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Reply #6: We have already re-defined who we are. Obama is simply acknowledging it. [View All]

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Home » Discuss » Archives » General Discussion: Presidential (Through Nov 2009) Donate to DU
Lyric Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-24-09 07:59 AM
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6. We have already re-defined who we are. Obama is simply acknowledging it.
The "overwhelming majority" who identify as "Christian" phrase is misleading: if we offered around a poll of America that asked, "How big of a role in your day-to-day life does religion play?", I suspect that the answer would indicate something startling to the Christian right-wing. The fact is, for most of us, religion really *isn't* that important. Even if we consider ourselves "religious," we are not devoutly so. Only a tiny percentage of us actually live religious lives, which I loosely define as attending church or worship services regularly, praying/invoking at meals, praying/invoking at regular intervals throughout the day, strictly observing religious rules about everyday behavior, and so forth.

The Christian right considers anyone who even vaguely identifies as "Christian" to be part of "the fold," but the reality is that when it comes to how we live, most American "Christians" are really only Christians in name. We don't live that way anymore. I do not know a single person--not even ONE--in my real life who attends church every Sunday, for example. Most of them go at Christmas and Easter to "catch up," if that, but nothing more. And yet, plenty of them say that they're "Christian" if asked.

I submit that "Christian" as a word in America has ceased to mean what it used to mean. It is now more of a vague indicator to how someone was raised than about how they live their actual lives. We repeat what our parents told us out of habit--not out of devotion.

Just my opinion, based on my own observations.
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