Thoughts and Prayers: The Religion Thread

Which is a nice conversational opening (thanks, Baron!) for this:

Fewer than half of Americans belong to a house of worship, a new study shows, but religion – and Christianity in particular – continues to have an outsize influence in US politics, especially because it is declining faster among Democrats than Republicans.

Just 47% of the US population are members of a church, mosque or synagogue, according to a survey by Gallup, down from 70% two decades ago – in part a result of millennials turning away from religion but also, experts say, a reaction to the swirling mix of rightwing politics and Christianity pursued by the Republican party.

David Campbell, professor and chair of the University of Notre Dame’s political science department and co-author of Secular Surge: A New Fault Line in American Politics, said a reason for the decline among those groups is political – an “allergic reaction to the religious right”.

“Many Americans – especially young people – see religion as bound up with political conservatism, and the Republican party specifically,” Campbell said.

“Since that is not their party, or their politics, they do not want to identify as being religious. Young people are especially allergic to the perception that many – but by no means all – American religions are hostile to LGBTQ rights.”

Research by Campbell shows that a growing number of Americans have turned away from religion as politicians – particularly Republicans – have mixed religion with their politics. Campbell says there has always been an ebb and flow in American adherence to religion, but he thinks the current decline is likely to continue.

“I see no sign that the religious right, and Christian nationalism, is fading. Which in turn suggests that the allergic reaction will continue to be seen – and thus more and more Americans will turn away from religion,” he said.

The number of people who identify as non-religious has grown steadily in recent decades, according to Michele Margolis, associate professor of political science at the University of Pennsylvania and author of From Politics to the Pews. More than 20% of all Americans are classed as “nones”, Margolis said, and more than a third of Americans under 30.

“That means non-identification is going to continue becoming a larger share of population over time as cohort replacement continues to occur,” Margolis said. But she agreed another factor is the rightwing’s infusion of politics with theism.

“As religion has been closed linked with conservative politics, we’ve had Democrats opting out of organized religion, or being less involved, and Republicans opting in,” she said.​

'Allergic reaction to US religious right' fueling decline of religion, experts say — The Guardian

Speaking only for myself, the religious right’s ongoing attempts to mingle its theology with politics caused me to take a look at my own religious views and to conclude that religion has become antithetical to both the Gospel and a relationship with God.

 

Also, how many people do I have to block to make this thread worth my time again?

 

I couldn't agree more.

 

Christians have been at the forefront of murder, rape and exile of Jewish people for 2,000. With barely an ounce of remorse. Christians perfected if not invented chattel slavery and genocide. The Crusades, ever hear of it. Christians, in the name of Christ, declaring war after war on Islam and Islamic peoples. Followed by the inquisition.

It Christ is Risen. And since you are going to heaven and your victims are not, you murder, rape and pillage with impunity. Jesus would be proud.

 

He was calling me a liar and a scum sucking cult member for suggesting God wants and answers prayers. My post about that was not in response to him or in relation to anything he’d posted.

 

Which prayers has God answered for you? Mind sharing?

 

Oh, definitely in patience. Discernment, self-discipline. Owning my own crap, not taking the inventory of others. (Or, at least, taking it far less.)

I pray for God's kingdom to be on the move here and elsewhere. We're actually making some progress in the US. It was long past time for Christianity to fully divest and decouple itself from the GOP, and that's happening. It's painful, and embarrassing, but it's happening. I have no illusions about Christianity in America, what's happened to it. It's been eroded from the right, for sure, and also, to some degree, from the left. It's going to have to bottom out and build itself back up.

 

I'm curious how the pandemic and our (I hope) eventual emergence from it will affect organized religion/church attendance.

We are Catholic, and very disappointed in the half-hearted way the Diocese of Boise (covers all of Idaho) addressed the ideas of social distancing and wearing masks. Both were lifted statewide just in time for Holy Week, BTW. As of March 28, no masks nor any social distancing at Mass in Idaho.

Instead of attending our local parish, my wife and I went to Mass in Helena, Mont., on Palm Sunday (we traveled there to visit our son) and Spokane, Wash., on Easter. Both dioceses take COVID seriously, still require everyone to wear masks ... including when you receive communion (Idaho parishes required you to pull the mask aside as you receive it). I'd say about 99.5 percent of attendees in Helena wore masks throughout Mass. It can be done.

Unfortunately, churches have been swept up in the maskers vs. non-maskers cultural divide just like the rest of our society. And in Idaho, the Catholic church went all-in with the anti-mask crowd.

 

“Owning my own crap, not taking the inventory of others.”

Message board existence excluded, I assume.

 

Why do you believe that God wouldn’t recognize a problem without your prayer? I’m sure there are a million children around the world praying, in their own way, that they don’t starve to death. What kind of God needs the cries of a million children to do something to help? Is God incapable of interceding to save innocent lives or unwilling.
And we have the entire human existence as evidence that God has either failed to act or is incapable of acting to save lives on a large scale.

 

It's easy, and doesn't require any "hunting." Do a search for fucktard as a keyword and hey abbott as the poster, and voila...[rolls eyes, again]. Just give it up, Alma. That's why I just said "OK."

 

OK, this post is for one specific poster and it’s on this thread because I know he’ll find it. I’ve used The Button on him because I’m kind of tired of him right now.

I’m sorry about your wife. It’s not part of any plan, just like my mom dying from dementia in less than four years wasn’t part of any plan. You’re having to grieve for her while she’s still here, and it’s manifesting here as unadulterated rage. Probably manifesting elsewhere, too.

Your anger comes from your pain. Your grief comes from your pain. I learned in therapy a long time ago that you have to deal directly with that pain.

You don’t need to talk to people who disagree with you on a message board. You need to talk to a professional therapist — and not a paraprofessional like clergy or a social worker, but a real mental health professional.

I did many years ago for reasons not related to grieving a loved one, and it’s the only reason I’m still here.

Take the time. Stay here if you want, leave if you feel you must, but take the time to talk to a professional grief counselor. Take the time to deal with that pain.