4 replies to this topic

[Darrel Manson]

For those who track Presidential performance approval ratings, this might be of interest. A Poll of American voters conducted in mid-July by Public Policy Polling showed:

God's overall performance:
52% approve
40% not sure
9% disapprove

God's handling of natural disasters:
50% approve
37% not sure
13% disapprove

God's handling of animals:
56% approve
33% not sure
11% disapprove

God's creation of the universe
71% approve
24% not sure
5% disapprove

(reported in Aug. 23 The Christian Century)

[Overstreet]

Father James Martin spoke about this on the Colbert Report a few days ago.

[Pair]

Darrel Manson, on 25 August 2011 - 05:31 PM, said:

God's creation of the universe
71% approve
24% not sure
5% disapprove

That aggressively nihilist 5% is what I find interesting.

5%: Nope. Sorry God. This universe is garbage.
God: But you live in this universe.
5%: Nope. No good. Scrap it.
God: Your loved ones, your job and hobbies, all of your very memories?
5%: What are you, going to get emotional about it? Nope. Toss it all. You need to try something different if you want my approval.
God: Your approval itself only exists in this universe...

I can only assume they thought by disapproving of God's creation of the universe, they were disagreeing that God created the universe.

Edited by Pair, 25 August 2011 - 08:54 PM.

[Peter T Chattaway]

Pair wrote:
: I can only assume they thought by disapproving of God's creation of the universe, they were disagreeing that God created the universe.

I thought they were simply disagreeing with the notion that THIS is the best of all possible worlds. Presumably they think God could have made a better one -- one in which there is no gratuitous evil, for example.

[Pair]

Peter T Chattaway, on 25 August 2011 - 09:35 PM, said:

Presumably they think God could have made a better one -- one in which there is no gratuitous evil, for example.

You're probably correct. That's what I meant by my terrible attempt at humor with the mock conversation. They must think this universe could be better (which would by necessity be a universe that could NOT include the very people who say the universe could be better, reducing their viewpoint to one of a weird strain of nihilism) or they were trying to make some statement that had nothing at all to do with the question (which I've found many people love to do when asked a potentially probing theological or philosophical question: deflect). In any case, these are people with whom I'd be very interested in having a chat.