There it was, an old term with new urgency: post-Christian. This is not to say that the Christian God is dead, but that he is less of a force in American politics and culture than at any other time in recent memory. To the surprise of liberals who fear the advent of an evangelical theocracy and to the dismay of religious conservatives who long to see their faith more fully expressed in public life, Christians are now making up a declining percentage of the American population.
According to the American Religious Identification Survey that got Mohler’s attention, the percentage of self-identified Christians has fallen 10 percentage points since 1990, from 86 to 76 percent. The Jewish population is 1.2 percent; the Muslim, 0.6 percent. A separate Pew Forum poll echoed the ARIS finding, reporting that the percentage of people who say they are unaffiliated with any particular faith has doubled in recent years, to 16 percent; in terms of voting, this group grew from 5 percent in 1988 to 12 percent in 2008—roughly the same percentage of the electorate as African-Americans. (Seventy-five percent of unaffiliated voters chose Barack Obama, a Christian.) Meanwhile, the number of people willing to describe themselves as atheist or agnostic has increased about fourfold from 1990 to 2009, from 1 million to about 3.6 million. (That is about double the number of, say, Episcopalians in the United States.)
While we remain a nation decisively shaped by religious faith, our politics and our culture are, in the main, less influenced by movements and arguments of an explicitly Christian character than they were even five years ago. […] As crucial as religion has been and is to the life of the nation, America’s unifying force has never been a specific faith, but a commitment to freedom—not least freedom of conscience. At our best, we single religion out for neither particular help nor particular harm; we have historically treated faith-based arguments as one element among many in the republican sphere of debate and decision. The decline and fall of the modern religious right’s notion of a Christian America creates a calmer political environment and, for many believers, may help open the way for a more theologically serious religious life.
#65 Alfred1
Ill give you a shekel if you stop quoting from ancient texts. You sound just like a Taliban imam.
#73, wow, great comeback. You really put me in my place. So much for arguing logically. Oh, that’s right, you can’t.
#67
not sure I understand the question, sorry must be my dyslexia oh if that is what you are referring to then YES I do still love her and you for that matter
I’m at peace with the dyslexia thing, it was awkward in school but has its advantages too.
I’m beliefs can best described as a Fallen Lutheran who has no intention of getting up.
#75–Alfie the closet pervert==”reach around?” hah, hah. Good one. Bit perverted but you found the only thing in three posts you could respond to–imaginary homosexuality. Good on you.
Why does the image of Jimmy Swagart crying those big crocodile tears keep coming to mind?
#78
Alfred1 I forgive you for this hateful post.
Your God will still love you even with all this nastiness you spew out. Just be sure to repent before the Rapture Buses get here(the end is near) or you will have to muck it out with the rest of us. To be honest I’d rather see you on the bus. You could start with now with that apology to Mr. Fusion
I also forgive you Alfie. Who could be more homo than someone loving Jeebesus who set the moral value for us by never knowing a woman?
Nothing homo about good christian love. Call everyone else a faggot and hope they rot in hell forever and call it love and mercy==just like their god does.
Just shows how mentally ill you can be and still “function” in society. Doesn’t take much does it?
#83
bobbo: now you will get a piece of my wrath
It’s not cool to keep implying Alfie’s gay. First if he is there’s nothing wrong with him being gay. Unfortunately the percentage of jerks per ok people in the gay population is the same as it is in the straight, so his behavior is not proof of his God given sexual preferences one way or the other. Second since for some in our society it could be thought of as a slanderess accusation and you have no proof you’d be just as guilty of Bearing False Witness as he has been to Obama and Fusion. One should not need to think it’s a god’s divine wish that people speak the truth to do so it’s just common since
Alfred1 I don’t share your faith but I understand your beliefs IT’S NOT TO LATE REPENT! We all want you to on the bus.
and the rest of you if you see a burning bush and hear voices in your head piss out the bush first brush fires and dangerous. Then you can deal with those voices in your head.
A minor deity has spoken
Any one else need a lesson in being civil?
#85 Alfred1
Hilarious comeback. Cant stop slapping my thigh.
Seriously, your fascist theistic ramblings make Paddy-O look like a Nobel peace prize winner (I assume you haven’t claimed one of those yet, Paddy :P)and are a waste of valuable oxygen. You should be ashamed to be using a religious text to further your trolling.
Why is it that trolls are always from the right wing?
