According to a 2009 Pew Research survey, the percentage of people in the United States who believe in God with absolute certainty is 71 percent.

In other words, a substantial seven in 10 do; a substantial three in 10 don’t.

That’s reality, and as the saying goes, you can deny reality, but you can’t avoid it.

State by state, the 2009 Pew numbers show that the percentage that believes in God varies from 54 percent (NewHampshire/Vermont) to 91 percent (Mississippi).

Pennsylvania is at 72 percent, about the average for a state. As we know, Pennsylvania goes from large urban regions to large rural regions, and percentages will vary regionally.

The same survey report says the percentage of people attending worship services at least weekly is 39 percent for the country, ranging state by state from 22 percent in Alaska to 60 percent in Mississippi. Pennsylvania is once again average at 39 percent.

This measure is significant because it is an important determinant of how a person will vote.

In my work, in politics and belief issues, there are additional things to consider.

One is those people who attend religious services, but aren’t especially religious. They might attend for community, business or family reasons, or just to avoid criticism.

One local businessman, prominent in his church, told me with a smile that “You don’t have to be religious to attend church.”

Places of worship are aware of this reality when they market themselves for their activities, convenience, entertaining services and reasons other than their beliefs.

Part of my work is hosting a group called Raft Ups, where, to use a sailing metaphor, folks come from different courses of belief to anchor together for two hours, seeking self-awareness of one’s own belief, not consensus, and then continue on their separate courses of belief.

In a Raft Up, we brainstormed over 50 reasons to worship as a congregation and saw that the vast majority of them were not specific to particular beliefs and indeed had little to do with beliefs (or religion or faith, if you prefer those terms).

So, yes, the reality is that there are those who are religious but not committed to one denomination. They might be in interfaith marriages or have selected a place of worship for convenience or many reasons having nothing to do with beliefs.

Then there are religious and nonreligious people “searching and questioning” and willing to contemplate other beliefs.

In my experience, they are usually remarkably nice people with much tolerance and willingness to help others regardless of different beliefs. Many of the Raft Uppers fall into this category and therefore enjoy and benefit from our nonthreatening, nonjudgmental discussions.

And, finally, just as there are those who’ve had enough of political talk, there are those who’ve had enough of religious talk.

This doesn’t mean that they are necessarily apathetic about religion.

It might mean that they have thought a lot about religion — and might have high ethical standards — but they, like many who are more engaged, don’t need to talk on and on about these things.

Again, reality is that the common weave of our community is in large part made up of many people of varying degrees of belief and nonbelief acting ethically and in goodwill with one another.

No one belief has a corner on goodness.

This goes to another reality: Whether we are confronted by evangelical fundamentalists or what I call “evangelical atheists,” the confrontations can be overdone for what I guess is the majority of us.

Actions still speak louder than words. Understanding and respecting that someone doesn’t agree with you is still good.

A friend of mine, who grew up in Europe as a religious minority within yet another religious minority, told me that her grandmother taught her to seek the good in every belief.

That practice makes for peace of mind and is a big step toward world peace.



TOM DIFFENBACH of Susquehanna Twp. moderates Raft Up discussions locally and online. Diffenbach@comcast.net.