[Buddha-l] Lukewarm American Buddhists

[Richard Hayes]

The Pew Foundation loves to publish studies on Americans and their
religious beliefs. A recent one that I have been looking at asks people
how important religion is in their lives. Of all the religious
denominations asked, Buddhists (all lumped together as a single
religion, in contrast to eight flavors of Christian) were next to the
bottom of the list in saying that religion is very important (35%) or
somewhat important (38%) to them. Jews (again, all lumped together) were
at the bottom of the list with 31% and 41% saying very and somewhat
important respectively. The most enthusiastic about religion were
Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons, in both of which more than 80% reported
that religion is very important to them. 24% of Buddhists and 28% of
Jews said religion is not at all important to them. (What the crying
hell does it MEAN to say that religion is important, anyway? Toss that
question out. It's too meaningless to warrant a response.)

Here's another interesting finding of the folks at Pew Foundation. All
Buddhists interviewed were asked whether they believe in nirvana. (Holy
tornadoes, Batman, another meaningless question!) Of those Buddhists who
did not punch the interviewer in the face for asking a stupid question,
62% said they believe in nirvana, 19% said they don't believe and 18%
said they do not know. (Does this mean 18% of American Buddhists believe
Stephen Batchelor when he says we can't know such things? Pew forgot to
ask that one.)

Here's an interesting one: people who admitted to be Buddhists were
asked about nirvana, while Hindus were asked whether they believe in
reincarnation. But Buddhists were not asked whether they believe in
reincarnation, and Hindus were not asked whether they believe in moksha.
Why not? 

Want to know how many American Buddhists believe in miracles? I'll tell
you anyway. 61%. And 37% of American Buddhists say they believe in
angels and demons. American Jews are much more reasonable. Only 21% of
them believe in angels and demons. But if you really want your money
back, consider this: 14% of atheists say they believe in angels and
demons. 

It would seem there are not many Buddhists among the atheists. 39% of
American Buddhists say they are "absolutely certain" there is a supreme
god. (Of course 8% of American *atheists* also say they are absolutely
certain there is a supreme god. Do they even know what atheism means?
And what are we to make of the 17% of self-styled agnostics who say they
are absolutely certain there is a supreme god? Are they absolutely
certain they are agnostics?)

Look, I know that when it comes to religion Americans are probably the
most confused and ignorant people in all of recorded history, but these
Pew statistics completely baffle me. You can find out for yourself just
how confused Americans are about religion at
http://religions.pewforum.org/comparisons . Look for a file called
report2religious-landscape-study-chapter-1.pdf.


-- 
Richard Hayes
Department of Philosophy
University of New Mexico