#87–minor==”It’s not cool to keep implying Alfie’s gay.” /// Me???? I didn’t broach the subject until Alfie said I did reach arounds with Fusion. Now, that may be funny or an attempt at mockery or whatever but it certainly is not christian for all the reasons you mention. I don’t think my comments where pro or anti gay. Just making the relationship.
surely we are all gods children and he has his plan for us all, all interacting with one another, proving our love for god in how we treat each other and even in how we treat ourselves?
I mean, – – – – surely?
It just occured to me that there are many ways christianity can be in decline. One way is that there are more non christians.
But the other more telling way is for the christians that do exist to be like Alfie and contempt. Its kinda like reaching a tipping point when christians spew forth the hate these two do in the name of christ. Maybe they really are just sheep following the Popes instructions. The pope does influence the entire christian community even when those defaming christianity are protestants–an offshoot of chatholicism, a rebellious and wayward son, soon to return home. Maybe the next pope can do a better job with his sheep.
We can only hope these lost souls find the heart of their own religion. HAW!!!!
I’ve been hearing this crap all my life. We still aren’t anywhere near as civilized as the Europeans,who have naked women on their dailies, sanctioned whore houses, sanctioned and taxed drug houses, and Euthanasia Clinics to help in a more sustainable environment/economy.
Funny thing is all these Demoncrats and Progressive Degenerates that don’t see babies as anything else as a blob of flesh, and want Euthanasia and genetic screening, and want the population cut by 90 percent, never ever show the way by self-aborting their worthless life. To believe in environmentalism and that man hurts the earth by his existence and to not resend your own birth certificate makes those individuals the primary culprits in the damage and harm done to earth.
They should show the way and take themselves out of Darwin Pool. They have no God to answer to, do they?
Ok bobbo sorry I felt a need to get stern with you.
lets all remember its best to always stay polite when dealing with people with the communication skills of our friend Alfred1 it only makes it more apparent just where they are coming from.
I’m sure Dvorak wants these conversations to be more than just arguing for sport.
#92–minor==I forgive you because I am human enough and caring enough to do so. Just recognizing our common entityhood.
Leading by example for all those who can learn.
I and convinced that Alfred1 doesn’t believe a lick of what he says.
#65
Your logic is entirely faulty. Your deity DID (presuming he/she/it authored the Bible) put a valuation on people EXCEPT children under a certain age (To say nothing of the times he ordered the killing of Jewish enemies or sanctioned the rape of enemies). I said nothing as to the reasons this valuation was done; only that it was and that there was a glaring exception. Thus, your commentary is entirely orthogonal to the argument that children under a certain age were clearly given no value.
RE: Judges
Again you are injecting your own interpretation into the passage in the vain hopes it will validate your faulty logic. It does not. The way the passage reads it is clear that the eye-for-an-eye punishment related to actions taken as a consequence of the judgment not the act itself. You even highlighted the very passage that proves the point:
23 And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life,
It cannot be any clearer that this passage does not relate to the act of harming a pregnant woman but instead the judgment or compensation to the father for committing the act which would again support the claim that fetuses were not treated with the same, dare I say it, reverence, as they are by today’s fanatical Christians.
The Bible contains quite a bit of contradiction and brutality. You need to learn to put aside what you think it ought to say and read what is actually written.
Meanwhile, the number of people willing to describe themselves as atheist or agnostic has increased about fourfold from 1990 to 2009, from 1 million to about 3.6 million.
Wow! FOUR fold!
From 0.25% to 1%.
You guys are on the brink of taking over the country!
I suspect that everyone of you, suspects something of another.
As I write this from The Holy Land, I call on all to ignore Contempt for the troll he is.
The quicker we isolate the wackkobs from our society, the sooner we can make meaningful progress on a shared prosperity.
If God was tangible, I would become a priest today, as his knowledge and love would be irrestible. Nothing would be as compelling as God’s words, and in boring world, God would represent the most awe compelling force. Instead, Man has made God into an awful force.
“IN GOD WE TRUST”??
gOD DONT NEED $600+ PER MONTH TO MAKE rent..
#99 father time
>>The quicker we isolate the wackkobs from our society, the sooner we can make meaningful progress on a shared prosperity.
Clearly you missed the intent toward bobbo by me using his long standing fear-mongering with environmental matters against him.
Before you call anyone a “wackkobs” perhaps you should acquaint yourself with context.
Just glad you are not a priest because of your tendency to judge and label without all the facts.
#102–fathertime==yea verily please learn to avoid any tendency to judge and label without all the facts. I’m sure if you manage that you will even avoid stating positions completely devoid of facts, or in contravention of any facts established – in short, you won’t be in contempt of any self awareness at all.
