It’s a slim majority but apparently it’s the number of people polled who think that if God exists, he’s doing a fine job running the universe.
“When asked to evaluate God on some of the issues it is responsible for, voters give God its best rating on creating the universe, 71-5,” the polling report said. “They also approve of its handling of the animal kingdom 56-11, and even its handling of natural disasters 50-13.”
The comments below the CNN story run the gamut. One I spotted chides CNN for making this news in the first place (a point on which I agree). Others go for semantics (which god?). More go for the “You have to be Christian to understand why only we have the Truth (TM).” Some go as far as stating that humans shouldn’t dare to judge God and treat Him like someone people could potentially vote off the island.
More people ought to try, though.
I watched Jesus Camp the other night. You can, too, if you dare. It was stomach churning to watch those kids speaking in tongues, or prone on the floor bawling their eyes out after every adult in the room deplores their secretly sinful lives, and praying at a cardboard cut-out of George W. Bush. The creepiest part was when the leader played the abortion card and made all those kids mourn the friends they’d never make because their mothers killed them first.
I think that camp met nearly every characteristic of a cult and sadder still, none of the parents who sent their kids there would ever believe any of them were in need of deprogramming later.
One Minion's Opinion 
Hi-ho, Minion…the Furious Purpose blog has picked up on this nonsense, too. I told Furious, “Jeepers criminy…that’s a hoot, believers being called upon to *rate* the deity.
Thank god I’m an atheist.
If I believed in god, I’d be sickened and horrified at the mess he’s created. If there really is a god, he’s a monster and unbelievably cruel and abusive and crazy as a sh*thouse rat.”
In other news, yes, I’ve seen “Jesus Camp”, saw it a couple of years ago or thereabouts. I agree, it was horrifying to see those children being so brainwashed and made to do things they did not comprehend.
That’s the extreme version. A more moderate version is here close to home.
We had to have our dear old dog put to sleep on Monday. She was diabetic, and surprised everyone, including the vet particularly, by living to over 15 with this condition. She was the Best Dog, I swear.
Last night I was yakking with our neighbor, and I told her that we’d said Goodbye to Susie. I knew her little great granddaughter would be wondering where Susie was.
Our neighbor said she’d tell the little girl that Susie had gone to be with god. She then went on to say that the child was having a really good time in Vacation Bible School.
I didn’t argue. Our neighbors are good people, genuinely kind, and we get along well. I didn’t see it as my place to tell her I think that sending a child to Vacation Bible School is child abuse, and that teaching her to believe in god is nonsense on stilts.
When my daughter was a little girl, I did not appreciate her grandmother pushing stuph at her, and I know christians would not want me pushing things at their kids.
Still it bothered me that this super bright and energetic little kid is being fed garbage.
Susie Dog died. She’s gone. We’ll never see her again. She didn’t go anywhere, she isn’t with any sort of deity. We need to teach children to cope with loss and death, and not feed them wishful thinking crap and silly stories.