Poll: Brits View Atheists As More Moral Than Believers, Religion More Harmful Than Good 

Nov 8, 2014

Frank Minero

An eye-opening survey conducted in the UK reveals a truth many in the United States will find shocking. When asked if atheists are more or less moral than religious people, our allies across the pond favor atheists.

The British feel those who identify as atheists are more likely to be good people. In fact, 12.5% of Britons believe atheists are more moral, while only 6% say atheists are less moral.

Fewer than a quarter of Britons believe religion is a force for good. On the contrary, over half believe religion does more harm than good. Even 20% of Britons who describe themselves as ‘very religious’ are on record stating religion is harmful to society.

The poll, conducted by Survation for the HuffingtonPost UK’s series Beyond Beliefdoesn’t address why Britons have come to this conclusion, however faith in God and religion is falling in America as well. Jerome Baggett, a professor at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California told The San Francisco Business Times why he thinks people are retreating from religion in the United States,

“Religious institutions themselves have lost their legitimacy in the eyes of many Americans due to sexual and financial scandals, or political overreaching ‘by the so-called Christian right.'”

Linda Woodhead, professor of the sociology of religion at Lancaster University, told The Huffington Post UK she found the results of the poll “striking,”

“This confirms something I’ve found in my own surveys and which leads me to conclude that religion has become a ‘toxic brand’ in the UK. What we are seeing is not a complete rejection of faith, belief in the divine, or spirituality, though there is some to that, but of institutional religion in the historic forms which are familiar to people.”

Woodhead explains the reason Britons are distancing themselves from religion are “numerous” and include: sex scandals involving Catholic priests and rabbis, as well as Islamist terror attacks and conflict in the Middle East,

“I’d add religious leaderships’ drift away from the liberal values, equality, tolerance, diversity, [which is] embraced by many of their own followers and often championed by non-religious and atheist people more forcefully”.

Andrew Copson, chief executive of the British Humanist Association had this to say,

“This survey just confirms what we know is the common sense of people in Britain today – that whether you are religious or not has very little to do with your morality. Most people understand that morality and good personal and social values are not tied to religious belief systems, but are the result of our common heritage and experience as human beings: social animals that care for each other and are kind to others because we understand that they are human too. Not only that, people understand that religious beliefs themselves can be harmful to morality: encouraging intolerance, inflexibility and the doing of harm in the name of a greater good. We only need to look around us to perceive that fact.”

You just have to laugh when you find iJesus at work in New Orleans.

"I trust you are challenged by the reinterpretation of The Two Agreements to step beyond a limited life imposed on you by religion. With the reinterpretation, we leave the separation of saints and sinners behind and embrace inclusion of all humanity regardless of race, religion, past “crimes,” or other demographic barriers. All humans are children of God growing into maturity of oneness in the unnamable One. Our gaining spiritual maturity makes it possible to live from the Christ mind.

And living from the Christ mind, we reserve judgment.

Consequently, when we believe we are being judged by others, it causes pain and suffering. It causes fear of eternal separation from God. It causes guilt for not being spiritual enough to go to heaven. It causes shame for being an imperfect human. We do not have to be controlled by fear when we perceive others are judging us. We can choose to react as Jesus did by turning the other cheek."

The Two Agreements: A Good News Story for Our Time

S.L. Brannon

All monies from the sale of this book goes to DBSA.

Hello everyone,

I wanted to let you know that mother is home today and under the care of home health care services. She is doing much better. She began to improved Thursday. We settled her in at her home yesterday.

She is expected to fully recover with some adjustments to her heart medications. She fell ill with, what we can only guess, a virus. However it was discovered that there are things going on with her heart rate that could cause serious problems. We never know what will come out of a rough spot in the road. All in all, things could not have worked out any better.

I appreciate all of you guys so very much. I thank you for your prayers. My mother thanks you for your prayers and your loving support. She, too, has found a family of friends among our DBSA understanding family.

Love and prayers,
Steve

Sent from my iPad

"MY UNDERSTANDING FAMILY LETS ME BE ME"

         Every culture in the world has certain norms that govern everything from personal relationships to religious practices and political views. These norms shift depending on the times and places in which we live; however we are always expected to conform to them. Those who do not often find themselves subject to a painful, even paralyzing, stigma.

       There are two of these nonconforming groups who I have found to be particularly stigmatized: those suffering from mental illness and those who consider themselves “Spiritual But Not Religious” (SBNR). I know about both of these by personal experience. I am a person who lives with depression and lives a spiritual life unattached from organized religion. Despite the fact that a growing number, nearly 20%, of Americans are identifying themselves as SBNR, they are consistently branded as heretics and “non-believers”.    

       How can this be? Religious texts and leaders proclaim that God/Source/the Creator loves us all unconditionally, yet it seems that this message is often followed up with—you guessed it—conditions! We either don’t believe enough or the right way, and that’s why we’re not getting what we want in this life and why we won’t end up in heaven in the next.

       The real issue, I contend, is the continued practice of viewing those who differ from us as “other”. It’s an exclusivity game—we belong, you don’t. Christ’s mission on earth was to help us understand that we are all of the same Source energy. We are all loved just as we are, and all entitled to heaven, just as we are. Yet (and I am not pointing the finger at anyone in particular), instead of embracing people across the spectrum of spiritual beliefs, we allow norms to divide us. On the largest scale, this leads to conflicts between the world’s three major religions; on a smaller scale, it leads to the stigmatization of people who do not follow the rules.  

       We must push back against stigmas—that is a given. In the meantime, however, we also must seek out and cultivate what I call the “understanding family”. This is a group of people who accept, love and support us no matter what. It can be the family we are born into or the one we make for ourselves, but they are critical to our mental, spiritual and even physical wellbeing.

       Many of us take this support system for granted, especially when our lives are going well. It consists of our spouses, parents, friends or religious community. However, it is when we suddenly find ourselves on the fringes of society that we must sometimes seek out a new family built on common interests or struggles. They are the people who will let us know that we are not alone. They are often our only refuge from the world at large. Most importantly, they are the ones who will help us combat the most damaging stigma of all—the one we assign to ourselves.  

Saint? Sinner? Christian? Muslim? You will be called many things in life but you are none of the things that you are called.  The labels, the words, the names that people attach to us are only a description of something about you and often an incomplete or inaccurate one.  The fish is more than the net it is caught in.  The rainbow is more than the colors within it.  You are beyond capture, beyond word, beyond phrase.

Protestant? Catholic? Churched? Unchurched? Too often we count ourselves as the boxes others try to place you in.  We waste our energy and passion in trying to find the best boxes.  We are not the collection of our parts, no matter how you describe or order those parts.  You are more.

In the reinterpretation we learn of the oneness of humanity with the unnamable One, the Divine. In life we can grow into that relationship with Divinity. Do not be limited by what you call yourself or what others call you.  Reach out, not to what "you are" but to what you can be.  Don't describe your journey by a spot in the road.  Life in spirit is not a place to be found, but a journey to undertake.  Have courage and know the capacity to travel that journey is within you no matter what limits, hardships, or hurdles the road may have. We are more than overcomers.