Living in a country where religion is expected to fade into irrelevance . . .

[MrModerate]

Over the next several decades -- Australia -- it's profoundly depressing to look at recent polls that suggest that 92 percent (or whatever embarassingly high number you like) of Americans believe in god.

It also says a lot about the challenges faced by sane people in making their way through a god-struck country. I guess this is not much a departure from American history to date (we've always been overly godly, it seems), but it suggests to me that many of the problems we see in the political system are genuinely intractable precisely because they're based on religious beliefs and the assumption by the majority (a correct one, I'm afraid) that everyone around them also bases their view of reality through the lens of similar fairy tales.

I'm not proposing I have any solution to this problem (I got out of Dodge, myself), but I raise it as an issue. How can America be expected to behave in a rational fashion when the overwhelming majority of people are trapped by superstition?

In any case, the "religion is dying out" article is here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12811197

So perhaps there is some hope.

[Warpy]

1. I think many of those "believers" are simply afraid not to believe

since it leads to a lot of social isolation here in this god soaked country. That doesn't mean they ever attend a church or read a bible. It just means they answer polls the way they think they're supposed to because they've really never bothered to think about it that much.

Unfortunately, it makes the ones who try to use religion as a weapon much bolder.

[FiveGoodMen]

2. Odd that it's simultaneously dying out and taking over our government.

[Deep13]

3. The USA was not one of the countries listed in the article...

...and the OP lives in Australia which is listed.

[FiveGoodMen]

4. So it's just us that are fucked.

[Deep13]

5. We'll probably take a lot of others down with us. nt

[onager]

6. I think/hope the USA is getting there...

As mentioned before, during my (short) work commute I often tune into the local Fundie radio station.

This is just my probably biased take, but I often hear what sound like desperation coming out of the radio. Or flop sweat.

Take the guy who was recently promoting his website, where you can download the Bible. He claimed "10 million downloads a month." Now I'm pretty math-challenged, but even I can figure out that if that figure is real, pretty soon everybody in the USA will have downloaded his Bible. (Of course, he also didn't specify how many downloads might have been from pranksters, enthusiastic multiple Fundie downloaders jacking up the numbers, or trouble-making atheists. Or how many months he's been in business.)

Speaking of websites, they're always claiming to be making huge inroads among "young people on the internet." That's not what I'm seeing. On public boards like Yahoo, whenever somebody posts a load of god-wallop, usually quite a few non-believers start snarking right back at them. Which I realize is purely anecdotal, but still...

I always have fun listening to the many and varied ways the Xian broadcasters can say "send me money." Faith partners, the good old "love offering," the constant threats that they may have to go off the air which gives Satan a win, etc. etc.

Oh, and yesterday the topic of the Focus On The Family show was lust. They're against it.

[BlueJazz]

7. As a dual Citizen...USA/Australian, I've been drawn more and more to just saying "Fuck it"...

...sell everything here and go live in Australia.
I got many close friends here and ties that keep me from doing (the above) but don't
know how long I can keep fooling myself into thinking things here will get better...
Sigh...

[MrModerate]

8. The 2012 Election will be a make-or-break for me . . .

I'm going to go ahead and get my permanent residency here, so I have the option, but If I am going to stay forever, I need to stop paying US taxes (in addition to Aussie taxes), and I haven't done the research on that yet.

But if voters install someone like Palin or Bachmann or Cain in the White House, I give up on the place.

[Arugula Latte]

9. Supposedly "no religion" is a fast-growing demographic, particularly in the Northwest where I live.

But, it's not growing fast enough for my taste. I too am fed up with the anti-intellectualism and submission to stupid superstition in this country. I wish we could get out of Dodge, but we don't have good prospects for emigrating like a lot of people on DU have. Plus, it's hard to move away from elderly parents, etc.