Religion in America

[BayCityProgressive]

I found a few very interesting links regarding religion in America today. I really think that this explains why the religous Right is trying to ram their beliefs down everyone's throat. According to studies Christianity is quickly losing it's influence in America. Only 50% of Americans now claim to be religious. only 76% are now claiming to be Christian. In 1990 86% claimed to be Christian.

At the rate Christianity is decliningby 2042 the majority of Americans will no longer be Christian. Also, Wicca/paganism (which I follow pretty closely) is the fasted growing faith in America...it is doubling in size every 18 months and by 2012 will be the US 3rd largest religion. Muslims, Non-religious, Unitarians, New Agers and others are also increasing. What do DUers think of these trends? Are most people on DU Christian? Also, do you think the Religious Right is just making a desperate last grasp at power because they know their time is short? Here are some links:

http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_prac2.htm
http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2005/4/emw231351.htm
http://www.adherents.com/rel_USA.html

[eallen]

1. I hope it is a desparate last grasp. And I'll do what I can to cut their damned fingers off.

:hippie:

[Skittles]

2. I wish religion would fade, period, and world-wide

I'm completely sick of all religion

[BayCityProgressive]

4. I consider myself to be

a spiritual person And religion doesn't bother me. What bothers me is when fundies try ramming their beliefs on everyone or when people blindly follow a belief just because a book tells them to. I am spiritual but I can still use common sense, science, and my life can be complete without ramming my views down other peoples throats.

[More Than A Feeling]

5. What do you think the attraction of paganism is?

Why is it rising so fast?

[BayCityProgressive]

6. Well

for one thing there is no middle man. You don't need a pope or a priest to tell you how to live your life or talk to God for you. That is a big thing. It isn't structured around a building. You can practice with others or with yourself. There isn't some concept of Hell for everyone who doesn't do what they are told.

Also, paganism is very Earth based and focused on nature. This appeals to a lot of people who are environmentally aware and it will be interesting to see how this effets US politics as the religion grows. Pagans/ Wiccans also acknowledge a male and female spiritual energy in the form of gods, spirits ect rather than simply one male god. This appeals to women who feel left out by male dominated religion.

Most pagans also believe in things like Karma and reincarnation as being a part of nature. Paganism has about 8 major holidays which all focus around nature. some of modern paganism comes from ancient beliefs and rites but the religion is also open enough that it can be modernized as society grows it isn't pigeon holed by any specific text or authority.

[BayCityProgressive]

8. I don't think

that it is any coincidence that as paganism and feminine spirituality increases across the planet that the Catholic church is trying to make the Virgin Mary more and more a central figure in their faith. The Catholics have a long history of using Saints to take the place of other religious dieties and I think some Catholics know that the time of male dominated religion is quickly coming to an end and they are making a weak last ditch effort to mantain relevence by elevating Mary. Unlike paganism though, Catholicism has a strict set of rules and it will be hard for them to make any major changes without contradicting themselves and invalidating their entire cause.

It's interesting to note that in the US and latin America especially, many people practice Voodoo, Santeria or Candomble. These are all pagan religions that Changed the names of their Gods/Spirits to the names and images of Saints so as not to conflict with the Church. There is a saying that Haiti is 20% Protestant 80% Catholic but 100% Voodoo.

[Warpy]

12. Rome has always elevated Mary into a demigod

because that's the only way they could appeal to the pagans in the north when the age of conquest and then conversion were going on. Shoot, that's the only way they could appeal to any of the pagans who had sensibly demanded a panoply of gods and goddesses instead of only one sky god, one with a penis, throughout the Mediterranean at that time.

The elevation of Mary is nothing new, in other words. Plus, she's the only one who's put in an appearance since the crucifixion. Her son had promised to return before his disciples had all died, but he's late. Very late.

I'm not convinced it will play as well now that people are heartily sick and tired of the newest wave of Puritans and other wack jobs out there trying to bully them into conforming to their narrow and limited sense of morality.

If you want to know why people are turning away from traditional religion, consider the bullying over the last 26 years. If I hadn't turned away long ago, I'd be turning away now.

[Skittles]

15. I just want people to keep their relgion to themselves

increasingly, they are not...

[More Than A Feeling]

3. The Christianists are trying to ram their beliefs down people's throats because...

they feel like they've lost control, and that makes them insecure. They face the possibility that in order to maintain their beliefs and ensure that their children will hold the same beliefs, they will have to completely cut themselves off from the broader culture. Exposure to ideals of reason and tolerance undermines the worldview in which they are the most special people in the whole wide world, and everyone wants to be like them and is shunned if they don't or aren't. Christianists don't want to treat others as they would like to be treated, because they think they deserve to be treated better, because in their minds, they are better. Christianists think they are being discriminated against when other people fail to pay obeisance to their worldview, when instead they have simply lost imagined power, prestige, and privilege they had no legitimate claim to in the first place.

[papau]

7. Only 6% claim to be atheist - no real change in 75 years - I do not see

quickly losing it's influence in America. The Harris poll of a few years ago said 4% Atheist - so there is an uptrend - until one discusses margin of error (MOE) in these polls.

