See other Religion Articles
Title: Americans believe in God -- and hell, UFOs, witches, astrology: poll (and miracles - we could use one)
Source:
Raw Story
URL Source: http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Americ ... n_God_and_hell_U_12042007.html
Published: Dec 4, 2007
Author: AFP
Post Date: 2007-12-04 17:15:46 by robin
Keywords: None
Views: 1468
Comments: 110
An overwhelming majority of Americans believe in God and signicant numbers also think that UFOs, the devil and ghosts exist, a poll showed Tuesday. The survey by Harris Online showed that 82 percent of adult Americans believe in God and a slightly smaller percentage -- 79 percent -- believe in miracles. More than 70 percent of the 2,455 adults surveyed between November 7 and 13 said they believe in heaven and angels, while more than six in 10 said they believed in hell and the devil. Almost equal numbers said they believe in Darwin's theory of evolution (42 percent) -- the belief that populations evolve over time through natural selection -- and creationism (39 percent) -- the theory that God created mankind. Seventy percent of Americans said they were very (21 percent) or somewhat (49 percent) religious, while around one-third of those polled also said they believe in UFOs, witches and astrology.
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 102.
#21. To: robin, Alan Chapman, TwentyTwelve, all (#0)
I am short on time at the moment so I don't have time for a detailed deconstruction but note the following: By conflating all of these together it is an assertion of equivalence i.e., that UFOs=Witches=Astrology. When you see that kind of false reasoning you can know that the author is dishonest or is working PsyOps. Which of those has a substantial body of objective evidence and credible witnesses? UFOs. Which of those has the government consistently attacked via derision and their various operatives such as Michael Schermer? UFOs. Why? Because it is a world view shifting datum which holds the potential to upset the 1984 society that is being built. The "Septics" Society and others of their ilk, such as the less than amazing Randi, have over and over again been shown to lie, use strawmen, and character assassination to advance their agenda of defending the official paradigm.
There isn't a shred of evidence of visitation by aliens in flying saucers. Even with the proliferation of billions of cameras, camera phones, and video cameras there still isn't any compelling evidence. All of those old b/w photos of flying saucers are nothing but people tossing pie pans and hub caps into the air. Witnesses are always referred to as credible. They're often unsure of what they've seen. Many have conflicting testimony. Michael Shermer is a government operative? That's laughable. He and Randi have done outstanding work exposing charlatans and quacks. I especially like the way Randi exposed Uri Geller, Peter Popoff, and James Hydrick (who later confessed to being a fraud).
In fact Alan, take a peek at post 22 while you're at it...
On June 24, 1947, Kenneth Arnold claimed that he'd seen nine "crescent shaped" aircraft near Mount Rainier. He said they reminded him of saucers skimming over water. An editor of the Eastern Oregonian reported that Arnold saw "round" objects. Other reports noted "disc-shaped" objects. Within a few weeks, there were hundreds of reports nationwide of sightings of flying "saucers." It's interesting how sightings become contagious. The U.S. military built and tested many flying wings during the 1940s. Here's the Northrop N-1M. It's maiden flight was in 1941. The Germans also built flying wings. Where do people know about flying saucers? Why were there a bunch of flying saucer and alien invasion movies made in the 1950s? Science-fiction magazines from the 1920s: Orson Welles' 1938 radio broadcast of War of the Worlds
Let me guess, you're going to try to tell me these are migrating birds, right?
Birds are precisely what those are, and birds are probably what the folks in Farmington saw. The behavior they witnessed perfectly describes bird behavior.
Birds are precisely what those are Hmmm, round birds without wings that glow and dart around at approximately 10,000 feet. Yep. , and birds are probably what the folks in Farmington saw. The behavior they witnessed perfectly describes bird behavior. According to witnesses, the saucer shaped objects moved at 1000 mph and in right angles, with several apparently engaged in what seemed like a "dog fight". Yeah, birds. Uh huh.
You can tell the altitude of those birds just from watching the video? They look round for several reasons. They're far away and each one takes up only a few pixels in the image. They blur and smear when he zooms in. If you understand the way digital compression works, adjacent pixels are averaged to give a smoother picture and reduce pixelation. It's called anti-aliasing. They're not perfectly spherical. If you look closely you can see that they have greater width than height. They didn't look to me like they were glowing. They looked white like seagulls. According to witnesses, the saucer shaped objects moved at 1000 mph and in right angles, with several apparently engaged in what seemed like a "dog fight". When viewed from the ground, birds may appear to be moving at high speed when passing in front of clouds. Move your hand quickly in front of your face while looking at something in the distance. Wow, your hand must've moved at thousands of miles per hour! Birds can make high speed turns which might look like right angles. They can also ascend very quickly when entering columns of warm air. I think the Farmington residents had too much to drink and took a little creative license when telling their story. You know, the one that got away is always ten times bigger in the imagination than it is in reality.
