Percentage of Christians now lowest in American history

[Miles]

From FoxNews.Com



"Where Have All the Christians Gone?

The number of people who claim no religious affiliation, meanwhile, has doubled since 1990 to fifteen percent, its highest point in history.

Christianity is plummeting in America, while the number of non-believers is skyrocketing.

A shocking new study of Americans’ religious beliefs shows the beginnings of a major realignment in Americans’ relationship with God. The American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) reveals that Protestants now represent half of all Americans, down almost 20 percent in the last twenty years. In the coming months, America will become a minority Protestant nation for the first time since the pilgrims.

Young people are fleeing faith. Nearly a quarter of Americans in their 20’s profess no organized religion.

Today, the rise of disaffection is so powerful that different denominations needs to band together to find a shared language of God that can move beyond the fading divisions of the past and begin moving toward a partnership of different-but-equal traditions.

Or risk becoming Europe, where religion is fast becoming an afterthought."

Source and more


Ouch!

[elle]

Why should Christians care how many other Christians there are walking around?

I don't get it...

They believe very differently from you that they need to spread their beliefs to many people as possible in order to "save" them. If the numbers are dropping, more people are being led astray by evil and damned to hell. I think because of this, they believe they have reason to feel dismay over the dwindling numbers whereas others do not care or think it's a positive sign.

I would pass this article along for giggles, but I don't want to give any more attention to anything that the pinnacle of journalistic bias known as Fox News produces than it's already gotten so far.

[Jayhawker Soule]

Small observation.

I am happy that Fox news exists and it is tops in the ratings. Compared to the talking pie holes at the loser MSNBC they are the preeminent news group.

What is this propensity of conservatives to denigrate those they don't agree with. (That's a rhetorical question of course. We all know why.)

Similar observation:

• What is this propensity of atheists to denigrate those they don't agree with. (That's a rhetorical question of course. We all know why.)

[Jayhawker Soule]

I wonder to what extent the decline in religious affiliation reflects an informed philosophy versus the disinterested lack of one on the part of the "me" generation.

[Jayhawker Soule]

Could it be because people are learning more - and in the process are discovering more about Christianity - and thus are realising its flaws in logic/sense?

I suspect that religious literacy is at an all time low.

From my point of view: the more you read the bible, the more Atheist you become.

That is no doubt true for some and untrue for others. And the first group is, I suspect, highly heterogeneous, including many who have the most shallow understanding and appreciation of what they read.

[VermilionUK]

Could it be because people are learning more - and in the process are discovering more about Christianity - and thus are realising its flaws in logic/sense?

I suspect that religious literacy is at an all time low.

From my point of view: the more you read the bible, the more Atheist you become.

That is no doubt true for some and untrue for others. And the first group is, I suspect, highly heterogeneous, including many who have the most shallow understanding and appreciation of what they read.

Yup. Although whenever I take a read of the bible, I think of it as a glimpse into our past understandings of how the world worked, and how human society worked. The more I read of it the more I realise how poverty stricken our understanding was in those times.

[Jayhawker Soule]

Could it be because people are learning more - and in the process are discovering more about Christianity - and thus are realising its flaws in logic/sense?

I suspect that religious literacy is at an all time low.

From my point of view: the more you read the bible, the more Atheist you become.

That is no doubt true for some and untrue for others. And the first group is, I suspect, highly heterogeneous, including many who have the most shallow understanding and appreciation of what they read.

Yup. Although whenever I take a read of the bible, I think of it as a glimpse into our past understandings of how the world worked, and how human society worked. The more I read of it the more I realise how poverty stricken our understanding was in those times.

So we have your realization and their understanding. I agree that at least one was/is poverty stricken. At the same time, the Bible is more than cosmology and etiology. As more than one rabbi has noted, it was an effort to sanctify the mundane, to demythologize, to, as one rabbi put it, ethicize ritual and ritualize ethics. Often (in my opinion) the very human authors of Torah "got it wrong," but equally often they got it wrong for all the right reasons.

[T-mash]

From FoxNews.ComPercentage of Christians now lowest in American history

Ouch!

Finally! Was about time that Fox News started broadcasting positive news.

[Cathar1950]

From FoxNews.ComPercentage of Christians now lowest in American history

Ouch!

Finally! Was about time that Fox News started broadcasting positive news.

I can hardly stand watch FOX news and wonder how they can have so many shows I like on FOX and yet have such weird biased news.

[T-mash]

From FoxNews.ComPercentage of Christians now lowest in American history

Ouch!

Finally! Was about time that Fox News started broadcasting positive news.

I can hardly stand watch FOX news and wonder how they can have so many shows I like on FOX and yet have such weird biased news.

Because their news is like their shows. Appealing to the majority and based on entertainment/sensation. Works fine for shows, because that is what you are looking for in a show. Doesn't work that well for news because being objective and neutral isn't as sensational as picking a side and bashing the other.

[Miles]

Small observation.

I am happy that Fox news exists and it is tops in the ratings. Compared to the talking pie holes at the loser MSNBC they are the preeminent news group.

What is this propensity of conservatives to denigrate those they don't agree with. (That's a rhetorical question of course. We all know why.)

Similar observation:

• What is this propensity of atheists to denigrate those they don't agree with. (That's a rhetorical question of course. We all know why.)

Gee! Could it be that for hundreds of years atheists and other non-believers of a particular faith---particularly Christianity--were ridiculed, mocked, derided, and even hounded and put to death for their disbelief?