Authoritarian, Critical, Benevolent, Distant: God's Personality
So it turns out our take on God's personality and His level of engagement with the world matters.
A new poll written by Baylor University's Institute for Studies of Religion, a survey hailed as the most extensive sampling of religious beliefs in American history, suggests that a person's view of God is the most accurate predictor of social and political beliefs. According to this survey administered by the Gallop organization, Americans see God through one of four lenses.
Authoritarian: This is a God who is actively involved in our day to day affairs, and is a wrathful God, angry at the sins of humanity.
Benevolent: This God is actively involved in our world and our decisions, but is not angry. One analyst suggests the forgiving father of the prodigal story is the primary picture of this view of God.
Critical: The critical God is not involved in our affairs, but remains ready to judge the world at the end of time.
Distant: Those who see Him as distant are the ones who figure God started the world on its course, then decided to just leave it alone and let it play out its own destiny.
From an article in USA Today:
Still, says Baylor's Christopher Bader, "you learn more about people's moral and political behavior if you know their image of God than almost any other measure. It turns out to be more powerful a predictor of social and political views than the usual markers of church attendance or belief in the Bible."
Though 12.2% overall say abortion is wrong in all circumstances, the number nearly doubles to 23.4% for those who see an authoritarian God and slides to 1.5% for followers of a distant God.
Other social and political issues, such as God's role in government and views of sexuality, skew in the same way. Analysts are saying the survey shatters the old conservative/liberal labels: people are more complex than that, and that a person's view of God colors everything.
The overall thrust of the articles I've seen regarding this survey are suggesting that America may be less secular than we imagine. It seems strange that, as the Washington Post article mentions, "that one in 10 people who picked 'no religion' out of 40 choices did something interesting when asked later where they worship: They named a place." Non-religious people heading off to church?
I'm curious how this survey compares with the years of work George Barna's group has done.
Think maybe meditating on the nature of God has practical results?
6:07:49 AM 
