What Do Americans Think About God?

Most Americans believe in God. Most of these theists probably believe that they believe in the same God, although perhaps in different ways and suspecting that others have errors in their beliefs. A study of the actual beliefs which people hold about the god they claim to believe in reveals interesting and consistent differences in exactly what it is that people belief.

According to a detailed survey performed by Baylor University researchers:

What researchers found was that the type of god people believe in can predict their political and moral attitudes more so than just looking at their religious tradition.

Researchers found that none of the "four gods" dominated among believers. The data showed:

• 31.4 percent believe in an Authoritarian God, who is very judgmental and engaged
• 25 percent believe in a Benevolent God, who is not judgmental but engaged
• 23 percent believe in a Distant God, who is completely removed
• 16 percent believe in a Critical God, who is judgmental but not engaged

Source: Baylor University

I expect that little of this will be at all surprising to most: some people believe in a judgmental and authoritarian god while others believe in a benevolent and non-judgmental god. What's far more interesting, I think, are the predictions which these beliefs can make about people's "political and moral attitudes." Unfortunately, the above press release doesn't really tell us anything about this.

USA Today breaks down more information about those political and moral attitudes which are associated with each of the four types of God:

The Authoritarian God (31.4% of Americans overall, 43.3% in the South) is angry at humanity's sins and engaged in every creature's life and world affairs. He is ready to throw the thunderbolt of judgment down on "the unfaithful or ungodly," Bader says.

Those who envision God this way "are religiously and politically conservative people, more often black Protestants and white evangelicals," Bader says. "(They) want an active, Christian-values-based government with federal funding for faith-based social services and prayer in the schools."

They're also the most inclined to say God favors the USA in world affairs (32.1% vs. 18.6% overall).

Notice that belief in a judgmental, authoritarian god is far more common in the South than in the rest of the nation. How much would you be willing to bet that belief in this sort of god closely tracks with the political boundaries of the old Confederate and slave-holding states? The Baylor study doesn't explicitly reveal this, but I'd bet that if there is enough information in it and this information is plotted against a map, then the correlation would be strong.

The fact that such people are religiously and politically conservatives is not surprising — nor is the fact that they are far more likely to think that God favors America in world affairs. This is why they are so convinced that America has to change its laws in order to more closely align society with the Old Testament. First, a judgmental god like that in the Old Testament is likely to punish America for transgressions like it punished the ancient Hebrews. Second, since America is a chosen nation like the Hebrews were, then America has a special duty to do what God wills.

The Benevolent God (23% overall, 28.7% in the Midwest) still sets absolute standards for mankind in the Bible. More than half (54.8%) want the government to advocate Christian values.

But this group, which draws more from mainline Protestants, Catholics and Jews, sees primarily a forgiving God, more like the father who embraces his repentant prodigal son in the Bible, Froese says. They're inclined (68.1%) to say caring for the sick and needy ranks highest on the list of what it means to be a good person.

I suspect that a lot of these people tend to vote for conservative candidates to preach moral and biblical values. They believe in those value and believe that America should reflect those values. However, they don't believe that their god will punish the entire nation for failing to uphold those values. They also place certain acts, like feeding the hungry, higher on the list of values than those who belong to the first group of theists. These are the believers who can be most readily separated from voting for Christian Right political candidates.

The Critical God (16% overall, 21.3% in the East) has his judgmental eye on the world, but he's not going to intervene, either to punish or to comfort.

"This group is more paradoxical," Bader says. "They have very traditional beliefs, picturing God as the classic bearded old man on high. Yet they're less inclined to go to church or affiliate seriously with religious groups. They are less inclined to see God as active in the world. Their politics are definitely not liberal, but they're not quite conservative, either."

Those who picture a critical God are significantly less likely to draw absolute moral lines on hot-button issues such as abortion, gay marriage or embryonic stem cell research. For example, 57% overall say gay marriage is always wrong compared with 80.6% for those who see an authoritarian God, and 65.8% for those who see God as benevolent. For those who believe in a critical God, it was 54.7%.

This, too, is a group which would be open to the highly moralized appeals of the Christian Right, but who don't really share the political and religious beliefs of the Authoritarians who define the Christian Right. Once again, the key is to figure out just how to separate these people from the emotional, religious appeals of the far right.

The Distant God (24.4% overall, 30.3% in the West) is "no bearded old man in the sky raining down his opinions on us," Bader says. Followers of this God see a cosmic force that launched the world, then left it spinning on its own.

This has strongest appeal for Catholics, mainline Protestants and Jews. It's also strong among "moral relativists," those least likely to say any moral choice is always wrong, and among those who don't attend church, Bader says. Only 3.8% of this group say embryonic stem cell research is always wrong, compared with 38.5% of those who see an authoritarian God, 22.7% for those who see God as benevolent and 13.2% who see God as critical but disengaged.

Here we probably have most of those who define themselves as politically and religiously liberal. These religious beliefs are the most divergent from those held by followers of the judgmental, authoritarian god and it should be clear why the two groups have so little luck communicating about much of anything — be it moral, social, political, or religious.

Is there anything that could be done to get them to better communicate with each other?

 

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