Why do Americans believe in God despite all the evidence?????

[LBJer]

While it's certainly true that a belief in God is far from confined to the U.S. (there are many people who believe in God everywhere), it's also true that the percentage of people who believe is much higher in the U.S. than in most European countries.  In most surveys, more than 90 percent of Americans polled say they believe in God, making a belief in God one of the very few things that more than 90 percent of the population agrees on.  In a 2005 study, the only European countries with this high a percentage of believers were Turkey and Malta.  In one survey, only 4 percent of Americans claimed to be atheists, while nearly one third (31 percent) of the French said they were.  

So instead of asking why Americans believe in God, a better question would be: "Why is a belief in God so overwhemingly held in the U.S., when in many other Western countries this belief is far from unanimous?"

[LBJer]

There is ultimately no evidence for or against the existence of a god.

/thread

I guess it depends on what you mean by "evidence" and "a god."  Many people, including me, would argue that the many horrific and terribly unjust things that have happened in the world are very inconsistent, to say the least, with the existence of a god that is both all good and all powerful.