BTW Alan, these are what geese look like when they migrate. They are dark, and don't appear as glowing orbs under bright clouds. And PS, seagulls don't fly at high altitude nor in huge flocks in formation unless over the ocean at low altitude when following a fishing vessel.. The video I had posted with the bright objects in formation do not display the characteristics of any bird. These are birds Alan.
Just because something appears to be moving fast in a video doesn't mean that it is. It's also impossible to tell how high something is without points of reference to triangulate distance. In the other video there are no points of reference. You can't tell how high or fast the objects are moving, or how high the clouds are. The objects are neither glowing, nor orb shaped. They're elliptical and white which is exactly what I'd expect white birds to look like when video taped from a distance. They're also moving in formation consistent with behavior seen in birds.
And since it is absolutely categorically impossible for them to be anything else, and only a retarded slavering drooling kook would think otherwise, it can only be birds. Therefore by decree it is birds. See, I can do Septic Siunce too.
You see flying saucers and aliens everywhere because that's what you want to see. The UFO community has nothing but a bunch of fuzzy photos, blurry videos, and tall tales from attention seekers.
Please feel free to believe as you wish, but know that when you begin stooping to insult and viturpitude I take the gloves off. Because you are unable to conceive of something outside of your narrow and insular world view does not require me to restrict my thought to the narrow limited restricted boundaries of the confines of your mind. I go where the evidence goes not where I am told to go and I do not accept some authority's pronouncement without reserving the right to examine the evidence, question, and reach an independent conclusion. I believe in doing my thinking for myself and do not allow others to impose their viewpoint, unexamined, upon me. You may now return to your grazing. In fact I think I hear your fellows calling: "Baaaaaaaaaaaa, baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa". Please feel free to try again when you have learned how to think for yourself.
100
This might be a little late in the game, but I don't see why xx% of Americans believing in witches is weird. There are probably 5 million of us in the US, not to mention tribal witches all over the world.
Because it is at conflict with their paradigm i.e., world view. At this time we have two warring philosophical views: Materialism and Spiritualism. Philosophically it is a matter of how one views the nature of fundamental existence. Is the ultimate reality the physical universe and the contructs of it? Or Is the ultimate nature of reality the spiritual i.e., that existence extends beyond the dross reality of the physical universe? My viewpoint is rather more of a Buddhist one i.e., that the greatest reality is awareness and that the self exists above and beyond the physical universe. Witchcraft, which I am not a practioner of, is simply nothing more, in my view, than the empirical application of the nature of what we are i.e., spiritual beings, in creating effects in the physical universe. Some of it is simply ritual and some of it is simply calling upon those abilities which we all have in some measure. Some individuals have greater and lesser degrees of ability of what has been termed PSI abilities. Witchcraft, through its rituals, is simply calling upon those PSI abilities and the ability of the Witch to create affects in the physical universe through the use of those talents. Separating the ritual from the actual abilities exercised would be an exploration of no small triviality but would require a considerable amount of research.
#103. To: Original_Intent (#102)
I'd agree with that assessment. Of course, skeptics may say that no matter which type of witch you're talking about, they're all self-deluding and ineffective, so they don't count. In which case I'd like to refer Mr. Skeptic to his local meteorologist.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest "...while around one-third of those polled also said they believe in UFOs, witches and astrology."
#25. To: Original_Intent (#21)
#27. To: Alan Chapman, Original_Intent (#25)
#32. To: FormerLurker (#27)
#38. To: Alan Chapman (#32)
#52. To: FormerLurker (#38)
#53. To: Alan Chapman (#52)
#55. To: FormerLurker (#53)
#93. To: Alan Chapman (#55)
They're not perfectly spherical. If you look closely you can see that they have greater width than height. They didn't look to me like they were glowing. They looked white like seagulls.
#94. To: FormerLurker (#93)
#95. To: Alan Chapman, FormerLurker, TwentyTwelve, robin, all (#94)
(Edited)
They're elliptical and white which is exactly what I'd expect white birds to look like when video taped from a distance. They're also moving in formation consistent with behavior seen in birds.
#97. To: Original_Intent (#95)
#99. To: Alan Chapman (#97)
#100. To: All (#99)
#101. To: Original_Intent (#100)
#102. To: Indrid Cold (#101)
This might be a little late in the game, but I don't see why xx% of Americans believing in witches is weird. There are probably 5 million of us in the US, not to mention tribal witches all over the world.
Replies to Comment # 102. is simply nothing more, in my view, than the empirical application of the nature of what we are i.e., spiritual beings, in creating effects in the physical universe. Some of it is simply ritual and some of it is simply calling upon those abilities which we all have in some measure. Some individuals have greater and lesser degrees of ability of what has been termed PSI abilities. Witchcraft, through its rituals, is simply calling upon those PSI abilities and the ability of the Witch to create affects in the physical universe through the use of those talents.
End Trace Mode for Comment # 102.