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Gallup: U.S. Confidence in Organized Religion at an All-Time Low
http://www.gallup.com/poll/155...igion-Low-Point.aspx

As the world continually moves forward, religious institutions keep falling further out of step with the modern American mainstream. When it comes to views on women's rights, homosexuality, evolution & scientific discovery, ethics, truth, etc. the church is evermore hopelessly behind the times with no answers to provide for a modern world. In addition, decades of major scandals of perversion, immorality, crimes and greed among the God-loving leadership of all denominations continues to expose the hypocrisy of belief systems that can't even get their leaders to practice what they preach. Increasing numbers of Americans are following the evidence where it leads them. And it's increasingly leading them to the fact that religion can't be trusted for anything.

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It's impossible to speak with force in a muffled voice from the closet

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Hi Robust, my Fishy Friend,

 

You quote, "As the world continually moves forward, religious institutions keep falling further out of step with the modern American mainstream.  When it comes to views on women's rights, homosexuality, evolution & scientific discovery, ethics, truth, etc. the church is evermore hopelessly behind the times with no answers to provide for a modern world."

 

That reminds me of the mother who went to watch her son march in a parade.  As his unit marched past, the proud mother turns to her friend and tells her, "Look, everyone is out of step except my Jimmy."

 

Just as lord Richard Dawkins tells all his loyal followers, "Look, everyone is out of step except we atheists."  Good luck on that!

 

Robust, I will tell you the same thing I tell your fellow atheists.  God won the war over 2000 years ago -- on the cross of Calvary.  We are just doing the clean-up skirmishes now, cleaning the bird droppings off the windows of our churches.

 

Why over 2000 years?  Why not?

 

But, my Friend, you just keep standing there, asking, "What truck?" as the 18-wheeler of God roars on.

 

God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,

 

Bill

 

If You Died Today

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Last edited by Bill Gray

Also Gallup reported that confidence in public education and TV news were at all time lows as well. The take away may be that Americans are less confident in major institutions as a whole. We have a lousy economy, a divisive political scene and scandals that involve beloved public figures such as Joe Paterno everyday. The country seems to be stuck in a malaise as Jimmy Carter would say.

If there was a way to poll all the people that had been subjected to "the word/world according to bill", the number of people "losing confidence" in organized religion and mankind would soar even higher.  He's as clueless as that "man standing in the middle of the road" he keeps posting about. If bill would ever answer questions I'd love to know why the man is standing in the middle of a road in the first place. The only man in the road I remember was him, when he was running from a bum that turned out to be an angel or some dumb thing like that. I wish there was someone that could help bill get some new material. I wonder how many times over the years he's been posting here he's used that man in the road thing? Kinda says something when a person claiming to have "the gift of writing" has to constantly rehash the same old tired stories. 

Originally Posted by Bestworking:

If there was a way to poll all the people that had been subjected to "the word/world according to bill", the number of people "losing confidence" in organized religion and mankind would soar even higher. 

________

And all those friends he claims he has.....wouldn't you love to know how many run the other way when they see him coming?

Originally Posted by Red Baron:

Also Gallup reported that confidence in public education and TV news were at all time lows as well. The take away may be that Americans are less confident in major institutions as a whole. We have a lousy economy, a divisive political scene and scandals that involve beloved public figures such as Joe Paterno everyday. The country seems to be stuck in a malaise as Jimmy Carter would say.

==
True that the U.S. is in a more general rut. But this poll illustrates the continually declining trend in American confidence in organized religion going back for four decades now.

From the above Gallup article:

Bottom Line

Two major findings apparent in Gallup's confidence in the church and organized religion trend are, first, the long-term decline in Americans' confidence in this societal institution since 1973, and second, the suppressed confidence among Catholics relative to Protestants starting in 1981, and becoming more pronounced by 2002.


From another Gallup poll in 2010: Near-Record High See Religion Losing Influence in America:
http://www.gallup.com/poll/145...fluence-America.aspx

What trends there are provide a somewhat mixed message. While almost all measures show that Americans were more religious in the 1940s and 1950s than in recent decades, Americans appear to be as personally religious now as they were in the late 1970s and 1980s. Church and synagogue membership, on the other hand, has drifted downward in a more steady fashion. The current 61% of Americans who report being a church or synagogue member is as low as has been measured by Gallup since the 1930s.

 


Last edited by A. Robustus
Originally Posted by CrustyMac:

Organized religion provides shelter for some of the most evil people on the planet.  It also provides shelter for a huge number of petty, self-righteous folk. 

