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(DIR) Return to: Philosophical Questions
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#Post#: 11020--------------------------------------------------
Decline of Religion in America
By: Kerry Date: June 17, 2015, 8:18 pm
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Americans' confidence in religion continues to slide according
to polls. From USA Today
(HTM) http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/06/17/americans-confidence-religion-poll/28872253/:
Americans have less confidence in organized religion today than
ever measured before — a sign that the church could be "losing
its footing as a pillar of moral leadership in the nation's
culture," a new Gallup survey finds.
"In the '80s the church and organized religion were the No.
1″ in Gallup's annual look at confidence in institutions,
said Lydia Saad, author of the report released Wednesday.
Note that -- the '80's when Reagan was President. That was the
beginning of the end if you ask me. We started seeing more
ministers getting involved in politics. Oh, it worked to get
Reagan elected. The politicians have benefited; but the clergy
have lost respect by acting more like politicians than religious
leaders. As a Christian, I agree with Paul when he says the
power of the state is to suppress evil -- to strike terror in
the hearts of people who think about doing evil. I think the
clergy should not concern with what to do with criminals or the
politics of criminalizing evil. I think they should appeal to
us by appealing to our best motives, should believe people want
to be good and then encourage our better sides by teaching how
to be good. I am so tired of ministers raving about this and
that as threats to society and telling us we need to take their
political position -- what are they ministers for, why aren't
they politicians if they think you have to be a politician to
get people to act in a Christian manner.
Can we pass laws that compel us to love each other? You know
we can't. The true power of religion is revealed when we
embrace it wanting to become better people ready to love our
neighbor more. Religion demeans itself, I think, when it
appeals to the government to do its bidding.
Scandals have an impact and so do the personalities in the news.
During scandals involving prominent televangelists in the late
'80s, Protestant confidence in organized religion slid from a
high of 73% in 1985 to 51% in 1989. Confidence moved briefly
back upward before the downturn in recent years.
Similarly, Catholic confidence reached nearly its lowest ebb
(41%) during the peak of the Catholic sex abuse scandal in 2002.
Catholic views may have recovered 10 percentage points in part
because of the "Francis factor."
#Post#: 11036--------------------------------------------------
Re: Decline of Religion in America
By: HOLLAND Date: June 21, 2015, 9:45 pm
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I tend to agree with what you're saying, Kerry. It is also a
sociological fact that every political and cultural movement
creates its own nemesis in a political and cultural
counter-reaction. The skepticism in respect to religious faith,
I think, has less to do with the faith in Christ itself but
rather the political and cultural uses it has been put to.
People tend to be politically conservative, especially as they
get older, but they are rarely reactionary as is represented by
much of the politics involving American religion right now. As
the political right decays, it will, I think, decay much as the
New Left did in the 1960s. We'll see the same shoddy, squalid
end.
Peace be with you!
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