Four American Gods

[duchess of malfi]

www.baylor.edu/pr/news.php?action=story&story=41678

Four Gods


One area that emerged from the survey that has excited the researchers is what they call the "Four Gods." Depending on how engaged people think God is in the world and how angry God is with the world.


"If you think about people perceiving God as high in anger, low in anger, high in engagement, low in engagement, it results in four different types of gods," said Froese.


What researchers found was that the type of god people believe in can predict their political and moral attitudes more so than just looking at their religious tradition.


Researchers found that none of the "four gods" dominated among believers. The data showed:

• 31.4 percent believe in an Authoritarian God, who is very judgmental and engaged
• 25 percent believe in a Benevolent God, who is not judgmental but engaged
• 23 percent believe in a Distant God, who is completely removed
• 16 percent believe in a Critical God, who is judgmental but not engaged


Other demographic relationships and religious effects surrounding the "Four Gods" include:

• African-Americans believe overwhelmingly in an Authoritarian God (53.4 percent);
• Region of the country is significantly related to the four types of god. Easterners tend towards belief in a Critical God; Southerners tend towards an Authoritarian God; Midwesterners believe in a Benevolent God; and the West Coast believes in a Distant God.
• Individuals with lower educations and lower incomes tend towards more engaged images of God.


"This is a very powerful tool to understand core differences in the United States," Froese said. "If I know your image of God, I can tell all kinds of things about you. It's a central part of world view and it's linked to how you think about the world in general."

[Prebe]

Interesting Duches. Interesting but scarry. (Guess I don't have to say what I voted )

[A Gunslinger]

www.baylor.edu/pr/news.php?action=story&story=41678

Four Gods


One area that emerged from the survey that has excited the researchers is what they call the "Four Gods." Depending on how engaged people think God is in the world and how angry God is with the world.


"If you think about people perceiving God as high in anger, low in anger, high in engagement, low in engagement, it results in four different types of gods," said Froese.


What researchers found was that the type of god people believe in can predict their political and moral attitudes more so than just looking at their religious tradition.


Researchers found that none of the "four gods" dominated among believers. The data showed:

• 31.4 percent believe in an Authoritarian God, who is very judgmental and engaged
• 25 percent believe in a Benevolent God, who is not judgmental but engaged
• 23 percent believe in a Distant God, who is completely removed
• 16 percent believe in a Critical God, who is judgmental but not engaged


Other demographic relationships and religious effects surrounding the "Four Gods" include:

• African-Americans believe overwhelmingly in an Authoritarian God (53.4 percent);
• Region of the country is significantly related to the four types of god. Easterners tend towards belief in a Critical God; Southerners tend towards an Authoritarian God; Midwesterners believe in a Benevolent God; and the West Coast believes in a Distant God.
• Individuals with lower educations and lower incomes tend towards more engaged images of God.


"This is a very powerful tool to understand core differences in the United States," Froese said. "If I know your image of God, I can tell all kinds of things about you. It's a central part of world view and it's linked to how you think about the world in general."

I read this article too. It does partially explain regional voting trends as well as social mores. Fascinating stuff. For my part, I am somewhere between benevolent and distant.

[duchess of malfi]

Depending on the day of the week and the place in my monthly hormonal cycle , I too vacillate somewhere between a benevolent god and a distant god.

Interesting, given that we are both from Great Lakes blue states.

[A Gunslinger]

Yes it is!

[lucimay]

i don't know how to vote cause i'm thinking there's more than just those four!!!!

("thou shalt have no other gods before me", NOT "there are no other gods" )

[Avatar]

Well, I voted atheist which is not strictly accurate, but is close enough.

I wonder if this sort of division of perception is part of the perhaps precarious position that christianity is starting to appear to be falling into?

A House divided against itself...

--A

[Chuchichastli]

It's probably inevitable. Religions always split, diffuse, then split and diffuse again. I've always observed that the more dogmatic their nature, the more vulnerable they are to have groups within the religion branching off according to their interpretations of God's wyrd

Agnostic, btw.

[drew]

I voted that My God does resemble...I don't see God as a being; not something capable of judgement; or removal from judgement

[spacemonkey]

God for me is an old Hippy kind of dude,He's got great sense of humor(I mean really,look at the platypus)He's really laid back,understands that I'm going to screw up,it's human.I don't have any problems with God at all,It's His fan clubs I can do without.............

[Zarathustra]

I voted agnostic. If there is a god, It certainly can't be benevolent. No benevolent god would allow children to get raped, murdered, tortured, strapped into the back seat of their car and drowned in a lake by their mother, etc. If It is benevolent, then it must also be extremely distant. But then, what good is a distant benevolent god?

I think that if there is a god, It is unlike any mere human characteristic or category. It is probably more alien than any space alien we're likely to meet.

[balon!]

I voted agnostic. I tend to take the stand that if there is a God, then we shouldnt be so arrogant as to think we can tell the rest of the race what his will is, and If there isn't, well, problom solved!

[The Laughing Man]

Godchecker