We’re apparently one nation under Gods.
The Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion has completed what it calls “the most extensive and sensitive study of religion ever conducted.” With help from Gallup, Baylor completed the “multi-year study of religious values, practices, and behaviors” they’ve not so succinctly named “American Piety in the 21st Century: New Insights to the Depths and Complexity of Religion in the U.S.” (Download the pdf here.)
The ISR states, “Most survey studies that include questions about religion only have space to ask about basic religious indicators such as church attendance and belief in God.” Their survey goes much much farther. Among other fascinating findings the study concludes that we Americans have four views of God.
True, 95% of us say we believe in God or a god. But we don’t believe in the same god. Of course we worship gods with different names, attached to different religious traditions and labels, but the Baylor folks claim all these thousands of differences can really be boiled down to four. Four gods. Four gods distinct only in how angry they are and how involved they are in the world.
HIGH ANGER + HIGH INVOLVEMENT = AUTHORITARIAN GOD: “Individuals who believe in the Authoritarian God tend to think that God is highly involved in their daily lives and world affairs. They tend to believe that God helps them in their decision-making and is also responsible for global events such as economic upturns or tsunamis. They also tend to feel that God is quite angry and is capable of meting out punishment to those who are unfaithful or ungodly.”
LOW ANGER + HIGH INVOLVEMENT = BENEVOLENT GOD: “Like believers in the Authoritarian God, believers in a Benevolent God tend to think that God is very active in our daily lives. But these individuals are less likely to believe that God is angry and acts in wrathful ways. Instead, the Benevolent God is mainly a force of positive influence in the world and is less willing to condemn or punish individuals.”
HIGH ANGER + LOW INVOLVEMENT = CRITICAL GOD: “Believers in a Critical God feel that God really does not interact with the world. Nevertheless, God still observes the world and views the current state of the world unfavorably. These individuals feel that God’s displeasure will be felt in another life and that divine justice may not be of this world.”
LOW ANGER + LOW INVOLVEMENT = DISTANT GOD: “Believers in a Distant God think that God is not active in the world and not especially angry either. These individuals tend towards thinking about God as a cosmic force which set the laws of nature in motion. As such, God does not “do” things in the world and does not hold clear opinions about our activities or world events.”
Is it possible, in light of yesterday’s post, that the real God is none of these, or paradoxically more than one or all of these? Is it possible to discover what God is truly like, not get every stinking question answered about Him, but get some of the general character questions answered without projecting one of these four gods, one of perceptions of Him, onto Him? Is it possible? How do we try? Should we try?
(HT:PW)
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We’re apparently one nation under Gods.
