Americans love (nonexistent) miracles

Jerry Coyne quoted from a HuffPo article on his blog yesterday. It reported that:

. . . [A]s more people appear to be turning away from organized religion, a new study finds that the number of Americans who definitely believe in religious miracles increased 22 percent in the past two decades, with 55 percent now certain of this supernatural phenomenon.

Overall, some four in five Americans believe miracles definitely or probably occur, researcher Robert Martin of Pennsylvania State University reported at the recent meeting of the American Sociological Association in Denver.

... No one, Martin and other researchers point out, may have done more for this spiritual phenomenon than Oprah Winfrey, who with her extraordinarily popular television show and other ventures made accounts of the miraculous a regular part of the lives of millions of Americans.

Thanks for spreading idiocy, Oprah. That's just what our already illogical world needs: more nonsense. Something tells me Oprah doesn't include books like Xmas Carol in her recommendations. She should. It sounds like her audience needs a dose of reality.

PS: Though I generally loathe the internet obsession with cats, this is funny. It's also from Coyne's blog.