is very important can't be trusted to answer honestly instead of giving the answer they think is "right".

So studies like this likely overestimate the importance of religion to its study population.

[-] bazus1@lemmy.world 39 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

So you don't have to go to the site, here are the statements from the survey and percentages that marked "agree"

Jesus Christ is the only way to experience eternal salvation, based on confessing your sins and relying only upon His forgiveness of your sins
36% of preteens
34% of parents
54% of pastors

the Bible is the true word of God that should be a guide to knowing right from wrong, and living a good life.
25% of preteens
44% of parents
62% of pastors

there are absolute truths — things that are right and things that are wrong, that do not depend on feelings, preferences, or circumstances — those truths are unchanging and knowable
21% of preteens
28% of parents
36% of pastors

the main reason to live is to know, love and serve God, with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength
27% of preteens
33% of parents
56% of pastors

real success in life is consistently obeying God
17% of preteens
19% of parents
42% of pastors

I consistently consult the Bible when trying to determine right from wrong
26% of preteens

I believe turning to the Bible is the best way to distinguish right from wrong
21% of preteens

the means to eternal salvation is by confessing your sins and asking Jesus Christ to save them you the consequences of their sin.”
36% of preteens
35% of parents

The fact that they can barely get a majority of their own pastors to agree to those statements should be the real lesson here. They're just going through the motions and trying to keep from working at McDonalds.

[-] Nollij@sopuli.xyz 13 points 4 months ago

26% of the kids surveyed recognized the question and knew the expected response

[-] Ashyr@sh.itjust.works 10 points 4 months ago

Former pastor here, I think your interpretation of the data is probably inaccurate.

The issue isn't pastors struggling to adhere to their own beliefs, the problem is these aren't very good questions from a theological perspective. They're very narrow and don't reflect the complexities of real life.

[-] bazus1@lemmy.world 3 points 4 months ago

I suppose the problem is that someone thought those survey questions would provide the information they were looking for. If you're looking to illustrate lack of buy-in, you do like you said, ask the most narrow and fundamentalist questions you can. This is especially true if you're asking ten- to twelve-year-olds these "basic principal" questions. This would also help to illustrate a divergence of the youth group from the parent group, who are more capable of parsing and answering the questions.

I think it'd be safe to say that, if you asked those same questions of similar age populations even forty years ago, you'd see a similar divergence between adult and preteen answers.

[-] radix@lemm.ee 7 points 4 months ago

Wait, what are they believing if they don't believe Jesus Christ is the only way to eternal salvation?? That's the whole point of the religion, or at the very least the whole point of the New Testament.

[-] anarchrist@lemmy.dbzer0.com 14 points 4 months ago

If you look at the specific questions, it's all the crazy fundy shit like

Jesus Christ is the only way to experience eternal salvation, based on confessing your sins and relying only upon His forgiveness of your sins

the Bible is the true word of God that should be a guide to knowing right from wrong, and living a good life

the main reason to live is to know, love and serve God, with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength

[-] HikingVet@lemmy.ca 11 points 4 months ago

Only several? Those are rookie numbers...

[-] Fedizen@lemmy.world 10 points 4 months ago

I, for one, think the bible has a number of gaping errrors making it unsuitable for moral guidance

[-] LocoOhNo@lemmus.org 8 points 4 months ago

The Bible says that grasshoppers have 4 legs, rabbits chew the cud, and that bats are birds, as well.

You'd think the "infallible word" of "god" would know that none of those things are true.

[-] Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 3 points 4 months ago

It also yadda-yaddas over how humanity went from a population you can count on one hand to multitudes not once, but on two seperate occasions.

[-] Ekybio@lemmy.world 6 points 4 months ago
[-] LocoOhNo@lemmus.org 4 points 4 months ago

I just want to point out that of the 400 kids they asked, only 141 of them agreed with the "Jesus as the only way to 'salvation" question. The other 259 of them were right.

[-] tquid@sh.itjust.works 3 points 4 months ago

Oh no!

Anyway

[-] ivanafterall@kbin.social 2 points 4 months ago

I hate the phrasing of the title. It sounds like some George Barna bullshit.

[-] Uranium3006@kbin.social 1 points 4 months ago

That's who did the survey

[-] werefreeatlast@lemmy.world 0 points 4 months ago

One of these links leads to a cardinal sin:

Pornhub.com

Google search big tits gangbang

The other too.

this post was submitted on 14 Feb 2024
114 points (96.7% liked)

Atheism

3798 readers
4 users here now

Community Guide


Archive Today will help you look at paywalled content the way search engines see it.


Statement of Purpose

Acceptable

Unacceptable

Depending on severity, you might be warned before adverse action is taken.

Inadvisable


Application of warnings or bans will be subject to moderator discretion. Feel free to appeal. If changes to the guidelines are necessary, they will be adjusted.


If you vocally harass or discriminate against any individual member, you will be removed.

Likewise, if you are a member, sympathizer or a resemblant of a group that is known to largely hate, mock, discriminate against, and/or want to take lives of any other group of people, and you were provably vocal about your hate, then you you will be banned on sight.

Provable means able to provide proof to the moderation, and, if necessary, to the community.

 ~ /c/nostupidquestions

If you want your space listed in this sidebar and it is especially relevant to the atheist or skeptic communities, PM DancingPickle and we'll have a look!


Connect with Atheists

Help and Support Links

Streaming Media

This is mostly YouTube at the moment. Podcasts and similar media - especially on federated platforms - may also feature here.

Orgs, Blogs, Zines

Mainstream

Bibliography

Start here...

...proceed here.

Proselytize Religion

From Reddit

As a community with an interest in providing the best resources to its members, the following wiki links are provided as historical reference until we can establish our own.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS