Most religious groups in USA have lost ground, survey finds

[ZombieHorde]

Most religious groups in USA have lost ground, survey finds

By Cathy Lynn Grossman

When it comes to religion, the USA is now land of the freelancers.

The percentage. of people who call themselves in some way Christian has dropped more than 11% in a generation. The faithful have scattered out of their traditional bases: The Bible Belt is less Baptist. The Rust Belt is less Catholic. And everywhere, more people are exploring spiritual frontiers — or falling off the faith map completely.

snip

So many Americans claim no religion at all (15%, up from 8% in 1990), that this category now outranks every other major U.S. religious group except Catholics and Baptists. In a nation that has long been mostly Christian, "the challenge to Christianity … does not come from other religions but from a rejection of all forms of organized religion," the report concludes.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2009-03-09-american-religion-ARIS_N.htm">Much, much more at this link.

[mwb970]

1. Any reduction in the influence of religion on policy is good for America.

I'm tired of watching the country being held hostage by its religious nuts. We had these people in earlier years too, but then we laughed at them. Now we put them in charge.

Big mistake.

[saltpoint]

2. It probably hasn't helped that the extreme Right fundie nutbags

have been the 'face' of Christianity.

Instead of The Rebel Jesus, as Jackson Browne might put it.

I like those "Jesus Was A Liberal" bumper stickers.

[AndyA]

3. I'm not surprised.

Christians have allowed their religion to be used and abused by the conservative Republicans, and what the Republicans stand for aren't typical "Christian values." So, people are turned off by allowing themselves to be identified as a Christian.

And the Christian leaders are responsible. They should have denounced the tactics of the likes of James Dobson. They should have called out the GOP on its hatred, war mongering, and destruction.

Judging others and what they do isn't Christian. Accepting them and loving them are.

Fighting wars, blowing things up, killing people, and injuring them aren't Christian values. Peace, love, kindness, empathy, compassion, sympathy, lending a helping hand are.

Being a hypocrite, picking and choosing which commandments are important aren't Christian values. Accepting others and making sure you always do the right thing are.

The sooner Christian organizations denounce the Republican Party as not being Christian, the better off organized religion will be. But, perhaps "organized religion" is the problem.

[54anickel]

19. That get's sort of cyclical, doesn't it?

You say:
Christians have allowed their religion to be used and abused by the conservative Republicans, and what the Republicans stand for aren't typical "Christian values." So, people are turned off by allowing themselves to be identified as a Christian.
And the Christian leaders are responsible. They should have denounced the tactics of the likes of James Dobson....

And you say:
Judging others and what they do isn't Christian. Accepting them and loving them are.

You also say:
They should have called out the GOP on its hatred, war mongering, and destruction. (I assume "they" refers to "the Christian leaders")

There were and are many Christian leaders from all over the spectrum speaking out and marching against the war, against poverty and oppression and domination, against discrimination, etc. Surely you don't really want religious organizations to get involved in politics by calling out the GOP directly?

Remember, you said:
Judging others and what they do isn't Christian. Accepting them and loving them are.

[AndyA]

20. I guess I missed all those Southern Baptist preachers speaking out and marching against the war.

Must have really gotten some headlines, eh?

:shrug: :eyes:

[54anickel]

21. Oh, THOSE "Christian leaders".

:eyes: Back-at-cha

[Why Syzygy]

25. You're right.

It's the church's place to hold accountable; and it has failed miserably. I don't for one second believe that GW is a Christian. AFAIK, he never admitted to anything other than being "born again". For all we know, he was referring to his casket ceremony in Skull and Bones. Personally, I have objections to the whole "born again" theology as it is commonly used.

Religion should never have been politicized. That was the problem in Jesus' day, and it's the problem in ours. Of course the first to do so since that time was the RCC. But, if they hadn't done it, someone else would have, so there's no reason to hold them in special contempt. (not that you do)

[saltpoint]

4. "Now Jesus don't like killin' / No matter what the reasons's for..."

--says John Prine.

The fundamentalist mega-church cheerleading for George W. Bush's deceitful and immoral invasion and occupation of Iraq has eroded the "Christian" brand.

A lot of folks look at these pro-war Christians and they just flat-out see a pack of hypocritical jerks with blood dripping off their teeth.

[AlinPA]

7. ..and your flag decals won't get you into heaven anymore...

[pleah]

5. K&R I think there are a lot more people telling the truth.

[Marrah_G]

6. Neo-Paganism and nature based spiritualism are on the rise

[AlphaCentauri]

13. anything that can be sell will be replacing religion n/t

[moggie]

15. Sounds like you think Neo-Paganism isn't religion

That's a bit strange.

[Marrah_G]

18. Most of the country does not consider us "real"

[Marrah_G]

17. We don't sell our religion

No real High Priestess/ High Priest takes money from those she serves.

Covens are small communities, very small.

We don't pay, we don't give our leaders money.

We have no Pope...no Mega churches... no one can "kick us out"

[roguevalley]

22. its where I am at, though I love Jesus and James and what they

tried to do before Paul fucked it up.

[progressoid]

8. Good. Maybe we'll get a mini-enlightenment.

[TlalocW]

9. Prepare for this to become a cycle that feeds itself

Years and years of spewing hatred in the name of God has turned off a lot of potential church-joiners and the "inability/failure" of these "churches" to make good on their promises of getting rid of abortions and homosexuals or constantly predicting Jesus is going to pop in next Tuesday has disillusioned people who were already members. Are they going to change their message? Hell, no! They're going to ramp it up a notch because obviously it's not them that's the problem but everyone deserting them.

