For the first time in American history, less than 50% of those surveyed claim to be Protestant Christians. http://pewresearch.org/ This has HUGE implications for our long-term social and political situation. Diversity can no longer be ignored by anyone who wants to make a difference. Religious minorities are now in the majority. That includes a full 20% who have no connection with any religious denomination or organization. This is too many people to ignore.
i doubt it . the non-religious have no unity . if they could dismantle the war machine that'd be cool . maybe you are thinking about sexual diversity ? of what importance is that ? to me , other people having sex is boring and this includes buhddists .. all a protestant can do is bless the children and be annoyed with shameless dogs copulating in the park .
The non-religious do have a unity of sorts. Plenty of secular and humanist movements out there trying to do great things without the god label. There was a thread that started talking about organized atheism but got taken over by intellectual circle jerking...but the attempt is out there, for better or for worse.
Secular and humanist groups I've seen have never been anti-religious. Some of the atheist groups are but even that's a wide brush.
so there is peace , oops , 'cept for HUGE nukes fear and desire . this is how i might examplify a huge implication .
Yeah, that's a short summary of the original study. Okay, I couldn't resist the obvious musical link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7y5p7qQZLH8"]R.E.M. - Losing My Religion Original HQ Music Video - YouTube Don't forget, in addition to that 20%, you also have other growing religious minorities resulting from immigration and domestic minority population growth. Catholics (Latino and otherwise) are a part of that 32% block, along with Asian and Middle Eastern religions. What all these minority groups can agree on is that they don't have to go along with the old thinking that you aren't a 'real' American who counts for anything unless you're a Protestant Christian. Generally speaking, you have to be in the majority to oppress minorities completely. When there is no clear majority, there has to be some communication and cooperation between diverse groups. Compromise can't be avoided. The trend lines are important too. How much smaller will that 48% block be in ten years? How much less power will they have? Change is in the wind. I find it exciting!
That is because of the hate that the Right Wingers have brought into the political arena. They even hate each other. If you do not believe that then you do not attend church. I have left every church I have attended over the last few years because of the politics involved. I have even heard a minister degrade the minister that spoke the previous week. No more for me thanks.
Well, since you asked... I grew up in small Southern towns where there was no knowledge of or exposure to any religious points of view other than conservative variants of Protestant Christianity. The only exceptions were tiny Catholic churchs for families that moved in (for job reasons) from the Northeast, and they kept to themselves. There was no religious turmoil or dissent in any of those towns because everybody "knew" that all "good" people were Christians with similar beliefs to their own. My family went to a United Methodist church, which used to be the most radical thing you could find in a small Southern town, and we kept our views to ourselves. It wasn't strict fundamentalism, but it was close. It was in college that the shit hit the fan, so to speak. My professors exposed me to a wide variety of world cultures and points of view, current and historical (including ancient Greek and Roman). There were also nice, friendly, intelligent students from big cities and from other countries. I quickly dropped my relatively narrow world view and traded it for one of much greater acceptance of uncertainty and diversity, but encountered angry opposition from fundamentalists in my classes and dormatory. I learned to be careful what I said in front of those who were not known to be on the same page. As an adult, I've lived in several cities, all of them much larger than any of the places where I grew up, but haven't been able to escape the national backlash against the liberal thinking of the '60's. I know plenty of adults who are genuinely fearful and angry about the existance of belief systems other than their own. A few times, I've been brave (or foolish) enough to be open and honest with some of these people about what I've learned. I always regret it. They end up ranting about secular education being a form of evil, destructive indoctrination, and that any lack of faith in the Bible proves a severe lack of reasoning skills and intelligence. Yes, I feel disrespected when that happens. I think that there probably is a Higher Power, but don't think it can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. I believe that most religions contain nothing more than collected human wisdom that is of some value in reaching a higher level of understanding of humanity, including your own spirit. I know very few individuals who can hear what I just said and respond in a polite, respectful way. I didn't even like this song when it first came out, but I gradually learned to appreciate the profound genius of its lyrics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLgYAHHkPFs"]John Lennon - Imagine - YouTube I'd like to live in that world.
I read this in the paper yesterday, the main jump seemingly an increase in the those-that-dont-give-a-shit-about-religion denomination. I feel theres a certain inevitability to it all. The Wii U comes out soon, I think that will make a bigger social impact
Aren't the numbers a lot different in Australia? I've heard for years that church participation is very low down there, even lower than in Western Europe.
It would be useless to make comparisons with both politics and religion between Aus and the US. We have a lot of really weird politicians, and religous influence is rather scarce. I dont really know why that is, its curious, we certainly have our fair share of "rednecks" but not all that religous, maybe cos it hasnt been entrenched for long enough. Or maybe it is about origins, our first colonists were convicts, and took us almost 100 years before we were known for being more than a penal colony, yours were bible thumpers. Still thread title and story - now not mostly protestant, is something I would have assumed had happen a decade or more ago. I think a lot of that to do with the information age, harder to BS everyone nowadays. So an off hand comment abount Nintendo maybe not so silly. You youtubed John Lennon, who made infamy at one time for saying the Beatles more popular than Jesus, more of an influence. And in just over a months time more people will be queuing at midnight for an Italian plumber in red overalls than all those that make the pilgramige to Mecca
That's true, we did start out mainly with Protestants escaping persecution in Europe, but most immigrants since the early days have been of the economic variety. That included massive waves of Irish and Italian Catholics about a hundred years ago, and Mexicans in the more recent past, along with people from India and the Far East in search of opportunities in higher education and research. Eventually, the cumulative effect of all this growing diversity had to add up. I'm especially enjoying being around to see a lot of older, stubborn, egotistical, white Southerners having to give up on their vision of a homogeneous society in which being different in any way from the old-school majority is the ultimate, unforgivable sin. Some of them are still pissed off about it, but they have to know by now that it's never going to happen here. That realization was so overdue, and I'm so loving every minute of it! Within the growing atheist/agnostic/disinterested group, I wonder how many of them are first or second generation Americans. The survey didn't have an ethnic breakdown for that group. Obviously, American society at large isn't going to pressure a Hindu or Buddhist or Muslim to remain so. Many smaller cities don't even have a place for them to attend services. I think what you said about Australia has a lot to do with the appeal that it has for a lot of Americans. You guys just don't seem to have a whole lot of baggage from the past to deal with. :cheers2: While John Lennon was by no means the first to promote a radically nontraditional perspective in America, he certainly did a lot to attract public attention to it; maybe more than any other person. The open-minded group that he inspired was quite loud, making them appear greater in number than they were. I doubt that he considered that controversial statement about Jesus to be literally true. I think a lot of his public statements were primarily intended to be thought-provoking. He hated simple-minded, unquestioning obedience, and those who demanded it of others. To me, he was like one of those wise old college professors who would often say things like, "Never mind what I believe. I want to know what you believe, and why you believe it. And don't tell me it's because your parents told you so. You don't deserve to pass this class if you are still thinking on that superficial level."
