America's Changing Landscape of FAITH

[lfot]

Based on a new Pew survey... Discuss.

Reuters Article
New York Times Article

[Mule]

Ladies & gentlemen, introducing, Is There A God 4.

[lfot]

Originally Posted by Mule

Ladies & gentlemen, introducing, Is There A God 4.

There is no mention of the question of the existence of God. I post this because of the seemingly high number of Christians on the OT. Did they start out Christian as children? Have people here switched from one faith to another? Why the animosity of one faith and not another?

[kstar]

After seeing the Evolution thread poll, here's even more refreshing and enlightening news.

Best,

Kurt

[Jim Richards]

Why, they should've included us Pastafarians in their survey.

[legion]

Funny, almost without exception, the most fervent anti-Christianity (I can't say anti-religion, because we all know that isn't true) people I knew were raised Catholic. They seems to project their bad experiences with religion onto all flavors of Christianity.

I personally don't see anything wrong with Catholicism. I wasn't raised Catholic, but most of my friends over the years have been Catholic. I've been to many a confirmation and wedding.

[Nathans_Dad]

My take on the data is pretty simple. People are moving away from the hard core religions (such as Catholicism). Catholicism dominates in the 3rd world countries, especially the hispanic ones. Here in America the Catholic stance on birth control, etc has driven people out...and the pedophile thing hasn't helped either. As long as Rome holds the hard line on these issues, I think Catholicism will continue to decline in the western world.

I was raised Baptist, my wife was raised Catholic....so we met in the middle and go to a Methodist church.

[HardDrive]

People are giving up religion.....good.

[stevepaa]

Rick, was that hard for her and her family to not be wedded by a priest or did you guys decide to change after the marriage? Same situation here,but we stayed in the Catholic church.

[kstar]

Gotta give the Catholics some credit - that Church has accepted evolution . . . at least.

Best,

Kurt

[onewhippedpuppy]

Interesting table. I was raised a Methodist by two fairly uninterested parents, more to please my grandparents than anything. After years of going to Catholic church with my wife, I chose to convert.

Oddly enough, I like the fact that the church hasn't lightened up over the years. Unlike many churches, where the members simply pat each other on the back over what great people they are, I enjoy being challenged to be a better person. Not to bash any other religions, but I think church should remind you how much better of a person you are capable of being.

[Komenda Fan]

I agree with Jim, I hate when my religious beliefs are ignored. I actually think that having the FSM in this survey would have been interesting, I can almost guarantee it would have seen very impressive growth.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

"Recovering Catholic" here.

It's refreshing to see this trend, honestly. I have no love for organized religion of any flavor. It's done far more to fragment and damage the world than contribute to it.

My spiritual views are just that - spiritual. Meaning "personal". I share them with nobody and don't need to.

[The Gaijin]

The biggest increase is in the "non-denominational" Protestant group. That is the unaffiliated, usually quite conservitive groups.

[frogger]

Originally Posted by The Gaijin

The biggest increase is in the "non-denominational" Protestant group. That is the unaffiliated, usually quite conservitive groups.

I'm not sure this is valid. For example, look at the decline in the Baptists' ranks.

[JavaBrewer]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

Not to bash any other religions, but I think church should remind you how much better of a person you are capable of being.

+1 Less focus is needed on "praising God" and more on being a solid caring person.

[lfot]

Originally Posted by dmoolenaar

+1 Less focus is needed on "praising God" and more on being a solid caring person.

You can have that without religion.

[frogger]

This is where it's at, guys.

http://www.pinkunicorn.net/

[JavaBrewer]

Originally Posted by lfot

You can have that without religion.

That's what we've been trying to stay for a long long time now but many of the flock think it's impossible to be good without their flavor of God. As one has stated many times "we have no hope"...

[Nathans_Dad]

Originally Posted by stevepaa

Rick, was that hard for her and her family to not be wedded by a priest or did you guys decide to change after the marriage? Same situation here,but we stayed in the Catholic church.

Her family is pretty hard core Catholic. We got married in a Baptist church, the ceremony had two officials in it, one was my uncle (a Baptist minister) and the other my wife's Catholic priest. He was VERY progressive in agreeing to perform the ceremony in a non-Catholic church. We had to do the Catholic pre-Cana (sp?) classes and such but that actually turned out to be a good thing. Her parents knew we would not be practicing as Catholics, there is no way I could convert over...I just have a few too many basic differences between my beliefs and what the Catholic church teaches.

Anyhow, fwiw, we are now in a Methodist church and are the most active of any of the kids in her side of the family, all of whom are Catholic. I dunno what her mom really thinks of the situation, would you rather have a non-practicing Catholic child or a practicing Protestant child??