I’m very late to this party and don’t have time to read all the comments right now.
However, if this article is correct, how does this explain the continuing increase in influence from this group?
* We still have an increasing number of fundamentalist morans advocating teaching creationism in schools.
* We still have Obama increasing funding for religious discrimination.
* We have a shiny new creationist “museum” and other fun religiose theme parks around the country.
* Atheists are still the most hated minority in the country, by far.
Where is the reduction in religiosity evident? The McCarthy era changes to the pledge of allegiance (under god was added in 1954) and to our national motto in 1956 (from the unifying E Pluribus Unum, meaning “out of many one” to the divisive “In God We Trust” which excludes Hindus, Buddhists, nontheists of all flavors, humanists, and many others) are still in place.
Exactly where are we seeing evidence of this decline in religiosity. I’d love to know. I’m seeing us race boldly forward into the 11th century and would love to believe this instead.
#30 – Thomas,
There are openly gay politicians who were elected by people who knew full well that they were gay. There is one atheist congressman. He admitted it only after stating that he would not run again.
Sorry, but the LBGT community has done an excellent job of coming out of the closet and winning broad respect from a large percentage of the population.
If only atheists could do the same. However, it’s hard because there is no unifying principle in atheism. It’s a bit like trying to organize the non-golfers of the world to fight for their right not to play golf.
It is, however, necessary in the case of non-believers precisely because the majority of individuals in this once great nation do believe and a significant minority want to legislate that belief on others.
Why is it that people turn to quoting scripture in discussions like this?
The bible has nothing to say about the modern world.
If there are revelations in the bible, why no mention of at least of few of the things in modern life that so changed the world, automobiles, air travel, the internet, etc.
Why would god have chosen not to give real information about the future?
Oh well, I guess it’s like quoting from movies or any other work of fiction, except that the bible is the number one best selling work of fiction of all time.
And, why shouldn’t it be? It has murder, rape, incest, genocide, public stonings and so much other fun stuff. It beats any slasher movie combined with any porno movie ever made.
#106 Misanthropic Scott
>>It (the Bible) has murder, rape, incest, genocide, public stonings and so much other fun stuff.
Interesting that you missed the relevance in this because the Bible reminds us from age to age man never changes and is just as depraved now as then.
It also reminds us that we will never be able to reach the Utopian the environmentalist and one world advocates promise by using our own devices.
No matter how you try or wish it you can never cross God out of the equation.
Bobbo, I’m not following unless you are being sarcastice. Note, I’m iphone posting after several beers, so spelling and comprehension are diminished.
Anway what would be more beautiful than having The Man behind the curtain reveal his true physical self to us? Why would numerous confusing and contradictory books be sufficient for elightenment (beers or not)? Wouldn’t plain speech from a personal relationship with Him be sufficient and necessary to create understanding?
Judgement by Him would seem to spark judgement of Him.
Having walked Jesus’ foot paths, I can say that history doesn’t tell the same story as an open dialog would. In life, I’ve only see crazy people and those that fleece the flock claim to speak to Him.
Another beer please! (I only know a few words of Hebrew)
#106 Misanthropic – I like your writings and share many of your views but you should know better why people eventually resort to quoting scripture as a final defense of their argument.
#108–father==yes, I was/am being sarcastic-not towards you but rather pea brain contempt for common sense. Is it happy hour where you are or are you party central when the opportunity arises?
#107–contempt for human dignity==you say: “the Bible reminds us from age to age man never changes and is just as depraved now as then.” /// Speak for yourself. What a low opinion you have of people==or do you simply thing we are all like you? With that horrible misanthropic screed you call a holy book agreeing with your description, I can see its more than your personal relationship with god that draws you to Christianity. Keep the faith==we atheists and anti-theists are also hoping for your removal from earth from the rapture.
– – but what if the rapture comes==and nobody leaves? hah, hah. Gloomy days indeed.
It is 4:10 pm here, and as I’m not working today, yes it is happy hours.
What turned me off from Catholism was the preoccupation with death, as opposed to life. The fuddies are even worse with their end-of-time egocentric peroccupation.
If there was no heaven, how many Christians would subscribe to the system?
#111–father==indeed. But that is why the rapture may not remove anyone from earth. God looks behind the casual thoughts of those on bended knee to look at the “real” person. Those motivated by fear of hell, or the benefits of heaven, are not saved. No==he only takes the real believers, not the posers and deal makers.
Pop a cold one for me and enjoy.