Joel Kontinen
A new survey to college students’ religious beliefs has been published.
“Adults of various religious affiliations (n = 275) completed a questionnaire that probed their beliefs about God, angels, Satan, Heaven, Hell, cosmogenesis, anthropogenesis, human suffering, and human misdeeds, as well as their experiences regarding prayer, worship, and religious development.”
“The participants were 275 undergraduates at Occidental College recruited from introductory psychology courses and compensated with extra credit in those courses. Participants were directed to an online questionnaire that took approximately 45 minutes to complete. Participants reported a wide range of religious affiliations: 26% Protestant, 19% Catholic, 11% Jewish, 3% Buddhist, 2%, Hindu, 2% Unitarian, 1% Muslim, 1% something else (Wiccan, Taoist, Navajo), and 36% unaffiliated.”
“Fifty-eight percent of participants (n = 160) claimed that God exists, and 42% claimed that God does not exist (n = 115). The former are referred to as “theists,” and the latter “atheists.” We report mean differences between theists and atheists on key measures, but we include all participants in analyses of the relation between God concepts and God-related beliefs and practices.”
The study also included a part on cosmogenesis and on anthropogenesis:
“With respect to cosmogenesis, 13% of participants claimed that the universe was created by God alone, 49% by the"Big Bang alone, and 38% by both God and the Big Bang. Among those who endorsed both God and the Big Bang, 67% justified their claim by appealing to a dual process (e.g., ‘God created the Big Bang,’ ‘God initiated the Big Bang and then perfected and sculpted the world,’ ‘creating the universe from a singularity is still creating the universe.’). With respect to anthropogenesis, 10% of participants claimed that human beings were created by God alone, 60% by evolution alone, and 30% by both God and evolution. Among those who endorsed both God and evolution, 78% appealed to a dual process (e.g., ‘God created the infrastructure of life within which evolution occurs,’ ‘evolution is the means by which God created humans’).”
The study cannot be relied one, as the subjects came from a single American institute and moreover, they only had to rely on themselves to get their views head. And another factor: the students had taken a course in psychology, which could disturb some answers.
Source:
Shtulman, Andrew and Max Rattner, 2018. Theories of God: Explanatory coherence in religious cognition. PLOS. one. (26 December).
Posts
