Thursday, September 19, 2019
By The Power Of Numbskull!
So I’m not the only one who feels the need to explain that yes, I am Christian, but I’m not one of those Christians.
I really blew this one! I’m trying to put the link to the article into this post, but I wrote the post yesterday and I wasn’t feeling all that great so I failed to put it in. Now I’m having trouble relocating the article. I will include the link below, if I can find it. If not my apologies to the authors and to readers who would really like to read the original.
I’ve quoted excerpts from the article more extensively than I normally do, this is not to say that I have summed it up in it’s entirety. It is well worth reading in its original form. However, the points were so cogent I felt that these expansive excepts were appropriate.
> For years they exchanged pleasantries with the pastor, before stumbling into a political discussion in which they discovered he was not, to their surprise, a right-winger. “Oh, I get it: You’re not those Christians,” the husband exclaimed. The couple soon became regulars at our church.
I mention this anecdote in connection with new research showing that the political views of conservative Christians — notably the militant Christian right composed mostly of white Evangelicals though with some Catholic “traditionalists” in harness with them — are pushing people who strongly disagree with them away from Christianity (or any other religious faith).
...Researchers haven’t found a comprehensive explanation for why the number of religiously unaffiliated Americans has increased over the past few years...But a recent swell of social science research suggests that even if politics wasn’t the sole culprit, it was an important contributor.
... In a paper published in 2002, they offered a new theory: Distaste for the Christian right’s involvement with politics was prompting some left-leaning Americans to walk away from religion.
...The more non-religiously-affiliated Americans think Robert Jeffress or Mike Pence or (shudder) Donald Trump speak for God in this country, the less likely they will ever darken the door of a church, where it is assumed those Christians are stewing in their cultural pathologies. < As I have commented in a previous post, these ultra conservative, ultra religious groups are violating the teachings of their own Gospels (one of which directs them to be in the world, not of the world) and the principles of the foundation of the United States (which was designed according to the majority of the Founding Fathers, to be a secular religious-neutral system of government). By their fruits you shall know them, declares the Bible, and the fruits of these fanatic individuals who are so fiercely evangelical is that what they are actually evangelizing is that people should turn away from religion. As an article in Salon noted, >"Rising none rates are more common in Republican states" in the years between 2000-2010, researchers write. "Moreover, when the Christian Right comes into more public conflict, such as over same-sex marriage bans, the rate of religious nones climbs." ...The more the religious right engages in politics, the more people get fed up and abandon Christianity. And the more they do that, the easier it is for them to embrace socially liberal policies. ...Robert P. Jones of the Public Religion Research Institute told Salon that it's "young, white people leaving Christian churches that is driving up the number of religiously unaffiliated Americans."
Now there's more evidence that Jones is right: By organizing politically, the Christian right may be winning elections in the short term, but it's also driving people out of the pews, which is likely to lead to long-term defeat. <
Talk about self-destructive behavior! As the Republican Party purified and rarefied its membership through it’s “RINO” purge, so this worldly politicized group of Christians are shrinking their membership in their desperate search for purity and power.
Please remember that “none” does not mean atheist or agnostic. It means not associated with any organized religion. Most of the “nones” are in fact theists who believe in God, but not in organized religion; much to the dismay of those who insist otherwise, like Mr. Trump, the Republican Party, extremist atheists, and others of that type.
The Salon article: https://www.salon.com/2018/05/14/how-the-religious-right-is-shrinking-itself-overzealous-christianity-is-driving-people-away/
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ReplyDeleteB: I'm curious if you think we may encounter a resurgence of the religious left. Not sure where their values and grievances are getting represented in the current political divisions.
ReplyDeleteMe: I’m inclined to doubt the religious left will get extremely active, but I do think they will become more politically involved and may make a significant difference in future elections. They tend not to do so except on really critical issues, such as the days of abolition, Civil Rights, and the Vietnam war. (But the attack on voter rights, the determination to destroy American democracy for one party rule, and the extremism of the Right Wing co-religions might just drive them to it). Two other factors besides this tradition of not becoming politicaly extreme enter into the picture.
First, their numbers are shrinking as all religious numbers are in America.
smaller numbers may mean less involvement.
Second, the bitter lessons that are being made clear by the Religious Right, although somehow they seem to be ignoring the political and religious fallout from their obsession with power, may serve as a yellow caution light.
Having said all that, I do think I Religious Left left will become more determined to recapture the name “Christian” and the concern of the young for being good stewards of the environment are both excellent reasons to become more active.
I was worried back in the glory days of the Campus Crusade for Christ in my college days. Their extremism and their determination to make it very clear that the only Christians in the world were members of their own narrow little sect troubled me a great deal. I know I wasn’t the only Christian who felt that way then, and many today find themselves insisting that they are not one of those Christians. It’s interesting that some atheists are beginning to find it necessary to make it clear that they are not one of those atheists. 😏
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/christian-activist-group-demands-criminal-probe-jerry-falwell-jr-n1056536
ReplyDeleteHere’s an update, Bobby. The real Cristians are getting fed up with the “pure Christians”.
> So far Faithful America has collected 10,875 signatures and hopes to reach their goal of 15,000 by this weekend.
“The response has been great so far, more than we expected,” said Rev. Nathan Empsall, the organization’s Campaigns Director. “But that shouldn't come as a surprise given how fed up so many Christians are with the way Falwell and others have hijacked the Gospel to represent their hypocritical own self-interests rather than Christ's teachings of love and justice.” <