That Harris poll can be read to say that 94% are "religious in some way". and it was 80% Cristian as I recall with the vast majority of those keeping the Sabbath Holy at least most of the time

But I did enjoy the "Wicca/paganism is the fasted growing faith" - I don't doubt that it is in percentage terms - which is not quite the same as in numbers of persons who lean that way. :-)

[BayCityProgressive]

9. Well

atheism doesn't have to take the place of Christianity. Any other belief can and is slowly replacing it though. I had another link somewhere that also showed that less than 50% of Americans attended religious services once a month.

[papau]

23. less than 50%? Then there is hope for the future - right? You do know that

most folks in the EU believe in God but rarely attend church (the local joke is often that you are in church twice - for baptism and for your funeral).

Indeed read the Vatican's local reports from a 1000 years ago - full of worry about low church attendance among the general population - and indeed fighting large movements (that socially look a lot like today's atheists) that claimed you were a better person, and therefore more pleasing to God, if you did not attend church.

[Hamlette]

13. they asked a new question that year, "do you live with an atheist"

19% said they did. So, the way I see it, only 6% of will admit to being atheists and another 13% won't but are.

[papau]

22. If asked & 4 to a family the math gives "living with" a 5% of the population, doesn't it?

Then there is the "in the same house" or in the same building -

then there's the large family that "lives with" the situation -

then there is one person saying what another's belief system is (a complaint heard often on DU) but not really knowing.

The way I see it, with 40% of new births out of wedlock last year, there are quite a few bitter folks about a friend/lover's lack of commitment - leading to te use of "athiest" to describe their belief system.

Of course the above is all in theory, because it appears based on whats on the Harris site that the Harris poll's question list did not have the new question last month, "do you live with an atheist" :-) But it is so hard to prove a negative! :-)

I bet you are discussing some other survey you saw - if so, who did the survey and is it posted anywhere with details?

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

10. The Mayans would call it evolution in consciousness

(check out www.mayanmajix.com to find out more about this).

Tomorrow, I'm going to a community After Thanksgiving dinner. I expect to see Sufis, Wiccans, people practicing Native American traditions, folks form Unity, and more. What's funny is that we all get along. When we have a visitor to our Dances of Universal Peace who is a pagan, we dance Goddess dances and dances honoring Wicca. Same for Native American tradition. I think one thing that makes these paths so attractive to many is this very fact--no one tries to "change" you, to say your path is "wrong"-instead your path is tolerated and honored. I still recall when a Wiccan lady came to inipi(sweatlodge) and cried when she realized she could pray in her way and it was welcome. Spirit, as the Water Pourer said, cares what is in your heart, not the words you say.

[conscious evolution]

28. Really?!?!?!

I'm all for that!

[undeterred]

11. this is a hard thing to measure

I'm not sure you can get at this by doing polls or counting membership. I am a Christian and have been for over 30 years. I despise the religious right, even though I probably understand it a little better than someone who has never been religious. So I am a lot less likely to publicly identify myself as "religious" than I used to be.

The thing is, when the numbers of people who vote against marriage equality outnumber the people who favor marriage equality, and when Roe v. Wade is in danger of being overturned, there are still an awful lot of conservative religious people out there, Catholic, fundamentalist, or otherwise. And many of them are in positions of power, like the Supreme Court. I was shocked that the marriage amendment passed 59-41 in Wisconsin, and that we elected an anti-choice attorney general earlier this month. Doesn't feel like its declining to me.

[Nikki Stone1]

14. How do Wiccans breakdown politically?

?

[MoseyWalker]

16. Maybe Americans will be educated

and use their intelligence to decline membership in any "religion"

:)

[MGD]

18. Your avatar is of Jimmy Carter who has the highest recorded IQ of any US President

and he is a devout Christian. What say you?

[MoseyWalker]

19. I ain't perfect!

Who knows what lurks in the hearts of men. Ask Jimmy!

We're all human and basically fighting the same battles, you know.

[MGD]

21. Nobody is...except Jesus.

"Who knows what lurks in the hearts of men."
I have a pretty good idea. It ain't pretty.

"We're all human and basically fighting the same battles, you know."
It's a bsttle against the inner beast IMO. By inner beast, I mean the one that we are 93% genetically similar to.

[MGD]

17. I think most of them are doing what they feel is right as their faith determines.

"only 76% are now claiming to be Christian. In 1990 86% claimed to be Christian."

Christianity has always ebbed and flowed in America as America is notoriously cyclical.

[and-justice-for-all]

20. Anything is better then Xtianitdom or the like....

...I prefer a religious free world, and if it takes going through alternative religions to get there, I can stomache those more so then I can Xtianity, Jeudeoism or Islam. The alternative religions are at lest non-violent and easy to get along with.

[BlooInBloo]

24. I go with "christianism", personally.

[Warren DeMontague]

25. Not only that, but people stubbornly refuse to stop dancing, or fucking for pleasure.

The Puritans are pissed.

[varun]

26. We need more religious / spiritual / non religious diversity in America

When there are competing ideas, its good for everyone. Right now, the 'Religious right" has too much power, and they need to be challenged by other ideas.

[earth mom]

27. I'm not surprised because the fundies have done it to themselves.

The fundie nutjobs have twisted Jesus' words to be almost unrecognizable as they've used them in the most nasty and vile ways while at the same time being lying hypocrites themselves. They are reaping what they've sown.