Strawberry Hills Pub « Floating Life: what’s in the archives here

Strawberry Hills Pub « Floating Life I have blogged with Blog This on Firefox/Windows Live Writer for no reason other than this is the point I have now reached in the archives as I go back editing and checking and occasionally deleting as I Sitemeter the individual posts. I have to confess this activity is giving a spurious boost to my Sitemeter stats too, but perhaps not more than the losses caused by unsitemetered posts not being registered over the past week.

The post also tugs at the heart a little, and 2006 — 2006! — seems distant indeed.

However, let me explain the archive here, as it is rather odd, being a blend of posts from several sources: two ventures on Blogspot — one of which is still there though on hold.

 

More from that Pew Forum

Do consider the statistics in the previous post as you contemplate the following. I have chosen attitudes to homosexuality and to environmental protection.

 

It’s a miracle: Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life

The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life is always good for a story, and today’s Sydney Morning Herald has borrowed one from The Washington Post: We believe in miracles, say 80% of Americans. I suspect a world-wide survey, were that possible, would probably find that Americans are not unique in this.

Most Americans believe that angels and demons are active in the world, and nearly 80 per cent think miracles happen, a poll has found.

Ninety-two per cent of respondents say they believe in God or a universal spirit, including one in five of those who call themselves atheists. More than half of those polled pray at least once a day.

But most of those studied – even many of the most religiously conservative – have a non-exclusive attitude towards other faiths. Seventy per cent of those affiliated with a religion believe that many religions can lead to eternal salvation.

The last item is from the point of view of democracy and peace probably more significant.

According to PEW the religious composition of the USA is as follows. “The percentage next to each religious group indicates the percentage of U.S. adults who belong to that group. For more information on how the Pew Forum classified different religious groups under particular traditions, see the survey methodology in the Full Reports.”