I've got some ideas about the outcome of this poll that I'll comment on after it goes on for a while. Keep in mind that this is a sensitive subject so please be respectful of others opinions.

why not simplify the questions

1. theist
2. atheist
3. deist
4. agnostic

Not sure where the afterlife thing comes in. That part doesn't seem very relevant, but I don't know the end use for the collected information.

In the end, it doesn't matter WHAT you believe about this subject. Either it's true, or it isn't!

Steve Villatoro
www.stevenvillatoro.com
“An enlightened guide to small business mastery.”

I believe NONE of us have the slightest clue what is really going on. We cannot comprehend it. We only have what we BELIEVE. Ergo, one belief is no better or worse than another, and we all get to find out in the end anyways.

I am certainly hoping there is a God and Afterlife.

I wonder if it has dawned on anyone other than steve that debating whether God exists or not has NOTHING to do with the fact he exists or not.

I'm not sure that your words mean the same thing as the poll options. Isn't an agnostic someone who is not sure about things? That is not the same as any of the poll options is it? I honestly don't know myself. I guess I need to look up the some words....

Ok,

I'm a Unitarian:

• God is one versus the trinitarian heresy
• Jesus was an inspired teacher
• Where do Unitarians go after death? The Peace Corp.
• Arguing with Unitarians is like wrestling a pig. Soon you realize the pig likes it.
• When someone sneezes, Unitarians say, "Oooh, ick! Get away! Germs!"
• We live by the 10 suggestions.
• Bible study, requires bringing your own Bible and scissors.
• "If we were the kind of people who followed directions we wouldn't be Unitarians."
• Unitarian hell, 'a place where no one will disagree with you ever again!'
• Universalists think that God is too good to send them to hell. Unitarians think that they are too good for God to send them to hell.
• One kid stands up and says "This is a coffeepot and I am a Unitarian".
• A Unitarian is just a Quaker with Attention Deficit Disorder.
• A <insert conservative church minister> had a recently deceased Unitarian and asked his Bishop what to do. The reply was, "Bury all the Unitarians you want!"
• Unitarian Universalism - Where all your answers are questioned!

Most of these were shamelessly copied or adapted from:

http://stoney.sb.org/uujokes.html

Bob Wilson

Operation Iraqi Oil Freedom:

Automatic, stock, project car.

My other 1500 cc car:

Automatic, stock, backup car.
Free speech, dialog and knowledge thrives without the poison of SPAM.

I looked up the meaning of the words you used and they don't mean the same thing as what is in the poll. The afterlife thing is critical to the poll BTW. Theists and diests each belive in both a god and an afterlife. Atheists belive in neither and agnostics are just not sure about either.

The idea of a creator and an afterlife seem to be linked in most peoples minds. I kinda figured the poll would turn out the way it has with most folks believing in both and with another large group believing in neither.

I have a friend that believes in a creator but not an afterlife. Is there a name for such a belief?

Your friend is pretty close to my beliefs:

• God is
• Afterlife, something to worry about after life

The merit in living a good life is in the good we do with and for others, the degree to which we serve those around us. Whether there is something after we die is unimportant. But the 'house keeping' of some of the after life probabilities are impossible to keep up with.

If there is an after life, what ever it is, I'll deal with then. If not, no harm done. For now, I have a 'this life' and that is where my efforts are focused.

Bob Wilson

Operation Iraqi Oil Freedom:

Automatic, stock, project car.

My other 1500 cc car:

Automatic, stock, backup car.
Free speech, dialog and knowledge thrives without the poison of SPAM.

Deists do not believe in an afterlife. Deists believe some supreme being got the whole thing started, but does not interact with us (now or after we die). From my dictionary (Mac OS built-in): There is a wide range of definitions for atheism and agnosticism. Strictly speaking, atheism is simply no belief in god, where agnosticism is belief that one does not know if god exists.

The most extreme, hard core belief is the hard agnostic who believes it is impossible to know if god exists, closely followed by the hard atheist who is certain that there is no god. Note that "impossible to know" is a stronger "belief" statement than is "certain there is no" as the former is speaking globally, while the latter may just be a personal statement.

At the opposite extreme of non-theism is the soft atheist who knows nothing about any god (thus, has no belief, much as those who have never heard of the Invisible Pink Unicorn diety have no belief in the IPU), and the soft agnostic who just doesn't care (which is more properly referred to as an being apathetic).

Near the middle of these two extremes of atheism and agnosticism is the atheist who doesn't believe in any of the gods described by the various religions (that person just believes in one less god than a monotheist), and the agnostic who is uncertain about God (a fair percentage of those filling the pews on Sunday!).

Consider that a Hindu, for example, may be either (for example) an Islamic atheist, or an Islamic agnostic. That is, a theist may think different religions just have different concepts of the same God (typical of Jews, Christians, and Moslems about each other), or think that everyone of a different religion does not believe in God (the only true One that they believe in -- typical of fundamentalists of every stripe).

-- Alan (veracitorian)