TlalocW

[54anickel]

24. Ramping it up a notch is probably an understatement. Check this one out -

It was posted elsewhere on DU yesterday - Unfortuneately, I didn't bookmark the thread


http://www.motherjones.com/media/2009/03/books-purpose-driven-wife



The Purpose-Driven Wife

i first encounter "teacher and exhorter" Martha Peace at a Sunday-school hall on the campus of the First Baptist Church of Jonesboro, an 8,000-person megachurch in this verdant Atlanta suburb. Spacious enough to host its own congregation, the hall is flanked by embroidered banners bearing shields, birds, and crowns. The evening's emcee, Leanne, a peppy blonde with frosty blue eye shadow, says they represent the virtues of the nearly 120 women who came to see Peace speak as part of the church's "Women of Purpose" series. As daughters of the king of kings, Leanne explains, all Christian women wear crowns. But with that honor comes a mandate to apply their faith at home.

Peace is here to help. Over the past two decades, the 62-year-old Georgia native and former nurse has written five books on biblical womanhood, conservative Christianity's answer to the women's movement. Among them are The Excellent Wife, now a classic in this burgeoning niche, and Damsels in Distress, a set of biblical solutions to female problems ranging from pms to depression to "feminist tendencies." It's common for a young Christian wife to rebel against home life as her primary ministry, Peace writes in Becoming a Titus 2 Woman, which lays out the principles of her ministry model. It's the role of older women to help her understand her priorities.

snip>

The mentoring tradition, carried out largely by thousands of lay churchwomen, fell into neglect starting in the 1960s—its leaders blame feminism—but has since enjoyed a strong resurgence in congregations ranging from the millions-strong Southern Baptist Convention to the constellation of independent Reformed evangelical churches. (Saddleback megachurch pastor Rick Warren, Obama's controversial pick for the inaugural invocation, also preaches wifely submission. The church website cites Ephesians: "So you wives must willingly obey your husbands in everything, just as the Church obeys Christ.")

Titus 2 ministering can take many forms: one-on-one sewing and housekeeping instruction, submission-centric books and magazines—one of the oldest, Above Rubies, boasts a print run of 150,000—and speaking engagements ranging from Peace's intimate dinner talks to Promise Keepers-type stadium rallies. Together, these ministries form the backbone of what its adherents call biblical man/womanhood, complementarianism, or simply the patriarchy movement.

snip>

Reaching this austere conviction via shared women's study is a process that oddly parallels the protofeminist consciousness-raising groups of the '60s and '70s, in which women recognized their common complaints as part of a larger pattern of oppression. Gloria Steinem called those groups "the primary way women discover that we are not crazy, the system is." But the Titus 2 message is precisely the opposite: The Lord's system is righteous, ungrateful feelings are sins to be surmounted, and feminist rebellion is a cultural scourge to be eradicated. The radical leap taken by Titus 2 women is unconditional surrender—an army of Phyllis Schlaflys, fighting for their own subordination based on the promise that the meek shall inherit the Earth. "It is a revolution that will take place on our knees," writes author and Peace's contemporary Nancy Leigh DeMoss.

And a revolution it may be. In October, more than 6,000 women turned out for DeMoss' "True Woman" conference in Chicago, affirming their holy duty to leave a legacy of "fruitful femininity" for the next generation.

more...

[notesdev]

10. I expect that to change

as the economy goes down the tubes, a lot of people are going to find religion, for want of anything else.

[Silent3]

11. For those who are unhappy with the mocking of religion...

From the article:

Rossi says he's typical among his friends: "If religion comes up, everyone at the table will start mocking it. I don't know anyone religious and hardly anyone 'spiritual.' "

I've often heard the complaint that, in addition to mockery of religion simply being "wrong" in some way, that atheists weren't doing themselves any favors by mocking religion because "you never change anyone's mind that way", atheists were just turning people off from atheism and making those who feel mocked dig their heels in harder, because, after all who wants to be like those mean, nasty atheists?

The aim of mockery, however, as well as more serious and diplomatic criticism, is to take religion off its pedestal and make it compete fairly in the marketplace of ideas, to strip religion of the automatic awe and reverence it has traditionally demanded, and often received, even from atheists who were either to afraid to speak up, or afraid of causing offense. The goal is for religion to be just as open to mockery as, say, supply-side economics.

The value of mockery isn't found in the results of individual conversations. You hardly ever, no matter what the issue is, no matter what debate tactics are employed, be they harsh, delicately diplomatic, or anything in between, see someone change their minds about a strongly-held belief at the end of a conversation. The value of mockery is in the effect on the general cultural environment, in making it easier for people to see the absurdities of religion and not be afraid to notice them or point them out. The value of mockery of religion is in is creating an environment where people feel safer admitting that they don't believe, where they don't feel alone when they do so, where they don't feel alone in thinking religion seems a bit crazy.

As long as atheists keep speaking out, as long as atheists aren't complicit in their own marginalization by granting religion a safe zone that their own atheism doesn't get, I think we'll continue to see the percentage of the non-religious grow in the US.

[LiberalFighter]

12. Yeaaaa!!

[polichick]

14. I was happy to see this on the newsstand this morning - people wising up!

[reggie the dog]

16. great news

seeing as most religions want to control how us athiest live even if we do no harm to others.

[Sandrine for you]

23. Hip Hip Hip Hourra !!

[Silent3]

26. The Bible Belt is less Baptist. The Rust Belt is less Catholic...

The air is clean. The water is clean. Even the dirt is clean! Bowling averages are way up. Minigolf scores are way down.