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Yes it does, and yes it does. It also shelters those living in

abject fear for the guilt they hide. Death hides no one. 

Church and Synagogue membership is following the trend of a lot of other organizations. Freemasons, Elks Clubs, Lions etc all face dwindling membership.  Younger people see little value in belonging to civic organizations, political parties and religious institutions. Whatever you think of religion studies have shown that there is value in belonging to something where person to person interaction is involved.

Originally Posted by Red Baron:

Church and Synagogue membership is following the trend of a lot of other organizations. Freemasons, Elks Clubs, Lions etc all face dwindling membership.  Younger people see little value in belonging to civic organizations, political parties and religious institutions. Whatever you think of religion studies have shown that there is value in belonging to something where person to person interaction is involved.

==
Yup. Mythology and supernaturalism needn't be a part of the equation though in order to have intrinsic value.

Consider the Church of Scientology.  Its membership has been devastated in the last 5 years of so because of internet exposure of its true, core tenets.

 

We all know the CoS is an extreme example, but the light of knowledge on religion as a whole is only somewhat less dubious.  The effect of universal information on even the most liberal religion has become damaging.

 

DF

Originally Posted by House of David:

It's Bible prophecy that people will fall away from God in the last days.  This is no surprise. Nor does it make devote followers of Christ rethink their belief in Him.

==
Ah yes, of course. The endless apocalyptic expectation of so many Christians. I suppose you think the end of the world will come within you lifetime too. Somehow every Christian generation seem to have no awareness that they're just regurgitating the same claims that have failed their kind so miserably countless times before - - for two thousand years straight.

Here's your main man quoted in His own book with unquestionable, inerrant, omnipotent armageddon prophecy:

"And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power." - Mark 9:1

"When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another. I tell you the truth, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes." - Matthew 10:23

...Two Thousand Years later and life continues as it always has. Good luck with your apocalypse.

quote:   Originally Posted by House of David:

It's Bible prophecy that people will fall away from God in the last days.  This is no surprise. Nor does it make devote followers of Christ rethink their belief in Him.

 

As in the days of Noah.....


Hi David,

 

Once again, you and I are on the same page.  The Bible does tell us that apostasy will increase as we near the End Times.   So, while Christians will be persecuted more and more -- and our society will become more and more corrupt -- this is a sign that He could return at any time. 

 

It is good and it is bad.  It is like having a loved one, who we know is a Christian believer, die.  We mourn our loss of that loved one in our life -- while, at the same time, we celebrate the home-going of that loved one to be with our Lord Jesus Christ.  And, that is the ultimate goal of all believers.   As Jesus Christ said, and as you remind us -- As in the days of Noah.

 

By the way, the singer, Misty Edwards, is great.  That is the first time I have heard her -- and I enjoyed her music.

 

Thank you and God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,

 

Bill

It's Bible prophecy that people will fall away from God in the last days.  This is no surprise. Nor does it make devote followers of Christ rethink their belief in Him. 

It's also bible prophecy that Jesus would return in the lifetimes of his disciples.  It's nonsense like this that erodes religious faith.

 

What also erodes faith is the relative lack of punishment for not having one.  In the Dark Ages, that could get you killed.  Now that religious/atheist freedom is being pursued and asserted, we are free to discuss and decide much more freely.  Considering atheist win all the arguments in which reason is involved, it should be no mystery that religious faith is eroding.

 

DF

 

This quote of Jesus in regards to the end times is found inMatthew 24:34Mark 13:30; and Luke 21:32. Jesus said, "Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place." The key to understanding what Jesus means is the context; that is, we must understand the verses that are surrounding verse 34, but especially the verses prior to it. In Matthew 24:4-31, Jesus is speaking of future events. The generation of people living when those events occur is the generation that Jesus speaks of "not passing" until He returns. Jesus had already told those living during His earthly ministry that the kingdom had been taken from them (Matthew 21:43). Therefore, it is imperative that Matthew 24-25 be seen as speaking of a future time. The word “generation” refers to the people alive in the future when the events of Matthew 24-25 will occur.

Question for you Deep as you represent the atheist segment here on this forum.

What value do you place on the one single soul [semiannual chick] that ‘y’all’ have managed to claim?

You must feel some satisfaction. I just wonder, since y’all have worked so hard, what your triumph feels like. I might suggest T-shirts or bumper stickers, even a billboard to show the world what you have done.

Anyone is free to answer since DF feels inferior to me and feigns deafness when I speak out of his fear of me.

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