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hrmjustin

(71,265 posts)
Tue May 12, 2015, 05:10 PM May 2015

Christians lose ground, ‘nones’ soar in new portrait of US religion

Cathy Lynn Grossman

WASHINGTON (RNS) The United States is a significantly less Christian country than it was seven years ago.

That’s the top finding — one that will ricochet through American faith, culture and politics — in the Pew Research Center’s newest report, “America’s Changing Religious Landscape,” released Tuesday (May 12).

This trend “is big, it’s broad and it’s everywhere,” said Alan Cooperman, Pew’s director of religion research.

Christianity still dominates American religious identity (70 percent), but the survey shows dramatic shifts as more people move out the doors of denominations, shedding spiritual connections along the way.

http://www.religionnews.com/2015/05/12/christians-lose-ground-nones-soar-new-portrait-u-s-religion/



Heartbreaking that peolle are leaving the faith.

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NYC_SKP

(68,644 posts)
1. The Kardashians are winning, we no longer honor so many good things.
Tue May 12, 2015, 05:17 PM
May 2015

Among these:

Hardworking people and their jobs, now seen as failures.

Crafts, disrespected and not artsy enough, one school even dropped the word from their name, California College of Arts and Crafts.

Public service and service clubs, community service has come to mean punishment, jail deferral.

Attending regular services of any kind, not just Christian but others.

We now honor electronic gizmos and Kardashians and fashion and shoes and makeup.

 

AlbertCat

(17,505 posts)
4. The culture has taken a turn towards the ridiculous in many ways.
Tue May 12, 2015, 07:47 PM
May 2015

True true...

But rejecting ancient superstitions, and the institutions that fleece people with them is not one of the ways.

kentauros

(29,414 posts)
7. Please refrain from criticising religion in this group.
Tue May 12, 2015, 10:51 PM
May 2015

Our SOP is quite clear in that regard, as stated under the "About this group" button. And if you cannot hold yourself back from poor choices of words and phrasing, you will be asked to leave.

okasha

(11,573 posts)
12. There's the occasional glimmer of hope, though.
Wed May 13, 2015, 12:53 AM
May 2015

The San Antonio School of Arts and Crafts has not only kept its name but has been certified to grant BFA's.

In a sense all art is craft because the successful artist is the one who hauls ass 8-12 hours a day, experiments with technique, pushes the envelope with the materials, goes off on weird tangents with both. "Inspiration" comes out of those things; it's not a brick from heaven that falls on your head. And it results in innovations that can be taught to others.

kentauros

(29,414 posts)
3. Are people truly "shedding spiritual connections"
Tue May 12, 2015, 06:52 PM
May 2015

or are they simply not associating with any one particular religion? There is a major difference, and we've all tried to get that point across in the past with the last research poll that put forth the "nones" category.

okasha

(11,573 posts)
8. At the end of their lives, both my parents were "nones."
Wed May 13, 2015, 12:03 AM
May 2015

My mom had split with her Baptist church over its shady tax deal with a grocery chain, and my dad was an unchurched Episcopalian because he was divorced and remarried. Yet my mom's funeral was conducted by a Catholic deacon and my dad's by a Methodist minister. Neither had abandoned the faith, just relocated themselves on the spectrum.

 

TM99

(8,352 posts)
9. I think you make an important point.
Wed May 13, 2015, 12:15 AM
May 2015

My father towards the end of his life was not as active in the Episcopal church as my mother still is. Both of my sisters would say they are not religious or that they follow any denomination, yet one is nominally Christian but meditates through a Zen center & the other is active in a UU church so that my nephew has exposure to many traditions and faiths.

All of them are still quite spiritual, they just 'relocated' on that spectrum as you put it.

okasha

(11,573 posts)
10. I think this is becoming increasingly common.
Wed May 13, 2015, 12:28 AM
May 2015

One of my dearest friends is an observant Jew (Reform.). One of her sons is now strictly Orthodox; another is a Wiccan priest. A mutual friend was raised completely without religion. He's now attending shul with her, and he's probably going to convert. My own family is an equally mixed bag--Traditional NA, Episcopalian, Baptist, Lutheran, some observant, some not. There's a lot more searching going on.

 

TM99

(8,352 posts)
11. Yes, the 60's and 70's
Wed May 13, 2015, 12:44 AM
May 2015

opened up Americans to more exploration of spiritual traditions including those like Buddhism which are non-theistic.

