0.0% of Icelanders under the age of 25 believes God created the world - Polidicks

[URL="http://icelandmag.visir.is/article/00-icelanders-25-years-or-younger-believe-god-created-world-new-poll-reveals"]http://icelandmag.visir.is/article/00-icelanders-25-years-or-younger-believe-god-created-world-new-poll-reveals[/URL] [QUOTE]Iceland seems to be on its way to becoming an even more secular nation, according to a new poll. Less than half of Icelanders claim they are religious and more than 40% of young Icelanders identify as atheist. Remarkably the poll failed to find young Icelanders who accept the creation story of the Bible. 93.9% of Icelanders younger than 25 believed the world was created in the big bang, 6.1% either had no opinion or thought it had come into existence through some other means and 0.0% believed it had been created by God.[/QUOTE] The power of Christ compels you infidel devil-worshipers!

I find that pretty hard to believe. Absolutely none? That's pretty unlikely, it's a very widespread religion.

i have a really hard time imagining anyone under 30 or so legit believing in creationism

Isn't the creation account in the bible allegorical anyways, whereas the big bang only refers to the history of the early universe rather than the actual circumstances which caused it? (ie the unmoved mover) Like if you asked them about the unmoved mover you would be likely to get different answer, especially as that's quite different from the two questions

[QUOTE=Lium;49529808]I find that pretty hard to believe. Absolutely none? That's pretty unlikely, it's a very widespread religion.[/QUOTE] Bear in mind that Iceland has a population of ~325,000.

The possible answers to the question seemed to be: 1) Created by the big bang. 2) Created by God. 3) Created by something else or had no opinion. The obvious problem with the question is that the big bang and God are not contradictory answers.

I don't even think most devout Christians take the bible creation story as reality. I feel like most would say God just created the universe and the rest was history.

[QUOTE=Lium;49529808]I find that pretty hard to believe. Absolutely none? That's pretty unlikely, it's a very widespread religion.[/QUOTE] No one who answered the poll at least. I don't know how many they asked since the poll is in their native language but they have a very small population.

[QUOTE=OvB;49529827]I don't even think most devout Christians take the bible creation story as reality. I feel like most would say God just created the universe and the rest was history.[/QUOTE] hell, i've had a pastor tell me the bible is a collection of allegorical tales meant to teach life lessons and not something to take literally

[QUOTE=Ninja Gnome;49529838]hell, i've had a pastor tell me the bible is a collection of allegorical tales meant to teach life lessons and not something to take literally[/QUOTE] That's the general belief in my area, and I live in Texas... People who take it literally are looked at as crazy even by other Christians here (unless they're old).

[QUOTE=Ninja Gnome;49529838]hell, i've had a pastor tell me the bible is a collection of allegorical tales meant to teach life lessons and not something to take literally[/QUOTE] I've had jews tell me that too, and they're the ones who are expert on the old testament. Frankly, I think having the old testament along with the new testament only hinder christianity.

[QUOTE=OvB;49529827]I don't even think most devout Christians take the bible creation story as reality. I feel like most would say God just created the universe and the rest was history.[/QUOTE] There are people who take the creation story, along with everything else in the bible, literally.

[QUOTE=Saturn V;49529811]i have a really hard time imagining anyone under 30 or so legit believing in creationism[/QUOTE] After attending a Christian university for little over a year, let me assure you there are plenty of young people who are stupid enough to believe in creationism.

[QUOTE=sgman91;49529826]The possible answers to the question seemed to be: 1) Created by the big bang. 2) Created by God. 3) Created by something else or had no opinion. The obvious problem with the question is that the big bang and God are not contradictory answers.[/QUOTE] God would precede the big bang, therefore if you believed the big bang was created by God then you would answer 'Created by God'. Because it would ultimately mean that God did create the world. Considering this, it's not an issue.

[QUOTE=Antlerp;49529895]God would precede the big bang, therefore if you believed the big bang was created by God then you would answer 'Created by God'. Because it would ultimately mean that God did create the world. Considering this, it's not an issue.[/QUOTE] The issue is that answering "created by the big bang" doesn't exclude a belief in the necessity of God for the big bang. If taken how you've interpreted, then the question is just about whether people believe in the big bang, and has essentially nothing to do with people's religiosity or belief in God. I can easily see a person saying that God created the world through the use of the big bang. As a side note, polls that need fairly nuanced interpretation when answering are just plain bad polls to start with. They would have to either be totally incompetent as a polling agency or biased to all hell and back to think that vague of a question would give useful results. Of course the humanist association ordered the poll... so, an easily spun answer showing that people don't believe in God might have been the goal.

From what I gain from protestant-Christians over at college is that many of them these days believe in ''guided'' creationism/evolution. For example, I heard the personal theory from a Christian that god created the world trough manipulating natural processes and created both water and ground life. He guided evolution so that humans came into existence, which resulted in Adam and Eve. ( The bible is historical in his eyes ). For someone who studies at an university but has been indoctrinated with he bible theories like these don't sound unreasonable, it's like a weird blend of the bible and science.

[QUOTE=Psychokitten;49529888]There are people who take the creation story, along with everything else in the bible, literally.[/QUOTE] Of course there are. But how many? Do they make up the majority?

