I just don't get it

[Pat Mustard]

One thing I would really love to study, but the hardest thing to get data on, is how much theists believe what they say they believe.

I'm sure some of them really believe everything. Some I expect believe only parts of it, and some probably don't believe it at all. There are many motivations for professing belief, which have nothing to do with the truth of the statements.

There are probably self confessed "atheists" who really do believe in god. What people say, and what they really think, are two different things.

One last point: our ability as a species to ask questions far outstrips our ability to come up with answers. This causes discomfort in some people.

According to the Irish catholic bishops conference 10.1% of self identifying Irish catholics don't believe in god. It's the third result on this google search.

Fact of the matter is most people don't examine their religion closely enough to know what they're supposed to believe and are essentially a la carte.