I consider myself to be a realist. As an atheist, I tend not to believe in things that cannot be seen, heard, touched, or proven in a scientific way. I can understand why religion, the occult and other strange beliefs came into being many centuries ago. People were just trying to explain the world they saw around them, and the science they had was rudimentary at best.
But we live in a different world today, and I really don't understand why people cling to religions, occult beliefs and other things such as ghosts -- beliefs created in the frightening world of thousands of years ago. And I find it especially strange when people mix those beliefs, which would seem to be mutually exclusive.
But that is exactly what is happening in our supposedly modern country. Large segments of the American population believe in astrology, curses, psychics, ghosts, talking to the dead, spirits in inanimate objects and other strange beliefs. Now very few of these people are atheists, since atheists are skeptics and would find it as hard to believe these things as it is for them to believe in god(s).
That means the people who believe these things are largely religious people -- christians, since that is by far the dominant religion in America. I don't know how christians, whose religion speaks against occult beliefs, can still have occult beliefs, but millions of them do. A new poll by the Pew Research Center Forum on Religion and Public Life shows that many Americans are very comfortable at mixing different beliefs -- sort of cafeteria style.
The poll surveyed 4,013 people by phone (both landline and cell) in August of 2009 about their beliefs. I found the poll to be rather shocking. Here are some of the things that a large segment of our population believe in (and remember, each 1% is about 3 million people). The first percentage is the total number of believers and the second is the number of christian believers.
Have been in touch with the dead..........29%.....29%
Have experienced a ghost..........18%.....17%
Have consulted a psychic..........15%.....14%
Believe trees, etc. have spiritual energy..........26%.....23%
Believe in astrology..........25%.....23%
Believe in reincarnation..........24%.....22%
Believe in yoga as spiritual practice..........23%.....21%
Believe in evil eye or casting curses..........16%.....17%
After seeing the huge number of people who accept these strange unproven beliefs (for instance 87 million Americans believe they have been in touch with dead people), it no longer surprises me that millions of Americans can have strange and illogical political beliefs. It looks like people choose to believe whatever they want to, regardless of facts or proof.