[QUOTE=sgman91;49529826]The obvious problem with the question is that the big bang and God are not contradictory answers.[/QUOTE] This is the coolest interpretation I've ever seen of this possibility. [video=youtube;KMDWWDZ8ozE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMDWWDZ8ozE[/video]

[QUOTE=Sobotnik;49529815]Isn't the creation account in the bible allegorical anyways, whereas the big bang only refers to the history of the early universe rather than the actual circumstances which caused it? (ie the unmoved mover) Like if you asked them about the unmoved mover you would be likely to get different answer, especially as that's quite different from the two questions[/QUOTE] the big bang was the point at which time and space began to exist so, yes, in a way you could say it was the "beginning of the universe"

One of the biggest hints of a non-literal Biblical creation story is that it's written in a poetical form. The days are in sets and mirror each other. They also work to show that the ideas of the pagan societies around the Israelites couldn't be correct (the sun is after plants, for example, showing that God is responsible for your harvest, not some sun god). Remember that people all the way back to at least Augustine of Hippo (~380 AD) thought that the creation story was non-literal. This isn't some new interpretation created to fit with modern science. Interestingly enough, Augustine thought that all creation happened in one instant and that God used the multi-day story because it would be easier for us to understand.

I consider myself a church-attending Christian and I think the big bang happened. I've also met very few Christians who believe 100% in creationism, more often people seem to hold a theory of the universe being 'guided'. That being said the church I attend to is relatively small and is pro-gay rights etc. Creationism=/=Christianity, yo.

[QUOTE=cheezey;49529949]From what I gain from protestant-Christians over at college is that many of them these days believe in ''guided'' creationism/evolution. For example, I heard the personal theory from a Christian that god created the world trough manipulating natural processes and created both water and ground life. He guided evolution so that humans came into existence, which resulted in Adam and Eve. ( The bible is historical in his eyes ). For someone who studies at an university but has been indoctrinated with he bible theories like these don't sound unreasonable, it's like a weird blend of the bible and science.[/QUOTE] why the separation between water and ground life ground life evolved from water life, they aren't separate kinds of life

[QUOTE=Antlerp;49529895]God would precede the big bang, therefore if you believed the big bang was created by God then you would answer 'Created by God'. Because it would ultimately mean that God did create the world. Considering this, it's not an issue.[/QUOTE] But only that can be assumed. That God precedes all, in the presence of so much conflicting info or subjective views.. And that we are not any wiser about the true nature of existence as we were in the stone age, or the God's will if you prefer.

[QUOTE=Mr. Scorpio;49529973]the big bang was the point at which time and space began to exist so, yes, in a way you could say it was the "beginning of the universe"[/QUOTE] You can acknowledge this and still believe in a higher being that transcends our understanding of both time and space, which would make room for God in that interpretation. I'm an atheist, at some point you have to realize people are just gonna believe differently, they're gonna tend toward what they find comfortable. If they can acknowledge and embrace scientific perspectives along with their religiosity then they get bonus points for it in my book. Also we don't know for a fact that the Big Bang is where both time and space began to exist, just that it almost certainly happened in one form or another. It's just as far back as we can "look" right now with the data and observation equipment we have.

[QUOTE=Mr Kotov;49530005]I consider myself a church-attending Christian and I think the big bang happened. I've also met very few Christians who believe 100% in creationism, more often people seem to hold a theory of the universe being 'guided'. That being said the church I attend to is relatively small and is pro-gay rights etc. Creationism=/=Christianity, yo.[/QUOTE] I go to a church that holds fairly traditional theological views, and there are still a ton of people who believe in the big bang, I can't know for sure, but would guess the majority, including the pastor. There's just no theological or Biblical necessity to not believe in it. I would say that a Christian, at the very minimum, must believe that God was the first cause, and that's about it. Sadly, there have been quite a few Christians in the past who've denied scientific truth because of some false sense of giving up theology when in fact, their so called theology is simply human tradition or needlessly strict interpretation.

[QUOTE=sgman91;49530045]I go to a church that holds fairly traditional theological views, and there are still a ton of people who believe in the big bang, I can't know for sure, but would guess the majority, including the pastor. There's just no theological or Biblical necessity to not believe in it. I would say that a Christian, at the very minimum, must believe that God was the first cause, and that's about it. Sadly, there have been quite a few Christians in the past who've denied scientific truth because of some false sense of giving up theology when in fact, their so called theology is simply human tradition or needlessly strict interpretation.[/QUOTE] Oh yeah, there is definitely people who hold views like that. I remember last year some church down south tried to stop people from receiving medical treatment and instead have prayer therapy. Fortunately, most Christians (and most religious people, for that matter) that I have met have views that co-exist alongside science.

[QUOTE=OvB;49529963]Of course there are. But how many? Do they make up the majority?[/QUOTE] i think most people pick and choose. i'm sure you'd have an easier time finding someone who thinks the talking snake is allegorical than someone who doesn't believe in jesus and his feats

Only people I see that are religious are old people and Icelandic teachers

[QUOTE=Mr. Scorpio;49529973]the big bang was the point at which time and space began to exist so, yes, in a way you could say it was the "beginning of the universe"[/QUOTE] It still refers to a period of time at the very start of the universe. The point however is that the big bang did not create the universe. Before the big bang, the universe was an infinitely dense and hot singularity that about 13.8 billion years ago began to rapidly expand.

It's understandable that more and more people don't want to believe in god, since there is no evidence whatsoever for him.