And I don't just mean with regards to the obvious ones like Neo-pagans and New Ageism. For example, Christian writers like Tillich and Hartshorne presented new ideas and ways of imaging god for a more modern & scientific age.

I am for lack of a better word an atheist, yet I have been involved with Buddhist teachings for almost 35 years now. I also participate in my ancestral religious traditions of Ocha & Palo. I really don't think things are as cut and dry as some may be hoping them to be. I am not surprised at the increase in atheists. I see that as a direct response to the worst fundamentalism of the Abrahamic traditions, and yet, it is still a decidedly minority position on the psycho-spiritual spectrum.

thucythucy

(7,986 posts)
13. Like Lenny Bruce said a half a century ago:
Tue Dec 1, 2015, 12:30 AM
Dec 2015

Every day more people are leaving the church and finding God--or words to that effect.

thucythucy

(7,986 posts)
15. Have you ever heard the Lenny Bruce routine "Christ and Moses"?
Thu Dec 3, 2015, 07:21 PM
Dec 2015

The best version is on the "Lenny Bruce at Carnegie Hall" recording. You have to find the complete concert, not the crappy excerpted version.

The premise is that Christ and Moses decide to come down from heaven to' attend a church service at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York. (This would be in February, 1961, which is when the concert was recorded).

What follows is hilarious. The local Catholic authorities are so anxious they call the Pope. Bruce then gives us the New York half of the conversation.

"You'll never guess who's here."

"I'll give you a hint" (singing) 'With the cross of dah dah.'"

"No, not Zorro!"

"Yes, it's Him, and He brought a very nice Jewish boy with him."

"Of course he's white!"

"Look, all I know is we're up to our asses in crutches and wheelchairs!"

"Oh God, the lepers are here!" (Turning aside). "Sonny, would you pick up your arm, ma'am, your nose?"

But reading it doesn't do it justice, you have to hear it. There's a great part where Bruce says, "But Jesus is confused, because his route took him through Spanish Harlem, where he sees twenty people living in a single room and here there's plenty of room, so why aren't those people living here..."

I could go on and on. But check out the recording, if you can find it. Great stuff as well on discrimination against gay people, though in the context of the times the language is pretty non-PC.

Best wishes.

kentauros

(29,414 posts)
16. Yes, Lenny Bruce's language can be a bit harsh at times ;)
Thu Dec 3, 2015, 07:47 PM
Dec 2015

Yet I will see what I can find and listen (or read.)

It reminds me how atheists often say we can't take having our beliefs mocked, and that's just not true. What it takes, though, is someone who knows how to make it funny versus the kind of mocking most of us see online, which is meant to hurt, belittle, demean, and so forth.

My favorite comedian is also one of the best examples of an atheist that knows how to mock beliefs and yet have believers rolling on the floor in mutual laughter. There's an art to that, of course, but I get the impression that there's also a sense of respect for the believer, otherwise it just wouldn't be funny.

He also knows his history fairly well, and makes fun of all of that, too


thucythucy

(7,986 posts)
17. Here's the routine
Fri Dec 4, 2015, 12:02 AM
Dec 2015

it's taken from "Lenny Bruce at Carnegie Hall." I misquoted some of it, but it's worth a listen.

Hope you enjoy

kentauros

(29,414 posts)
18. That was great!
Fri Dec 4, 2015, 12:37 AM
Dec 2015

Although I must confess that I either didn't get or didn't quite catch some of the things because I'm not Jewish, not from New York, or it was a dated reference. But the Jesus and Moses part was great overall

thucythucy

(7,986 posts)
19. This is hilarious!
Fri Dec 4, 2015, 11:39 AM
Dec 2015

The hymn singing especially.

And the sermon was great--and in fact is kinda like the Lenny Bruce sermon by the Reformed Rabbi. "So Reformed they're ashamed they're Jewish." Bruce of course has a lot of material on being Jewish. In the same concert he talks about the discrimination he experienced growing up Jewish in the 40s. "The only college you could go to was CCNY--Circumcised Citizens of New York."

Anyway, thanks for this. A great laugh.

kentauros

(29,414 posts)
20. Yes, Eddie does manage to get to the heart of things like that :)
Sat Dec 5, 2015, 03:03 AM
Dec 2015

CCNY (don't post it in GD )
And thanks for the clarification on the reformed Rabbi. Some of it was difficult to understand just for pronunciations.

Eddie Izzard also covers Moses and God. Some of the Lego animations done to his bits are even more hilarious than simply the original material

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