In a recent study the Pew Research Center discovered something interesting about American "nones," i.e. those who claim no religious affiliation.
They found that the "nones" in the U.S. are at least as religious as Christians in several European countries, including France, Germany, and the U.K.
This is on the face of it a startling result, although I'm not sure how much it actually tells us. One difficulty with surveys of religious beliefs is that the term "religious" lacks a clear definition.
We're pretty sure Christianity, Islam and Judaism are religions, but what about Buddhism, Daoism or Confucianism which are non-theistic? Are these latter systems religions or are they merely guides to living, like Norman Vincent Peale's Power of Positive Thinking?
To get around this problem Pew specifically asked respondents if they "believed in God with absolute certainty." They found that whereas only 23 percent of European Christians say they believe in God with absolute certainty, 27 percent of American nones say this!
More American nones say they believe in God with absolute certainty than do European Christians?
Of course, this raises another difficulty. What is the concept of God whose existence the respondent either rejects or accepts?
Some people think of God as simply "something out there," a "higher power," "the universe," "the totality of being," "humanity," "science" or "nature." Since different people have different concepts of God, the question whether they believe in God, without specifying what's meant by "God," is quite meaningless.
Perhaps the next time Pew poses the question they might sharpen it up a bit by asking whether the respondent believes in the existence of a personal, transcendent being who is maximally good, spaceless, timeless, immaterial, and non-contingent, and which possesses the properties of both omnipotence and omniscience.
That's the traditional concept of God in the Judeo-Christian West, and if people were asked whether they believe that that God exists the results might be considerably different and more useful.
