So says Gallup, down only slightly since 1940. But, as UMC Bishop Ken Carder wrote, belief in God is not the real issue. The real issue is the nature of the God in whom one believes.
I am reminded of the story of a UN mediator who went to northern Ireland during the Troubles, the internecine combat between the Catholics and the Protestants there. During a community meeting, someone asked the mediator who was right about God. The mediator replied that since he was not a Christian at all, being from Asia and raised in ancient Asian religion, he had to admit that he himself didn't believe in God in the first place.
A woman arose from the audience and demanded, "Yes, but is it the God of the Catholics or the God of the Protestants you don't believe in?"
Just believing beliefs is of no value. What difference they make in our lives is of enormous import.
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